> You can't. Tools like `pipenv shell` and `conda shell` end up with a new shell running instead of changing the current shell in-place.

Indeed. I raised it because of what you said earlier:

> and so maybe proposing a simple `venv --activate <path>` that does nothing more than set those key environment variables and prints out a message about what is happening is enough to do the trick

So not that simple, then, if it has to handle multiple shells cross-platform. Especially as if tools like pew, pipenv, conda already do this. Are you proposing to bring that functionality, which these third-party tools perform currently, into the stdlib?