Configuring a shared package cache

If you have your own installation of Anaconda or Miniconda on your system, you can improve the speed at which packages are installed or new environments are created and save disk space by setting up the configuration to use a shared package cache.

Normal installation sets a package cache relative to the install directory. This can be found with the following command listed under package cache:

conda info

The normal path to the package cache is:

Windows - C:\Users\username\Anaconda{2,3}\pkgs

macOS - ~/anaconda{2,3}

Linux - /home/username/anaconda{2,3}/pkgs

Each user has their own package cache so when a package is installed, the package is put into their own cache and not shared with anyone else.

The benefit of a shared package cache is that once a particular version of a package has already been downloaded by a user it will not be downloaded again and stored in a separate cache. This saves disk usage and speeds up the install as it does not need to download the package again.

Shared package cache setup

Create a directory on your system where the shared users have read and write access.

Then, for each user who will have access, edit the .condarc file found in their home directory.

Windows - C:\Users\username\\.condarc

macOS and Linux - /home/username/.condarc

Edit the .condarc with the following entry, specifying the full path to the shared directory:

pkgs_dirs:
    - /path/to/shared_directory

Verify the package cache by running conda info again.