Anaconda: any way to indicate if dependency issues prevent "conda update"ing the *absolute* latest version of a module?
You are asking if it is possible to write code that will scan each line of environment.yml and report whether the "foo=X.Y.Z" version for foo is up-to-date, ignoring other deps in the file (like astropy) which might conflict and therefore hold it back.
Yes.
Write a script that iterates through each package line, tears down and then rebuilds a brand new environment with a one-line environment.yml (or even without that file), and installs the latest version in isolation. Read whatever version that turns out to be, compare against the target environment.yml, and report on any mismatches. If you write a script that you find useful, please do post it here.
I would actually say that using pip instead of conda would solve that problem as well.When upgrading a package using pip install --upgrade <package_name>, it will upgrade it to the latest version compatible with your OS and Python version.However, if this upgrade caused an installed package to no longer be compatible, pip will raise a warning telling you exactly that.