virtualenv IPython in Spyder not working

Question

I have installed Spyder on Linux (Mint 17 to be exact) and created a scientific virtualenv (sci) with ipython, numpy, etc. The idea is to vary my virtual env for python 2 / python 3 and being a bit more flexible than installing the whole of Anaconda / python(x,y). I am having problems getting ipython to work in Spyder now.

I went to

Tools->Preferences->Console->Advanced settings

Use the following Python interpreter

 /home/mike/envs/sci/bin/ipython

but this did not start ipython. It responds with

...
Execute the given command[TerminalIPythonApp] CRITICAL | Bad config     encountered during initialization:
[TerminalIPythonApp] CRITICAL | Unrecognized flag: '-u'
...

It also does not show "Open an IPython console" under Consoles.

any ideas what I am missing?

cheers, Mike

Answer 1

After you correctly enter the path to the Python interpreter in your virtualenv (ie /home/mike/envs/sci/bin/python , not /home/mike/envs/sci/bin/ipython ), you just need to go to the menu

Consoles > Open an IPython console

and, as long as you have IPython and PyQt/PySide installed in your virtualenv, an IPython console will be opened for you using the IPython version of your virtualenv.

Answer 2

the process is described in the following link :

https://github.com/spyder-ide/spyder/wiki/Working-with-packages-and-environments-in-Spyder

It is recommended to install a modular approach with spyder-kernels:

1. activate the environment where you want to work (ex : source env/bin/activate )
2. install the kernel in the environment by typing : pip install spyder-kernels==0.*
3. get the interpreter path to be used by typing : python -c "import sys; print(sys.executable)"
4. copy this path
5. enter the path in Spyder in the menu

Preferences > Python Interpreter > Use the following interpreter

that should work, happy coding!

Answer 3

Solutions above didn't work for me. What worked for me was following this guide in the docs: https://docs.spyder-ide.org/ipythonconsole.html#connect-to-an-external-kernel

1) open terminal and activate your virtualenv 2) still in the terminal, run the command: python -m spyder_kernels.console , you will get a message like:

To connect another client to this kernel, use:
--existing kernel-28340.json

3) to locate this json file location, run this in spyder:

from jupyter_core import paths
paths.jupyter_runtime_dir()

for me it was c:\\Users[myuser]\\AppData\\Roaming\\jupyter\\runtime\\

4) In jupyter, from menu, click on "Consoles => Connect to an existing kernel"