# PythonCall ecosystem updates

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pythoncall-ecosystem-updates/132500>\
**Category:** Package Announcements\
**Tags:** python, pythoncall, conda, condapkg\
**Created:** [September 18, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pythoncall-ecosystem-updates/132500 "2025-09-18T22:23:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cjdoris](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/cjdoris/32/213133_2.png) [@cjdoris](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/cjdoris)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/pythoncall-ecosystem-updates/132500/1 "2025-09-18T22:23:03Z")

</div>

There’s been a lot going on in the world of PythonCall.jl and friends, so I thought I’d give a brief round-up of what’s new from the last year.

Firstly, a reminder of the packages I’m talking about:

- **[PythonCall.jl](https://juliapy.github.io/PythonCall.jl/stable/pythoncall/):** Interoperability with Python.
- **[CondaPkg.jl](https://github.com/JuliaPy/CondaPkg.jl):** Integrates the Conda package manager into Julia. Used by PythonCall for managing Python dependencies.
- **[JuliaCall](https://juliapy.github.io/PythonCall.jl/stable/juliacall/):** Python analogue of PythonCall for calling into Julia from Python. (Same repo and docs as PythonCall because they are two interfaces to the same code.)
- **[JuliaPkg](https://github.com/JuliaPy/pyjuliapkg):** Python analogue of CondaPkg, integrating the Julia package manager into Python.

And now for my favourite bits of news, most exciting first:

1. PythonCall has a new **NumpyDates module** providing a bridge between Julia Dates and NumPy datetime64/timedelta64. You can now convert datetime64, timedelta64 and arrays of these from NumPy to Julia and back.
2. CondaPkg now uses **Pixi by default** instead of MicroMamba, making installs much faster.
3. In PythonCall, **GC is now thread-safe** so you can use it in a multi-threaded Julia session, although actual Python calls still need to be made on the main thread.
4. CondaPkg now has **dev dependencies** , specified in a new `[dev]` section in CondaPkg.toml. These are only installed if the corresponding project is a package under development or testing. Especially useful to get dependencies needed for your test suite.
5. A new **JuliaPkg CLI** you can use like `python -m juliapkg --help`.
6. PythonCall now has **functions and macros for handling the GIL**. They are very much experimental currently, but with care you can now call PythonCall from different threads.
7. Pip packages in CondaPkg can now be installed in **editable mode**.
8. CondaPkg has new options to specify **allowed channels, channel aliases, channel order and channel priority** , providing much greater control over where packages are sourced.
9. JuliaCall has new options to **override the Julia executable and project used** , making JuliaPkg optional.
10. In PythonCall now you **can use your own Python install relative to your Julia project**. Previously you had to specify the absolute path to Python. There’s even a `@venv` shorthand if it is really a Python venv.
11. JuliaPkg can now ensure Julia and Python use **compatible versions of openssl** (CondaPkg already does this.)

There have been a lot of contributors making this happen - thank you all!