Do you need to work on any other computers than yours in which you do not want to (cannot) install everything you want?
Do you want to bring with you on a USB stick your working Django development environment and your projects?

Then, follow this tutorial. My goal was to be able to bring with me my django development environment and my projects on a USB stick everywhere, fully working on any Windows computers without any setup.

It includes:

Python
Django
Git
Bash Shell (shipped with Git)
virtualenvs fully working
pip available to install packages

First of all, let me explain the global structure of the folders:

development/
|-- launch.bat # use to launch the Bash shell with the right variables
|-- projects/ # store all your projects
|-- tools/
    |-- PortableGit/
    |-- PortablePython/
    |-- virtualenvs/ # store all the virtualenvs you create

development/

|-- launch.bat # use to launch the Bash shell with the right variables

|-- projects/ # store all your projects

|-- tools/

|-- PortableGit/

|-- PortablePython/

|-- virtualenvs/ # store all the virtualenvs you create

1. Install Python and Git

(These steps must be done just once.)

Download the zip on GitHub containing the global structure and start from there: https://github.com/YAmikep/django-portable

Install Portable Python

Get it from http://www.portablepython.com/

Unzip it in development/tools/PortablePython

You can install it without any modules, you will be able to install the ones you want later.

Install Portable Git

Get it from http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/downloads/list

Unzip it in development/tools/PortableGit

2. Setting up virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper

(These steps must be done just once.)

Launch the Bash shell by double clicking on launch.bat
Install pip: (see more on the pip website)

curl https://raw.github.com/pypa/pip/master/contrib/get-pip.py | python

Install virtualenv & virtualenvwrapper via pip:

pip install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper

Modify tools\PortablePython\App\Scripts\virtualenvwrapper.sh:

Look for “function workon“.
Add the following code after this block:

activate="$WORKON_HOME/$env_name/$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_ENV_BIN_DIR/activate"
if [ ! -f "$activate" ]
then
	echo "ERROR: Environment '$WORKON_HOME/$env_name' does not contain an activate script." >&2
	return 1
fi

activate="$WORKON_HOME/$env_name/$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_ENV_BIN_DIR/activate"

if [ ! -f "$activate" ]

then

echo "ERROR: Environment '$WORKON_HOME/$env_name' does not contain an activate script." >&2

return 1

(You can use the file development\tools\virtualenvwrapper.sh_modification.txt shipped with the zip to copy/paste the code.)

right_python_root=$WORKON_HOME/$env_name/$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_ENV_BIN_DIR
right_python_bin_path=$right_python_root/python.exe

# Change the python interpreter in all .py files to use the right one
for f in $right_python_root/*.py
do
	#echo "----"
	#echo file=$f >&2

	first_line=`head -n 1 $f`
	#echo first_line=$first_line >&2

	case "$first_line" in
	 \#!*python.exe* )

		# Change slash by backslash
		new_path=`echo $right_python_bin_path | awk '{gsub("/","\\\")}1'`
		#echo new_path=$new_path >&2

		# Remove first backslash
		new_path=${new_path/\\/}
		# Replace second backslash by colon and backslash
		new_path=${new_path/\\/:\\}
		# Add #! at the top
		new_line="#!"$new_path
		#echo new_line=$new_line >&2	

		# Rewrite first line
		sed -i "1s,.*,${new_line//\\/\\\\}," "$f"
	esac	

done

right_python_root=$WORKON_HOME/$env_name/$VIRTUALENVWRAPPER_ENV_BIN_DIR

right_python_bin_path=$right_python_root/python.exe

# Change the python interpreter in all .py files to use the right one

for f in $right_python_root/*.py

#echo "----"

#echo file=$f >&2

first_line=`head -n 1 $f`

#echo first_line=$first_line >&2

case "$first_line" in

\#!*python.exe* )

