Using “pip” is the supported installation method for Ansible and Molecule. Let’s install Python libraries and applications (in this case, Ansible and Molecule) in a Python virtual environment. (This post is similar to the one about Ubuntu.)

First, install the required packages, including the Python virtual environment package:

Create a virtual environment somewhere (in this example, I create it in my home folder as a subdirectory of a folder for all the virtual environments; the directory will be created automatically):

Once the virtual environment has been created, “enter” the virtual environment:

Install the Python packages for Ansible, Molecule, and its plugins in the virtual environment:

You can verify that everything is installed correctly, e.g., at the time of writing:

Each time you want to run Ansible or Molecule, just run the “source” command above:

And then you can run “ansible” and “molecule”.

When using “Oh My Zsh” with the “Powerlevel10k” theme, you also get the virtual environment name shown in the prompt: