Update docs regarding base env use

docs/source/install-conda-build.rst

@@ -9,6 +9,40 @@ To enable building conda packages:
 * update conda and conda-build
 
 
+.. _-conda-build-wow:
+
+Way of working
+==============
+
+For proper functioning, it is strongly recommended to install conda-build in
+the conda ``base`` environment. Not doing so may lead to problems.
+
+**Explanation**
+
+With earlier conda / conda-build versions, it was possible to build packages in
+your own defined environment, e.g. ``my_build_env``. This was partly driven by
+the general conda recommendation not to use the ``base`` env for normal work;
+see `Conda Managing Environments`_ for instance. However, conda-build is better
+viewed as part of the conda infrastructure, and not as a normal package. Hence,
+installing it in the ``base`` env makes more sense. More information:
+`Must conda-build be installed in the base envt?`_
+
+**Other considerations**
+
+* An installation or update of conda-build (in fact, of any package) in the ``base``
+  environment needs to be run from an account with the proper permissions
+  (i.e., the same permissions as were used to install conda and the base env in
+  the first place via the Miniconda or Anaconda installers). For example, on
+  Windows that might mean an account with administrator privileges.
+
+* `conda-verfiy`_ is a useful package that can also be added to the base
+  environment in order to remove some warnings generated when conda-build runs.
+
+* For critical CI/CD projects, you might want to pin to an explicit (but recent)
+  version of conda-build, i.e. only update to a newer version of conda-build
+  and conda once they have been first verified "offline".
+
+
 .. _install-conda-build:
 
 Installing conda-build
@@ -18,6 +52,7 @@ To install conda-build, in your terminal window or an Anaconda Prompt, run:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
+   conda activate base
    conda install conda-build
 
 
@@ -31,8 +66,14 @@ To update conda and conda-build, in your terminal window or an Anaconda Prompt,
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
+  conda activate base
   conda update conda
   conda update conda-build
 
 For release notes, see the `conda-build GitHub
 page <https://github.com/conda/conda-build/releases>`_.
+
+
+.. _`Conda Managing Environments`:                      https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/getting-started.html#managing-environments
+.. _`conda-verfiy`:                                     https://github.com/conda/conda-verify
+.. _`Must conda-build be installed in the base envt?`:  https://github.com/conda/conda-build/issues/4995

news/4995-run-conda-build-in-base-env

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+### Enhancements
+
+* <news item>
+
+### Bug fixes
+
+* <news item>
+
+### Deprecations
+
+* <news item>
+
+### Docs
+
+* conda-build should be run from the base env (#4995)
+
+### Other
+
+* <news item>