Conda set LD_LIBRARY_PATH for env only

You can set environment variables when an environment is activated by editing the activate.d/env_vars.sh script. See here: https://conda.io/docs/user-guide/tasks/manage-environments.html#macos-and-linux

The key portions from that link are:

  1. Locate the directory for the conda environment in your Terminal window, such as /home/jsmith/anaconda3/envs/analytics.

  2. Enter that directory and create these subdirectories and files:

    cd /home/jsmith/anaconda3/envs/analytics
    mkdir -p ./etc/conda/activate.d
    mkdir -p ./etc/conda/deactivate.d
    touch ./etc/conda/activate.d/env_vars.sh
    touch ./etc/conda/deactivate.d/env_vars.sh
    
  3. Edit ./etc/conda/activate.d/env_vars.sh as follows:

    #!/bin/sh
    
    export MY_KEY='secret-key-value'
    export MY_FILE=/path/to/my/file/
    
  4. Edit ./etc/conda/deactivate.d/env_vars.sh as follows::

    #!/bin/sh
    
    unset MY_KEY
    unset MY_FILE
    

When you run conda activate analytics, the environment variables MY_KEY and MY_FILE are set to the values you wrote into the file. When you run conda deactivate, those variables are erased.


I just wanted to add that you could declare 2 variables in the activate.d/env_vars.sh like, it makes it easier to reset the variable to the pre-activation state:

export OLD_LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/your/path:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

and then in deactivate.d/env_vars.sh:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${OLD_LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
unset OLD_LD_LIBRARY_PATH