# Change slash by backslash

new_path=`echo $right_python_bin_path | awk '{gsub("/","\\\")}1'`

#echo new_path=$new_path >&2

# Remove first backslash

new_path=${new_path/\\/}

# Replace second backslash by colon and backslash

new_path=${new_path/\\/:\\}

# Add #! at the top

new_line="#!"$new_path

#echo new_line=$new_line >&2

# Rewrite first line

sed -i "1s,.*,${new_line//\\/\\\\}," "$f"

esac

done

3. Setting up Git

Modify tools\PortableGit\etc\git-completion.bash:

Add at the end of the file:

(You can use the file development\tools\git-completion.bash_modification.txt shipped with the zip to copy/paste the code.)

MY_PATH=`pwd`

right_python_root=$MY_PATH/tools/PortablePython
right_python_bin_path=$right_python_root/App/python.exe

# Change the python interpreter in all .py files to use the right one
for f in $right_python_root/App/Scripts/*.py
do
	#echo "----"
	#echo file=$f >&2

	first_line=`head -n 1 $f`
	#echo first_line=$first_line >&2

	case "$first_line" in
	 \#!*python.exe* )

		# Change slash by backslash
		new_path=`echo $right_python_bin_path | awk '{gsub("/","\\\")}1'`
		#echo new_path=$new_path >&2

		# Remove first backslash
		new_path=${new_path/\\/}
		# Replace second backslash by colon and backslash
		new_path=${new_path/\\/:\\}
		# Add #! at the top
		new_line="#!"$new_path
		#echo new_line=$new_line >&2	

		# Rewrite first line
		sed -i "1s,.*,${new_line//\\/\\\\}," "$f"
	esac	

done

#
# Define some alias
#
alias shell="python manage.py shell"
alias dbshell="python manage.py dbshell"
alias shell_plus="python manage.py shell_plus"
alias syncdb="python manage.py syncdb"
alias runserver="python manage.py runserver"
alias cleanpyc="find . | grep '.pyc$' | xargs rm -f"

# Nice shortcut to load the virtual env and go to the project folder
#alias go="workon ;cd projects/project_name/"

export WORKON_HOME=$MY_PATH/tools/virtualenvs

source "$right_python_root/App/Scripts/virtualenvwrapper.sh"

MY_PATH=`pwd`

right_python_root=$MY_PATH/tools/PortablePython

right_python_bin_path=$right_python_root/App/python.exe

# Change the python interpreter in all .py files to use the right one

for f in $right_python_root/App/Scripts/*.py

#echo "----"

#echo file=$f >&2

first_line=`head -n 1 $f`

#echo first_line=$first_line >&2

case "$first_line" in

\#!*python.exe* )

# Change slash by backslash

new_path=`echo $right_python_bin_path | awk '{gsub("/","\\\")}1'`

#echo new_path=$new_path >&2

# Remove first backslash

new_path=${new_path/\\/}

# Replace second backslash by colon and backslash

new_path=${new_path/\\/:\\}

# Add #! at the top

new_line="#!"$new_path

#echo new_line=$new_line >&2

# Rewrite first line

sed -i "1s,.*,${new_line//\\/\\\\}," "$f"

esac

done

# Define some alias

alias shell="python manage.py shell"

alias dbshell="python manage.py dbshell"

alias shell_plus="python manage.py shell_plus"

alias syncdb="python manage.py syncdb"

alias runserver="python manage.py runserver"

alias cleanpyc="find . | grep '.pyc$' | xargs rm -f"

# Nice shortcut to load the virtual env and go to the project folder

#alias go="workon ;cd projects/project_name/"

export WORKON_HOME=$MY_PATH/tools/virtualenvs

source "$right_python_root/App/Scripts/virtualenvwrapper.sh"

4. Creating a virtual env

Launch the Bash shell by double clicking on launch.bat
Use mkvirtualenv:

mkvirtualenv <VIRTUALENV_NAME>

Use the name you want for you virtual env.
Make sure to use the same <VIRTUALENV_NAME> in the next steps.

