POSIX shell function to deny the install commands if you are in the base environment.

block_conda_base_installs.sh

# Source: https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/7791#issuecomment-945676641
# Add this in .bashrc or .zshrc to deny the install commands if you are in the base environment.

# From https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/7791#issuecomment-946537246
# One case where this does not prevent from installing to base:
# If one uses pip in a conda environment, that has no pip installed, it will still install all the packages into the base environment.
# This may happen when an empty environment is created and then one simply runs pip install -r requirements.txt. 

# TODO: Do a `which pip` & compare it to conda base env path as an additional check for the pip() function.


function pip(){
  if [ "${CONDA_PROMPT_MODIFIER-}" = "(base) " ] && [ "$1" = "install" ]; then
    echo "Not allowed in base"
  else
    command pip "$@"
  fi
}

function extended_conda(){
  if [ "${CONDA_PROMPT_MODIFIER-}" = "(base) " ] && [ "$1" = "install" ]; then
    echo "Not allowed in base"
  else
    conda "$@"
  fi
}
alias conda=extended_conda