Yeah, I don't really get why Python developers tolerate this state of being where minor point releases are so commonly incompatible with each other, or having no standard way to manage building against different versions. I also don't get why ML developers continue with Python, considering these issues.

But, that's the point of the Miniconda dependency. By using Conda, the project can be setup locally with the Python version it expects without clobbering your local, system-level install.

It was still a bit of a pain to learn how to use Conda, but it worked out a little better than figuring it out on my own.