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Concepts#

Automatically Exposed Executables#

There is some added automatic behavior, if you install a package with the same name as the environment, it will be exposed with the same name. Even if the binary name is only exposed through dependencies of the package For example, running: 

pixi global install ansible
will create the following entry in the manifest: 
[envs.ansible]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
dependencies = { ansible = "*" }
exposed = { ansible = "ansible" } # (1)!

  1. The ansible binary is exposed even though it is installed by a dependency of ansible, the ansible-core package.

It's also possible to expose an executable which is located in a nested directory. For example dotnet.exe executable is located in a dotnet folder, to expose dotnet you must specify its relative path :

pixi global install dotnet --expose dotnet=dotnet\dotnet

Which will create the following entry in the manifest: 

[envs.dotnet]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
dependencies = { dotnet = "*" }
exposed = { dotnet = 'dotnet\dotnet' }

Trampolines#

To increase efficiency, pixi uses trampolines—small, specialized binary files that manage configuration and environment setup before executing the main binary. The trampoline approach allows for skipping the execution of activation scripts that have a significant performance impact.

When you execute a globally installed executable, a trampoline performs the following sequence of steps:

  • Each trampoline first reads a configuration file named after the binary being executed. This configuration file, in JSON format (e.g., python.json), contains key information about how the environment should be set up. The configuration file is stored in $PIXI_HOME/bin/trampoline_configuration.
  • Once the configuration is loaded and the environment is set, the trampoline executes the original binary with the correct environment settings.
  • When installing a new binary, a new trampoline is placed in the $PIXI_HOME/bin directory and is hard-linked to the $PIXI_HOME/bin/trampoline_configuration/trampoline_bin. This optimizes storage space and avoids duplication of the same trampoline.

The trampoline will take care that the PATH contains the newest changes on your local PATH while avoiding caching temporary PATH changes during installation. If you want to control the base PATH pixi considers, you can set export PIXI_BASE_PATH=$PATH in your shell startup script.