Python Forum

1. can virtual environment be installed (from pip) by a non-root user just in their home directory so that no system files are touched?

2. how does virtual environment enable Python versions that do not yet exist on the host? does it download a binary engine for your architecture (is arm64 available) or download source code and compile it or download a PyPy engine that runs under the host Python version to be an engine of the desired version?

What have you tried?

i have tried google but there is a lot of noise and a variety of conflicting answers apparently because it's probably not real virtualization but just a redirection trick. i'm needing solid answers because i have so much stuff that could get broken by this. with an understanding of exactly what kind of virtualization is really used and how it lays out files i can diagnose things more easily and not end making so many mistakes that could break things.