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June and July 2026 Releases

· 10 min read
Ken Odegard
Ken Odegard
Conda Maintainer
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The June and July 2026 releases included updates to conda, conda-build, conda-libmamba-solver, conda-pypi, constructor, menuinst, rattler, and more! 🎉 All of these have been released to both defaults and conda-forge channels.

Changes in conda 26.7.0​

To update conda to the latest version, run:

conda install --name base conda=26.7.0
  • Large-prefix transaction work: unlink/link ordering no longer does a quadratic scan (about 780× faster for that step alone on a 50,000-record synthetic prefix), PrefixGraph builds a per-name candidate index, package extraction can use a process pool so zstd work runs outside the GIL, and osx-arm64 batches codesign into one end-of-transaction call.
  • Error guidance scaffolding: CondaError can carry structured guidance (terminal hints plus a guidance field in --json), with a conda_error_hints plugin hook and light starter coverage for a few common errors. This is foundation work for richer hints over time, not a wholesale change to how failures look today.
  • Leaner CLI path: shell activation skips plugin loading when the plugin manager is not already up; heavy imports are deferred in several modules; progress bars and spinners stay quiet when stdout is not a TTY (and respect NO_COLOR / TERM=dumb).
  • conda env create is now an alias of conda create (aligned dry-run output; safer behavior around existing prefixes).
  • Plugin subcommand aliases; conda config --show-sources can show plugin parameter values; BaseSolver base class for solver plugins; conda search works with sharded repodata (while refusing conda search *).
  • Fixes include URL-form MatchSpec channel identity, cleanup of failed creates, preserving environment history on rollback, and several sharded-repodata / wheel-record edge cases.

Full changelog: 26.7.0

Changes in rattler and py-rattler 0.24.0 / 0.25.0​

conda install py-rattler=0.25.0
  • Faster solves: rattler moved to resolvo 0.11.1, which cuts the larger solve benchmarks by roughly 40% (quetz 413 ms → 242 ms, tensorflow 283 ms → 175 ms). Every tool built on rattler gets that without changing a line. Matchspec and version parsing are faster too, which you notice when loading repodata.
  • conda packages for iOS and Android: new ios-*, iossimulator-* and android-* subdirs, with the minimum OS version carried as an __ios or __android virtual package. Compatibility then falls out of the solver the way __glibc and __osx already do. The subdirs and virtual packages are going through a draft CEP.
  • Channel behavior: the gateway follows CEP 42 channel relations, so a channel like bioconda can name conda-forge as its base and asking for bioconda alone is enough. rattler also implements conda's flexible channel priority.
  • Working offline: an offline mode keeps the whole stack off the network, and a solve can be restricted to a set of candidates the caller supplies. Build that set from the package cache and a solve that succeeds will install without downloading anything.
  • Authentication and CLI: reading a private prefix.dev channel from CI now authenticates itself off a WWW-Authenticate challenge, with no per-channel configuration, and OAuth defaults to the device-code flow. New commands: rattler exec, solve, and inject-into-prefix / remove-from-prefix.
  • py-rattler 0.24.0 brings lockfile v7 (breaking), CEP 42 channel relations, repodata revisions, __cuda_arch, and extras, conditionals and flags out of experimental. It also fixes two security advisories (GHSA-h672-p7h7-97v9, CVE-2026-47425), so it is worth updating for those alone. 0.25.0 reworks the repodata_revisions API (breaking) and stops the metadata parsers raising when a component is simply absent.

Full changelogs: py-rattler 0.24.0, 0.25.0, and the rattler releases for the individual crates.

