New Release: Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 and More

Nanette George

Sheetal Kalburgi

We are pleased to announce the release of Anaconda Distribution 2023.09. Find the relevant release notes here, and download the installer here.

OpenSSL 3.0

One of the main features of this release is the transition from OpenSSL 1.1.1 (which reached end of life on September 11, 2023) to OpenSSL 3.0. Our transition to OpenSSL 3.0 continues our commitment to providing secure open-source software to the community, and its inclusion in Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 marks a giant first step toward broader OpenSSL 3.0 support.

Package Updates

Anaconda Distribution now includes Kaleido (v0.2.1), which transforms data into engaging visual narratives, simplifying complexity and enhancing insights. Version 0.2.1 introduces richer aggregation options, empowering you to craft compelling visuals from intricate datasets. Python 3.11 compatibility ensures you’re at the forefront of innovation, and optimized CUDA support enables fast, smooth rendering.

Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 comes with Python 3.11 in the base environment, and key package updates include:

Numpy 1.25.2
SciPy 1.11.1
Matplotlib 3.7.2

Pandas 2.0.3: This update brings blazing speed, enhanced data manipulation tools, and an even more intuitive interface. With Pandas 2.0, handling massive datasets is a breeze, thanks to optimized performance and advanced memory management. New functions simplify complex operations, empowering users to extract insights effortlessly. Pandas 2.0 supercharges your workflow, making data exploration and analysis smoother and more rewarding than ever.
Huggingface Hub 0.15.1: This update streamlines model management, making it easier to discover and utilize the latest language models. It introduces collaborative AI development and improved search capabilities, allowing users to find models and datasets more precisely. Additionally, Hub 0.15.1 enhances collaboration by enabling users to fork and submit pull requests to share their models effortlessly. These enhancements empower the Hugging Face community to explore, experiment, and innovate with state-of-the-art language models more efficiently than ever before.

See complete package lists here. You’ll find 284 packages updated, 89 packages added, and 56 packages removed (across all platforms) since the last release of Anaconda Distribution 2023.07 in July 2023.

Explore our Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 metapackages here (Python 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, and 3.11 builds are available). Beginning with this release, we will now specify the BLAS variant in the filename to indicate the BLAS implementation used in the metapackage. Here are the BLAS variants available for each platform:

linux-64 (MKL and OpenBLAS)
linux-aarch64 (OpenBLAS)
linux-ppc64le (OpenBLAS)
linux-s390x (OpenBLAS)
osx-64 (OpenBLAS)
osx-arm64 (OpenBLAS)
win-64 (MKL)

Anonymous Telemetry

In the latest Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 installer release, we’ve introduced a package designed to augment the user-agent data already being sent. We’ve done this to gain deeper insights into repository usage patterns, which will ultimately benefit both our free and paid users. For an overview of these changes, please read our blog post announcing the change (Changes to Anaconda’s Anonymous Usage Data Collection), published earlier this month.

Conda Updates

Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 has an updated conda 23.7.4 containing several user-facing enhancements and bug fixes. Additionally, the conda-libmamba-solver 23.5.0 is included in the Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 installer to be accessible to more users.

conda-libmamba-solver is the conda plugin package that enables conda to use the solver backend from the mamba project, drastically improving speed and error reporting in conda. The solver uses libmamba 1.4.1 behind the scenes, introducing significant enhancements and bug fixes to improve the user experience. These user-facing changes in conda-libmamba-solver contribute to a more reliable and efficient package management experience. Upgrade now to enjoy these enhancements and a smoother workflow. For more information about the conda-libmamba-solver release 23.5.0, please refer to the release notes and getting started guide.

The conda project maintainers plan to enable conda-libmamba-solver by default in October 2023 as part of the conda 23.10.0 release. Please see the blog post from the conda open-source project at conda.org for more information about the rollout.

Anaconda Navigator 2.5.0

Anaconda Distribution 2023.09 includes the latest version of Anaconda Navigator (v2.5.0).

In this update, we’re excited to bring you a host of enhancements designed to elevate your user experience. We’ve introduced a brand-new Anaconda Cloud log-in dialog, making it easier than ever to access your favorite resources. If you’re using AWS Graviton, we’ve got you covered with a dedicated Anaconda application tile. In addition, IBM Watson Studio is now IBM WatsonX, with a dedicated tile. Lastly, we’ve integrated VSCode to seamlessly launch with your selected conda environment, streamlining your workflow. These updates are all about enhancing your Anaconda experience, and we can’t wait for you to try them out.

For the complete list of updates, please see the Anaconda Navigator release notes.