Cannot update spyder=5.1.5 on new anaconda install

Question

I installed anaconda and spyder came with the installation. Spyder 4.2.5 came with the installation and I got a pop up notification that spyder=5.1.5 is available. I tried

conda update anaconda

conda install spyder=5.1.5

and gets an error:

Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.

I tried letting it run for more than 8 hours, but I had to cancel it because I got tired.

Tried

conda install anaconda spyder=5.1.5

and gets another error:

`Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve. Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.

PackagesNotFoundError: The following packages are not available from current channels:

• ananconda

Current channels:

• https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/linux-64
• https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main/noarch
• https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/linux-64
• https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r/noarch

To search for alternate channels that may provide the conda package you're looking for, navigate to

https://anaconda.org

and use the search bar at the top of the page.

Can someone please help on how to solve this?

Answer 1

(Spyder maintainer here) Our regular instructions to update Spyder don't work in this case because there are some incompatible dependencies between Spyder 5.0.5 and 5.1.5.

To workaround this problem, you need to close Spyder and run the following commands in the Anaconda Prompt (or your system terminal on Linux or macOS):

conda remove spyder
conda remove python-language-server
conda update anaconda
conda install spyder=5.1.5

The second or third commands (i.e. conda remove python-language-server or conda update anaconda) could give you errors, but that's fine. Simply ignore them and continue with the other commands.