By the way, you might see the following error which also appears when you launch the .bat:

bash: mktemp: command not found ERROR: virtualenvwrapper could not create a temporary file name.

No worries, I could not get rid of it but everything will work anyway.

Modify launch.bat:

Uncomment the following line and change <VIRTUALENV_NAME> by the name you chose for your virtual env:

echo %PYTHON_ROOT%\App > %VIRTUALENVS_ROOT%\<VIRTUALENV_NAME>\Lib\orig-prefix.txt

Modify tools\virtualenvs\<VIRTUALENV_NAME>\Scripts\activate:

Look for “export VIRTUAL_ENV” and replace it by:

export VIRTUAL_ENV=$MY_PATH/tools/virtualenvs/<VIRTUALENV_NAME>

Do not forget to change <VIRTUALENV_NAME> by the name you chose for your virtual env.

You are now able to use your virtual env:

workon <VIRTUALENV_NAME>

You will see the name of your virtual env between parenthesis when you are working on it.
You can now install almost any packages you want into your virtual env by using pip. (lxml cannot be install via pip, check out my article about Installing lxml in a simple and quick way on Windows)
For example:

pip install django ipython yolk

To exit it, just type: deactivate

This is the end of the tutorial, I hope some people will find it useful.

Feel free to leave comment and/or send me your feedback to improve this “homemade” solution.

I wanted to keep this tutorial as simple as possible so I did not talk about PostgreSQL but if you are interested about using PostgreSQL on this portable environment, let me know.

NB: This tutorial has been tested with these versions:

PortablePython 2.7.3.1
PortableGit-1.7.11-preview20120710

http://profiles.google.com/gamesbook Derek Hohls

Very interesting – thanks for this! I am not a git user (maybe someday…) – for me Mercurial works well enough; any thoughts on how to make that part of a portable environment, instead of git?

YAmikep

Thanks Derek.
I actually do not know Mercurial, sorry.
But if Mercurial is shipped with a bash shell like Git, it is maybe easy to use Mercurial instead.
Because I actually do not use Git specific things but just use the provided bash shell.

JohnCarver

Hi,
I’m having quite a lot of trouble setting up django in a virtualenv mostly with adding the paths since i’m new to this kind of stuff. I failed on win aswell as on Ubuntu. Therefore I’d really appreciate it, if you somehow could make this portable virtual env downloadable =)

http://WebDevON.com/ YAmikep

Hi John,

Could you be more precise on your issue? What exactly fails? Did you go through all the steps successfully?

I have uploaded a zip file which is nothing more than all these steps executed.
Let’s see if that is useful: http://webdevon.com/uploads/django-portable.zip

On Windows, double click on “launch.bat” then type “workon django-1.4″
Open a python shell: type “python” or “ipython”
And type: “import django; print django.get_version()” to see if it works.

Bill

Hi,

Thanks for the work you have put in on this. I am a php developer trying out django for the first time and I’m wondering if you have any experience setting up Mysql or wamp on this portable setup. Most of my development happens with mysql you see, and most cheap hosts have mysql. to quote the documentation “SQLite is generally the simplest option as it doesn’t require running a separate server. However, SQLite has many differences from other databases, so if you are working on something substantial, it’s recommended to develop with the same database as you plan on using in production.”

Thank you,

Bill

http://WebDevON.com/ YAmikep

Hi Bill,

I agree that developing with the same database you plan to use in production is definitely the way to go.

It seems that most of the people using Django goes with PostgreSQL, I do not know why but obviously, I have followed the same path. I have never tried MySQL with Django so I cannot tell whether making it portable would be difficult or not.

But I guess it would not be “django” specific because it is fairly simple to setup the database in django, so if you can make the MySQL server running, I’m sure it will work.

Michael

Setting up a portable Django development environment with virtualenvs on Windows to carry on a USB stick

1. Install Python and Git

2. Setting up virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper

3. Setting up Git

4. Creating a virtual env

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