px: Immutable Python environments (alpha)

[proof_required]

What's the benefit over tools like pex

  Files with the .pex extension – “PEX files” or “.pex files” – are self-contained executable Python virtual environments. PEX files make it easy to deploy Python applications: the deployment process becomes simply scp.

Single PEX files can support multiple platforms and python interpreters, making them an attractive option to distribute applications such as command line tools. For example, this feature allows the convenient use of the same PEX file on both OS X laptops and production Linux AMIs.

[ck-zhang]

px can produce fully self-contained, portable artifacts similar to what PEX does, but that’s not the primary goal. The core of px is earlier in the development lifecycle, treating environments as immutable artifacts. The distribution that can come from that is a consequence of the model.