Changes in conda-build 26.7.0​

conda install --name base conda-build=26.7.0
  • conda-debug supports v1 (recipe.yaml) recipes, with additional UX improvements and user docs; conda render sorts dependencies stably.
  • v1 build/host platform handling aligned with meta.yaml (no accidental {build,host}_platform in conda_build_config.yaml; use CONDA_SUBDIR / target_platform).
  • conda develop is pending removal in 27.9; prefer editable installs via conda-pypi (conda pypi install --editable <path>).
  • Negative build numbers fail at metadata validation; duplicate rpaths on macOS are guarded; Jinja variables without spaces (e.g. {{python_min}}) are found correctly.

Full changelog: 26.7.0

Changes in conda-libmamba-solver 26.6.0 / 26.7.0​

conda install --name base conda-libmamba-solver=26.7.0

26.6.0:

  • Sharded-repodata subset building moves into conda (via build_repodata_subset); requires conda >=26.5.
  • Removes plugins.use_sharded_repodata / CONDA_PLUGINS_USE_SHARDED_REPODATA in favor of conda's repodata_use_shards.
  • conda update no longer allows package downgrades; drops direct requests / zstandard dependencies.

26.7.0:

  • Large-environment solves cache installed state for the lifetime of a single solve (a 50,000-record prefix that previously timed out after 5+ minutes can complete in on the order of ~10 seconds for install/update/remove-style operations).
  • Virtual-package constraints such as constrains on __cuda are enforced correctly.
  • Suggests updating conda with conda self when that plugin is installed.

Full changelogs: 26.6.0, 26.7.0

Changes in conda-pypi 0.10.0 / 0.10.1 / 0.11.0​

conda install --name base conda-pypi=0.11.0

0.10.0:

  • Richer info/about.json when converting PyPI projects; external-packages health check for conda doctor (with --fix to reinstall eligible packages from conda channels).
  • --dry-run / --yes / repeated --editable for editable installs; shorter conda-pypi beta tip (and a setting to toggle the pip warning).

0.10.1:

  • Docs landing page focused on conda install workflows.
  • Removes the conda-pypi-post-install-create post-install plugin.

0.11.0:

  • conda pypi index <dir> builds a conda channel from local wheel files.
  • Direct .whl installs get correct info/index.json fn / build metadata (aligned with repodata v3), fixing lockfile restore mismatches.
  • The conda-pypi beta tip is visible again at default verbosity.

Full changelogs: 0.10.0, 0.10.1, 0.11.0

Changes in constructor 3.16.0 / 3.16.1 / 3.16.2 / 3.16.3​

conda install constructor=3.16.3

3.16.0:

  • Experimental Windows MSI installers (via BeeWare Briefcase).
  • installer_type: docker (Dockerfile + staged .sh) and docker_image_format: tar for portable images (Buildx).
  • constructor --render to render construct.yaml.
  • EXE: Windows path-length check before install, clearer package-cache cleanup on uninstall, and temp dirs under $INSTDIR to avoid Defender issues with conda-standalone.
  • Shell installers skip creating ~/.conda when register_envs is false.

3.16.1:

  • Include Briefcase batch templates so MSI builds work from an installed constructor.

3.16.2:

  • --installer-type CLI option.
  • EXE path-length check also accounts for the package-cache extraction path.
  • AzureSignTool verification works when installer paths contain spaces.

3.16.3:

  • Set TEMP / TMPDIR as well as TMP when redirecting temp dirs inside $INSTDIR.

Full changelogs: 3.16.0, 3.16.1, 3.16.2, 3.16.3

Changes in menuinst 2.5.0 / 2.5.1 / 2.5.2​

conda install menuinst=2.5.2

2.5.0:

  • Windows fixes for registry quoting, activation scripts with spaces in the path, and .nonadmin handling under @elevate_as_needed.
  • Skip malformed menu JSON with a warning; drop Python 3.9.

2.5.1:

  • Handle permission errors when writing menuinst.toml in read-only environments.

2.5.2:

Full changelogs: 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.2

Other releases​

A few more projects shipped without a deep dive here:

We ❤️ our community​

Thank you to everyone who landed changes across these releases. A special welcome to contributors who contributed for the first time: