Spyder is a interactive development environment for Python

See also https://github.com/spyder-ide

When we update ipython, spyder doesn't know about this and refuses to start an ipython kernel. The solution is to tell spyder where to look for python modules, since it doesn't seem to use python's built-in sys.path. Open spyder, go to the tools menu, and choose PYTHONPATH manager. There, enter the path to use. For python 2.7: /software/local/lib64/python2.7/site-packages. For python 3.4: /software/local/lib64/python3.4/site-packages. Similarly, it may be necessary to add your own PYTHONPATH additions here as well, if these directories include modules that are needed to start the ipython kernel (probably only for private versions of ipython or jupyter, but perhaps also for software built upon ipython)