So, as the title suggested
I have run
conda --clone base --name newenv
when it's finished, I checked the size of my newenv folder, and it's 3.78 GB. Why is it taking up space at all? If conda is using some pointer references to the base packages, and I have not installed any new package, how come it is still taking ~4GB? This seems a very pointless use of space. Is there any way I can reduce this? Thanks
Actually, Conda already kinda does share the env spaces. However, because it leverages hardlinks, it is easy to overestimate the space really being used. (read more)
in any case, the answer to your question might lie in the difference between Anaconda & Miniconda. Anaconda is about 2GB, while Miniconda is closer to 100MB.
Anaconda includes a long list of packages that get installed automatically into each environment that you create.
Miniconda creates barebone conda virtual environments (which don't contain many packages at all). Switching to Miniconda should substantially reduce the size/number of packages in your environments.
Conda also uses hardlinks for packages installed vs conda install. A good description of hardlinks can be found here. They basically link dependencies across multiple environments like you've described above. Packages installed via pip are not hardlinked, so they cannot take advantage of the space savings that conda packages offer.
