Conglomerated changes to optimize venv usage in pipeline

[scbedd]

todo:

• Update how we reference the virtual env for the pipeline according to the learnings from my test build
• Swap to uv pip instead of python -m pip in core usage, with detection and fallback to python -m pip install where necessary.
• Optimize all python -m pip calls from any CI to reference a $(PIP_EXE) that is set.
  • explore using a symlink for pip instead of actually referencing the target exe directly or by environment variable

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This pull request optimizes virtual environment usage in Azure DevOps pipelines by introducing UV (a fast Python package installer) as the preferred tool while maintaining fallbacks to traditional pip commands. The changes streamline environment setup and package installation across the build pipeline.

Key changes:

• Integration of UV package manager with automatic fallback to pip when UV is unavailable
• Simplified virtual environment activation by removing manual activation scripts in favor of environment variables
• Addition of a new pipeline template for UV installation across different operating systems

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
eng/scripts/create-venv.ps1	Added UV detection and usage for virtual environment creation with fallback to virtualenv
eng/scripts/activate-venv.ps1	Simplified activation by setting VIRTUAL_ENV and PATH variables instead of sourcing activation scripts
eng/scripts/Language-Settings.ps1	Added UV pip usage for package installations with fallback logic
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/use-venv.yml	Integrated UV installation template into virtual environment setup
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/seed-virtualenv-wheels.yml	Replaced pip with UV for virtualenv installation
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/release-candidate-steps.yml	Removed manual activation scripts and switched to UV for dependency installation
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/install-uv.yml	New template for cross-platform UV installation
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/build-test.yml	Simplified by removing activation scripts and using UV for package installation
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/build-package-artifacts.yml	Updated to use UV and removed activation script dependencies
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/build-extended-artifacts.yml	Switched from pip to UV for dependency installation
eng/pipelines/templates/steps/analyze.yml	Replaced pip with UV for tool installation

[Copilot]

This step should include error handling to fall back to python -m pip install virtualenv if UV is not available, similar to the pattern used in other files. Without this fallback, the step will fail on systems where UV installation failed or is not available.

Suggested change

	uv pip install virtualenv
	uv pip install virtualenv
	if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
	Write-Host "uv not available, falling back to python -m pip install virtualenv"
	python -m pip install virtualenv
	}

[scbedd]

I think you're probably right here. Will make an adjustment.