Is VirtualEnv for Python essentially the same as RVM for Ruby

Question

Having used VirtualEnv before, I'm wondering whether RVM is essentially the exact same action, of creating unique environments where updating dependencies won't break various projects, or if it departs in some ways.

Answer 1

At the basics, they are very similar: they provide a mean for you to have a "jailed" environment with the libraries you need in your project without installing them in the "host" environment.

RVM however provides something called gemsets which I think doesn't have an equivalent in Virtualenv (the idea of grouping a set of libraries under a common name).

Also, there's some integration with the shell you can do with RVM (called RVMRC files) so that when you change directory to a RVM-based project, it will auto-load the right version of ruby and the libraries for your project.

Answer 2

RVM is similar to virtualenvwrapper