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Important Anaconda Python Announcement

August 3, 2017
  • Anaconda Python 2.7 and 3.6 are the new Python platforms.
  • The old version of Python 2.7 will be handled by Anaconda.
  • Python 3.3 will be deprecated at the end of August.
  • We no longer are updating modules for the old versions of Python.

The benefit of using the Anaconda environment is that it is built with data science in mind: popular Python modules are already included in the environment, module versions are maintained by Anaconda for compatibility, and researchers can install additional modules to their home directory at any time. You can also create your own Python environments using Conda.

There are several ways of invoking Anaconda:

  1. Launch an RCE Powered Shell
  2. Run "anaconda3-shell"
  3. You will get a bash shell configured so that when you run "python" it executes Anaconda Python 3.6 with the Anaconda libraries.

-or-

  1. Submit a batch job with Executable and Arguments as follows:
    - Executable  = /usr/local/bin/python36
    - Arguments   = script.py
  2. Have your script executed by Anaconda Python 3.6 with the Anaconda libraries.

-or-

Some combination of the above, like opening an RCE Powered Shell, and running a python script as: 

python36 ~/script.py

The Anaconda 2 versions are

  • anaconda2-shell [for an Anaconda Python 2.7 environment]
  • python27 [for running Anaconda Python 2.7 directly]


At the end of August, the wrapper script "python33" will be removed entirely. The Software Collections Python binaries will continue to exist, but will not be supported.

If you've installed Python 2.7 modules to your home directory (~/.local) they will continue to function with Anaconda Python 2.7. If you've installed Python 3.3 modules, you will need to re-install the modules under Anaconda Python 3.6.

You can read about Anaconda and Conda at https://docs.continuum.io/anaconda/#anaconda-navigator-or-conda. Our documentation is available at: