Data Management

Where is my data saved?

You can find the current project data directory with the command projects.dir. Everything is stored in this folder or a subdirectory. Similarly, you can find the logs directory with the command projects.logs_dir. Brightway uses a Python library to select an appropriate, platform-specific path, namely:

Windows

C:\Documents and Settings\<User>\Application Data\Local Settings\pylca\Brightway3

macOS

/Users/<User>/Library/Application Support/Brightway3

Linux

/home/<User>/.local/share/Brightway3

How do I change my data directory?

You can specify a custom data directory path by setting the environment variable BRIGHTWAY2_DIR. Brightway will raise an OSError if this is not a writable directory.

Warning

This is not recommended for use by beginners, but if you have multiple or non-standard installations of Brightway it might be useful.

Unix (Z Shell)

To change the storage location of Brightway data to a directory of your choice, set an environment variable in the default shell of your Unix system.

Note

Replace <PATH> with your desired absolute directory path and restart the shell.

echo 'export BRIGHTWAY2_DIR=<PATH>' >> ~/.zshenv

Windows (Power Shell)

To change the storage location of Brightway data to a directory of your choice, set an environment variable using the Windows Power Shell.

Note

Replace <PATH> with your desired absolute directory path and restart the shell.

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("BRIGHTWAY2_DIR", "<PATH>", "User")

How do I change my data directory in a Conda environment?

When you create a Conda environment, it lives in a directory located at:

<YOUR_ANACONDA_INSTALL_DIR>/envs/<YOUR_ENV_NAME>

When Conda activates or deactivates an environment, it looks for additional scripts in the two subfolders etc/conda/activate.d and etc/conda/deactivate.d within this directory. To set persistent environment variables (like BRIGHTWAY2_DIR) in your Conda environment:

Unix (Z Shell)

1. Navigate to your Conda environment directory:

cd <YOUR_ANACONDA_INSTALL_DIR>/envs/<YOUR_ENV_NAME>

2. If not already present, create two directories etc/conda/activate.d and etc/conda/deactivate.d

mkdir -p etc/conda/activate.d
mkdir -p etc/conda/deactivate.d

4. Create scripts in the folders that set and unset the environment variables (in this case BRIGHTWAY2_DIR). The names of the files don’t matter, but the file extensions do. Inside the folder activate.d create the file <WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE.sh and inside it write export BRIGHTWAY2_DIR=<YOUR_NEW_DIR_PATH>. Inside the folder deactivate.d create the file <WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE.sh and inside it write unset BRIGHTWAY2_DIR.

The scripts should look like this: In the activate.d:

#!/bin/sh
export BRIGHTWAY2_DIR="<YOUR_NEW_DIR_PATH>"

In the deactivate.d:

#!/bin/sh
unset BRIGHTWAY2_DIR

5. Make sure both scripts are executable by running:

chmod +x etc/conda/activate.d/<WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE>.sh
chmod +x etc/conda/deactivate.d/<WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE>.sh

Windows (Power Shell)

1. Navigate to your Conda environment directory:

cd <YOUR_ANACONDA_INSTALL_DIR>/envs/<YOUR_ENV_NAME>

2. If not already present, create two directories etc/conda/activate.d and etc/conda/deactivate.d

3. Create scripts in the folders that set and unset the environment variables (in this case BRIGHTWAY2_DIR). The names of the files don’t matter, but the file extensions do. Inside the folder activate.d create the file <WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE.bat and inside it write export BRIGHTWAY2_DIR=<YOUR_NEW_DIR_PATH>. Inside the folder deactivate.d create the file <WHATEVER_NAME_YOU_LIKE.bat and inside it write BRIGHTWAY2_DIR=.

How do I backup my data?

Each project is just a subdirectory, and this can be backed up using any normal tools, including cloud backups like Dropbox. You can save a snapshot of entire project directory with backup_data_directory, or save a single project with backup_project_directory. Both functions return the filepath of the created archive file.