Through a strategic initiative with Prefix.dev announced Wednesday, Anaconda will improve the speed and efficiency of its open-source ‘conda-build’ development tool used by Anaconda customers and the open-source community.
AI and development platform provider Anaconda is expanding the capabilities of its open-source “conda-build” package development tool through a strategic initiative with German development tools provider Prefix.dev.
Through the collaboration the two will incorporate technology from Prefix.dev’s “rattler-build” software into conda-build, improving the latter’s speed and performance between three and five times, according to an announcement Wednesday.
The move will provide enhanced developer tools and support for Anaconda customers, both in the open-source community and for enterprise users, according to the two companies. It will also simplify workflows for contributors to Anaconda and its open-source community.
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“It doesn’t take much for a single developer to create a new, innovative technology, especially in the open-source space,” said Ken Thompson, Anaconda vice president of engineering, in an interview with CRN.
Prefix, he said, “created a new experience that’s resonating with a growing number of developers. And so by embracing that, we’re really creating a bridge between the enterprise experience that Anaconda has supported for a long time and new innovations that emerge from the community.”
Anaconda, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a leading provider of AI and data science development platforms and tools. The company is best known for its open-source Anaconda platform for building, deploying and managing applications built using the popular Python and R programming languages.
Conda-build, one of Anaconda’s open-source development tool offerings, is a Python-based cross-platform/cross-language tool that automates the process of building “packaging” for developed applications. Packages are programs, supporting files, documentation and other resources that are bundled with an application to facilitate its distribution and installation.
Prefix.dev’s rattler-build is similar to conda-build – a “reimagining of conda-build,” Thompson said – but was developed using the Rust programming language. Rust is a general-purpose programming language that is gaining in popularity because of its performance and reliability characteristics.
Under the new alliance rattler-build is being incorporated into the Anaconda environment with some of rattler-build’s “performance innovations” being integrated into the next generation of conda-build, the companies said in the announcement.
“Introducing this next generation of conda-build reaffirms our commitment to continuous innovation in the conda and greater open-source ecosystem,” said Peter Wang, Anaconda co-founder and chief AI and innovation officer, in the announcement. “By incorporating proven performance advances from rattler-build, we’re ensuring that conda-build evolves with every challenge, delivering unmatched power and efficiency as the premier solution for building and distributing packages in data science and AI development. “
Anaconda said initial performance benchmarks show package-building speed improvements of 3x to 5x with the addition of rattler-build, “dramatically reducing package development time.”
While the addition of the rattler-build capabilities into conda-build will boost the latter’s performance, Anaconda said the company will ensure continued compatibility with existing conda-build environments and workflows, including the “recipe format” directory of files included within the packaging.
A new edition of conda-build with the rattler-build enhancements is expected in late 2025.
Thompson said the alliance with Prefix.dev includes a “formal business arrangement” with some financial considerations that he declined to detail.
“In the end, we want to serve our customers,” the executive said. “We have always invested in open source and we have always done our best to serve the community that we played a large role in building. This is our way of continuing to invest in open source, continuing to support our users.”
In terms of the channel, Thompson said the alliance with Prefix.dev will help solution providers, ISVs and other Anaconda partners better meet their customers’ needs through faster, more efficient software development capabilities.
“The collaboration between Anaconda and Prefix.dev to bring rattler-build’s innovations to the broader conda ecosystem through conda-build will be a game-changer for the entire conda community,” said Prefix.dev CEO Wolf Vollprecht, in a statement. “We’re excited that Anaconda sees the importance of this to the community and is dedicating investment to improve the entire ecosystem. Our goal is to enable developers to build the most complex software into conda packages with speed and reliability.”