Moving away from venv

Installation
1

I just updated my venv install to the latest HA version and am seeing the warning about Python 3.8 being deprecated. I have searched around and found out that I need to rebuild my venv in order to fix this, but not sure I want to go through the hassle of this so I am wondering if there is a relatively easy way of moving from venv to supervised. I am currently running several custom components via HACS and I think this may be an issue but not sure. Any help would be appreciated.

2

Honestly, rebuilding the venv isn’t too bad.
Last time I did it (needed to upgrade Python) it was roughly this, and took 15 minutes:

Backup your entire HA directory (remember the .storage directory) first
Remove existing venv
Upgrade Python
Create new venv
Install HA into new venv
Copy backed up config to new HA
Start new HA
Done

Definitely less work than converting to a much less stable supervised installation where you no longer have control over your HA installation, are forced to use a hard coded DNS, and can wake up any day to find your system unresponsive because of a botched update.

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3

Home Assistant Container with Docker is another option. The Python is then integrated in the container with only your data native n the server.

4

@AaronCake Yes I suppose you are right. I built the venv from a tutorial and while I do understand the basics of how it runs I am not sure how to do all those steps you listed. Do you have a good tutorial recommendation for this?

5

I use this script to update, it checks for a new version of python, and if found makes a backup and a new venv. Be sure to run it once before you upgrade Python3. The steps inside somewhat explain whats going on, run from the directory where the script is stored as sudo i.e. sudo ./update-ha.sh:

#!/bin/bash

BACKUPDIR=/mnt/Backups/Homeassistant

cd /srv
# Check current version of Python and upgrade or reinstall
if [ "$(python3 --version)" == "$(cat .pythonver)" ]; then
        echo "Verified $(python3 --version), updating Home-Assistant."
        systemctl stop home-assistant@homeassistant
        cd homeassistant
        source bin/activate
        python3 -m pip install --upgrade homeassistant
        systemctl start home-assistant@homeassistant
        echo "Finished updates, starting Home-Assistant."
else
        echo "Newer version of $(python3 --version) found, creating backup."
        systemctl stop home-assistant@homeassistant
        cp .pythonver homeassistant/
        tar -zcf hass-srv.tar.gz homeassistant
        rm -rf homeassistant
        python3 -m venv homeassistant
        cd homeassistant
        source bin/activate
        python3 -m pip install homeassistant
        cd /srv
        chown homeassistant:homeassistant homeassistant -R
        systemctl start home-assistant@homeassistant
        python3 --version > .pythonver
        /bin/cp -f hass-srv.tar.gz $BACKUPDIR
        echo "Finished updates with $(cat .pythonver), starting Home-Assistant."
fi

I didn’t write this, but I cannot find who to attribute it to.

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6

Unfortunately I don’t really have a set of instructions written up, nor where to find one. As I don’t deal with Python venv everyday I just searched out the individual tasks.

That said I did just search it and found this:

Looks like a fairly good writeup of removing the old venv, loading newest Python version, and creating a new.

Just keep in mind that this is a fresh install of HA so if you have made any changes beyond configuration you will need to apply those to the new venv.

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7

@AaronCake I found that one as well. Using that page and a few other sites I made myself a procedure that works. Here are the steps that worked for me:

Upgrading Python for VENV installs

This was for Python 3.9

Install new version of Python

sudo apt update
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt install python3.9
sudo apt install python3.9-dev
sudo apt install python3.9-venv

Backup HA and install new VENV

mv /srv/homeassistant /srv/homeassistant_bkp

sudo mkdir /srv/homeassistant
sudo chown homeassistant:homeassistant /srv/homeassistant

sudo -u homeassistant -H -s
cd /srv/homeassistant
python3.9 -m venv .
source bin/activate

python3 -m pip install wheel

pip3 install homeassistant

I had some issues with the WLED integration but found that there is a bug in HA CORE install that does not install a package called “packaging” Here is a reference to that issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/qrs5cf/moving_venv_from_one_vm_to_another/

I just needed to manually install it with:

pip install packaging

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