Miniconda3 environment created with `--prefix` flag fails to auto activate in terminal

I have a Debian system with miniconda3 installed and two environments: a global one ('base': conda) and a local one ('.conda-env': conda). When selecting the global one and creating a new terminal window the environment is correctly activated via the following commands:

$ source /opt/miniconda3/bin/activate
(miniconda3) $ conda activate base
(miniconda3) $

Whereas if I select the local one, the activation does not take place:

$ source activate .conda-env
bash: activate: No such file or directory

In reality in both cases it would be enough if the automatic call was:

$ conda activate <environment>

instead of:

$ source <python.pythonPath>
$ conda activate <environment>

[simozacca]

With newer versions of conda, the activating command source activate ${env} is not by default added by conda initialization and vscode fails to activate any virtual environment with error activate does not exist. Is it possible to fix this to make it compatible with new conda and please use conda activate ${env} instead? Clearly https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-python/issues/8870 would be ideal

I added activate to my .bashrc but does anyone any other temporary workaround? I consider this to be a very disruptive issue that might be very easy to solve?

[itzsimpl]

I tend to agree with @DonJayamanne, but I’d also upvote the idea mentioned by @karrtikr. From a user’s standpoint, it would be good to have the flexibility to change the activation script, if necessary. A working default should however always be provided.