How to get Conda and Virtualenv to work on mac OS Catalina?

Question

I previously had Conda running smoothly on Mojave, but I\'ve found that the upgrade to Catalina moves the \"anaconda3\" folder to your Desktop > Relocated Items > Security >

Answer 1

This is what worked for me.

These are my header files (Catalina 10.15):

/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/include/c++/v1/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/sys/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/usr/include/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.14.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Versions/A/Headers/sys/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/usr/include/sys/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/usr/include/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX10.15.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Versions/A/Headers/sys/stdio.h

Run sudo find /Library -name stdio.h to see where yours are located.

Mojave 10.14 header files:

$ sudo find /Library -name stdio.h 
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/include/c++/v1/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/sys/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/stdio.h
/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Versions/A/Headers/sys/stdio.h

As can be seen the SDKs are now split into MACOSX10.14 and 10.15 unlike in Mojave.

TLDR

So, these were my SDK folders on Catalina:

1. Rename MacOSX.sdk to MacOSX_orig.sdk
2. Right click on MacOSX10.14.sdk
3. Duplicate
4. Rename duplicate folder to MacOSX.sdk

Your folder structure should now look like this:

Like this we are basically using the previous version's OSX sdk as sysroot. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

No solution will be completely working without fixing the baked-in hard-coded prefix entries in files. There's a longer description and a recommended fix at https://www.anaconda.com/how-to-restore-anaconda-after-macos-catalina-update/

Answer 3

Unsure whether this is considered a comment or at least a temporary answer, but I would refrain from attempting to fix any Catalina compatibility issues with Anaconda for now. See this GitHub issue.

Answer 4

I have the exact same problem and this works for me:

After you move anaconda from "Relocated Items" to ~/anaconda3, edit the first line of ~/anaconda3/bin/conda file from #!/anaconda3/bin/python to #!/Users/USERNAME/anaconda3/bin/python to reflect the change.

Answer 5

I would probably abstain from using the above solution. That ~/anaconda3/bin directory has lots of runnables (not just the conda one) that would need to be altered in this manual way. For example, unless you make the same change you cannot run jupyter notebook either, neither from base nor from other envs you might have.

My tip: Try getting a requirements file for your virtual envs, and do a fresh installation. You could use pipreqs to get the requirements used for individual projects: https://www.idiotinside.com/2015/05/10/python-auto-generate-requirements-txt/

Answer 6

I had incurred the same issue, and the following solution worked for me, and this is the easiest solution:

Instead of messing around copying the anaconda3 file from relocated items into User/USERNAME directory, better would be just to reinstall anaconda navigator's latest version from its official website : https://www.anaconda.com/distribution/#macos

While installation, it will ask you some permissions which are a result of new Apple Security Policies, just grant them, and it works just the way it should after this fresh installation!