python - Creating conda environment using only symbolic links

Question

I want to create an environment which is an exact copy of my root environment, but not making any hard copies of packages (later I will add a few packages not in Anaconda). I thought I could do this with one of the following:

conda create -n newroot --clone root
conda create -n newroot --copy root
conda create -n newroot anaconda

But all of these download packages. How do I create an exact replica environment of the current Anaconda distribution? (I know later I can add packages with conda install -n newroot <package name>)

Answer 1

conda uses hardlinks internally when it can (nearly always) so the cost of new environments is minimal, so my recommendation is to use:

conda create -n newroot --clone root

Do not use --copy since that explicitly avoids using hardlinks.