When I use

pants export

it exports a venv plus all my tools too. Is there a way to choose which tools get exported? Or rather, to not export the tools and only export a venv with all 3rd party dependencies.

The

--resolve

option allows you to specify which resolve(s) you want to export: https://www.pantsbuild.org/docs/reference-export#resolve

pants help export

can help you find out what's available (pun intended)

also

pants help-advanced <thing>

to get the full picture as some options are “hidden” from the basic listing..

Which Pants version are you on? This has changed recently

We're 2.17. I'm not sure what the resolve options should be. But if I give it with a target I get an error.

❯ pants export --resolve='python-default' development_libs:frontend
...
raise ExportError("If using the `--resolve` option, do not also provide target specs.")
pants.core.goals.export.ExportError: If using the `--resolve` option, do not also provide target specs.

If I don't specify a target I get this different error

❯ pants export --resolve='python-default'
result = yield self
native_engine.IntrinsicError: Unmatched glob from the resolve `python-default`: "3rdparty/python/default.lock"

for 2.17, you have per tool options to opt out of export: https://www.pantsbuild.org/v2.17/docs/reference-black#export

Thanks. Curious then, what's the 2.18 syntax for exporting the 3rd party deps of a target without exporting all the tools?

the change is that all tools also use regular lockfiles (resolves) so behaves the same as your 3rd party deps, i.e. using the

--export-resolve

option.

but if I don't care about the tools, and what I want is a venv that contains 3rd party deps for the target I am working on, will I need to generate a static lockfile per target?

typically you don’t have the tools in the same lockfile as your 3rd party deps, so you can export the env for just your deps without any tools deps in there…

ah, i see. thanks.

there’s more info here: https://www.pantsbuild.org/docs/python-lockfiles

That `Unmatched glob from the resolve `python-default`: "3rdparty/python/default.lock"` sounds like you haven't actually generated that lockfile?