Do I need to update conda?

I am currently running Anaconda with conda version 4.12.0. Occasionally I will get the following warning:

==> WARNING: A newer version of conda exists. <==
  current version: 4.12.0
  latest version: 23.3.1

Please update conda by running

    $ conda update -n base -c defaults conda

However, if I try running conda update -n base -c defaults conda it does not update anything and in fact gives me the same warning.

I tried running conda install -n base -c defaults conda=23.3.1 but it did not work because my base environment is python 3.7, which is not compatible with conda version 23.2.1.

At this point it is worth noting that I never actually use my base environment, I always use virtual environments. I am pretty wary of making updates to the base environment and breaking my coding environment. Can I get away with just using virtual environments and leaving my base conda out of date? What would be the downsides to this?

And if the downsides are significant, what is the best way to update my base version of python?

Thank you for all the help!

Good morning,

Thank you for contacting us, I suggest you to run this command instead:

conda update -n base conda

If that doesn’t work please launch this command and send us the output:

conda config --show-sources

It’s allways recommended to have the latest version of Anaconda but If you are working with an older version of python on an environment It’s not going to make a difference.

Tell us if you find this information useful, we are happy to help.

Here is what happened:

conda update -n base conda
Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): done
Solving environment: done

==> WARNING: A newer version of conda exists. <==
  current version: 4.13.0
  latest version: 23.3.1

Please update conda by running

    $ conda update -n base -c defaults conda

# All requested packages already installed.

Here is the results of conda config --show-sources

==> /Users/arjunchandrasekhar/.condarc <==

auto_activate_base: True

ssl_verify: True

channels:

- defaults

I should note that I also tried the following command: conda install -n base conda=23.3.1

Collecting package metadata (current_repodata.json): done
Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.
Solving environment: failed with repodata from current_repodata.json, will retry with next repodata source.
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done
Solving environment: failed with initial frozen solve. Retrying with flexible solve.
Solving environment: - 
Found conflicts! Looking for incompatible packages.
This can take several minutes.  Press CTRL-C to abort.
failed                                                                                                                                                       

UnsatisfiableError: The following specifications were found
to be incompatible with the existing python installation in your environment:

Specifications:

  - conda=23.3.1 -> python[version='>=3.10,<3.11.0a0|>=3.8,<3.9.0a0|>=3.9,<3.10.0a0|>=3.11,<3.12.0a0']

Your python: python=3.7

If python is on the left-most side of the chain, that's the version you've asked for.
When python appears to the right, that indicates that the thing on the left is somehow
not available for the python version you are constrained to. Note that conda will not
change your python version to a different minor version unless you explicitly specify
that.

My base version of python is 3.7. I try to always use the latest version of python when I use a virtual environment. Would you recommend updating the python version of my base environment in order to be able to upgrade conda to the latest environment? Conversely, what would be the potential downside of keeping my base environment at 3.7 and keeping my conda version at its present version?

Let me know if you need more information. Thank you for taking the time to help me!

I’m having exactly the same problem, it would be great if someone could recommend a solution.

I’m having exactly the same problem, it would be great if someone could recommend a solution.

conda update -n base -c defaults conda --repodata-fn=repodata.json

this worked