I think, I am seeing a bug in conda create command where I am not able to create an isolated conda environment, which doesn't inherit packages from the base environment, in Ubuntu 16.04.

The reproducible steps for the bug are as follows.

1. Create a new Ubuntu 16.04 VM or any Ubuntu 16.04 machine.

2. Install azure-cli
   pip install azure-cli

Let's assume the python version is 2.7 here, as that is the default python in Ubuntu 16.04

This command installs packages ~/.local/lib/python2.7

3. Install miniconda in Ubuntu 16.04

4. conda create -n testenv python=2.7

5. pip freeze

In pip freeze, I see the azure-cli packages from ~/.local/lib/python2.7 , which indicates to me that the testenv conda environment is not isolated, as it inherited the packages from the base environment.

I only checked this for azure-cli, but my guess is that it is true for other packages too.

For python virtual env, this is not an issue, I get an isolated python virtual environment. I also don't get this issue on windows. I only get this on Linux and Mac machines.

Please take a look at the issue and let me know if I am doing something wrong or it is a genuine bug.

Thanks