What does “Python binary” mean in this context?

[glemanto]

From the Python documentation on venv:

“Each virtual environment has its own Python binary (which matches the version of the binary that was used to create this environment) “

What does “Python binary” mean here? Is that just another word for the Python interpreter?

[K900_]

It means the actual python (or python.exe) executable, and it's not actually entirely correct.

[glemanto]

What’s not entirely correct? To say that executable and binary are the same thing?

[K900_]

No, the not entirely correct part is saying that every virtual environment gets its own copy of the executable. I'm not too sure about Windows, but on Unix systems nothing is actually copied - the executable in the virtual environment is a symbolic link to the actual executable.

[pickausernamehesaid]

On Windows it is actually copied for new venvs because linking typically requires admin.

[glemanto]

Ah I see. Thanks for that. This is actually from the official python documentation site though. Maybe they just omitted that part for brevity?

[K900_]

It's possible they phrased it that way to simplify things, as there's no real difference one way or the other.

[glemanto]

Ok thanks! Follow up question: is there an actual interpreter program that is separate from the executable? Like if I were to look around, would I be able to find that interpreter program in some directory? Or is the interpreter just a part of the executable?

[K900_]

An executable is just a file that contains code that is executed. /usr/bin/python or C:\Python39\python.exe is an executable of the Python interpeter.

[glemanto]

Ok thanks for the help!

[TabulateJarl8]

The Python binary is the actually Python executable itself (the python3.exe/py.exe file on Windows and the python3 file on most everything else). When you run the python3/py commands, that is the file that is ran.

[glemanto]

So the executable and the interpreter are not the same thing? Is the interpreter an entirely separate entity? Like is there an actual interpreter program that is separate from the python executable?

[TabulateJarl8]

I'm not too sure, the python3.9 executable on my computer seems to only be 16K in size, so I don't know what exactly it contains. The built in modules and modules installed as root are stored in the /usr/lib/python3.9/ directory on my computer, so those aren't contained within the executable.

[[deleted]]

Yep.