Authors/Contacts: bryner@, fancl@, iannucci@
VPython is a tool created by Chrome Ops to run Python scripts in Python VirtualEnvs. VirtualEnvs are a way to have each script use an isolated set of Python packages (e.g. stuff from PyPI). E.g. if one script needs requests v1.2 and another needs v2.0, they can both execute on the same system without issues. Using VPython ensures that all Python that is run on Infra systems uses isolated and reproducible environments.
VPython searches for “vpython spec” files (example) to tell it what packages it should load into the VirtualEnv. No spec file means an ‘empty’ VirtualEnv, which looks like a fresh installation of Python without any extra packages.
Think of VPython as creating a “bubble” around your script, removing environmental influences; you only want your ‘friend’ scripts in the same bubble. Scripts you don’t control in tandem with the caller script should have their own bubbles.
For example, a ‘wrapper’ script that sets up some non-python environment (daemon, credentials) and then invokes a target script should use ‘vpython’. This will allow the target script to have its own package deps (expressed in a “vpython spec”) and not accidentally inherit any of the deps belonging to the wrapper.
OTOH, a ‘launcher’ script that tweaks PYTHONPATH and then calls a subscript should NOT use vpython, because vpython would make a new “bubble” around it, deleting all changes to PYTHONPATH. In this case, the launcher and subscript are “in the same bubble”.
vpython3 (and vpython3.bat on windows) are already in $PATH via LUCI, and depot_tools. After adding any “vpython spec”s that your script needs to the repo containing your script, use vpython3 exactly the way that you would have used python to invoke the script. So instead of python script.py arg arg, call vpython3 script.py arg arg.
First check to see if the wheel is already available in wheels.md. If not, see the instructions to add it.
