diff --git a/conda/bob-devel/meta.yaml b/conda/bob-devel/meta.yaml
index a648c60bea71a824fb8ccf39f3b25306d2725265..abf2b5132719d6d826ca12d814e15531386891fc 100644
--- a/conda/bob-devel/meta.yaml
+++ b/conda/bob-devel/meta.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ package:
   name: bob-devel
   # please update the version of beat-devel and update bob-devel's version there
   # as well in the same merge request.
-  version: 2019.08.04
+  version: 2019.08.06
 
 build:
   # the build number must be zero all the time.
@@ -18,58 +18,59 @@ requirements:
   host:
     - python {{ python }}
     # Dependency list of bob packages. Everything is pinned to allow for better
-    # reproducibility. Please keep this list sorted. It is recommended that you
+    # reproducibility. Please keep this list sorted. It is MANDATORY that you
     # update all dependencies at once (to their latest version) each time you
     # modify the dependencies here. Use ``conda search`` to find the latest
     # version of packages.
     - boost 1.67.0
     - caffe 1.0  # [linux]
     - click 7.0
-    - click-plugins 1.0.4
+    - click-plugins 1.1.1
     - cmake 3.14.0
     - coverage 4.5.3
     - cyvlfeat 0.4.6
     - docopt 0.6.2
-    - ffmpeg 4.0
+    # to make sure we get ffmpeg from our own channel which has more codecs
+    - ffmpeg 4.0 hadceb68_1
     - freetype 2.9.1
     - giflib 5.1.4
     - hdf5 1.10.2
     - jinja2 2.10.1
     - jpeg 9b
-    - kaldi 2017.03.13  # [linux]
+    - kaldi 1!5.5.164  # [linux]
     - libblitz 1.0.1
     - libmatio 1.5.15
     - libogg 1.3.2
-    - libpng 1.6.36
+    - libpng 1.6.37
     - libsvm 3.22
     - libtiff 4.0.10
     - madmom 0.16.1
-    - matplotlib 3.0.3
-    - mkl 2019.3
+    - matplotlib 3.1.0
+    - mkl 2019.4
     - mne 0.15.2
     - mr.developer 1.38
     - nose 1.3.7
     - numpy 1.16.2
     - opencv 3.4.2
-    - pillow 5.4.1
+    - pillow 6.1.0
     - pkg-config 0.29.2
     - pyedflib 0.1.11
     - cudatoolkit 9.0  # [linux]
     - pytorch 1.0.1  # [linux]
-    - pyyaml 5.1
-    - requests 2.21.0
+    - pyyaml 5.1.1
+    - requests 2.22.0
     - schema 0.6.8
-    - scikit-image 0.14.2
-    - scikit-learn 0.20.3
-    - scipy 1.2.1
-    - setuptools 41.0.0
+    - scikit-image 0.15.0
+    - scikit-learn 0.21.2
+    - scipy 1.3.0
+    - setuptools 41.0.1
     - six 1.12.0
     - sox 14.4.2
-    - sphinx 1.8.5
+    - sphinx 2.1.2
     - sphinx_rtd_theme 0.4.3
-    - sqlalchemy 1.3.1
+    - sqlalchemy 1.3.5
     - tabulate 0.8.3
-    - tensorflow 1.13.1
+    - tensorflow 1.14.0
     - torchvision 0.2.1  # [linux and py<37]
     - vlfeat 0.9.21
     - zc.buildout 2.12.2
diff --git a/conda_build_config.yaml b/conda_build_config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4d47b1acdfb88a482d6f762020afe6e163f18089
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conda_build_config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+macos_min_version:
+  - 10.9
+macos_machine:
+  - x86_64-apple-darwin13.4.0
+MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET:
+  - 10.9
+CONDA_BUILD_SYSROOT:            # [osx]
+  - /opt/MacOSX10.9.sdk         # [osx]
+# This helps CMAKE find the sysroot. See
+# https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.11/variable/CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT.html
+SDKROOT:                        # [osx]
+  - /opt/MacOSX10.9.sdk         # [osx]
+# makes autotools verbose
+VERBOSE_AT:
+  - V=1
+# makes cmake verbose
+VERBOSE_CM:
+  - VERBOSE=1
+
+# the blas implementations that we build against
+blas_impl:
+  - mkl
+
+## the dependencies that we build against multiple versions
+python:
+  - 3.6
+  - 3.7
+
+zip_keys:
+  -                             # [win]
+    - vc                        # [win]
+    - c_compiler                # [win]
+    - cxx_compiler              # [win]
+    - fortran_compiler_version  # [win]
+    - python                    # [win]
+
+numpy:
+  - 1.16.2
diff --git a/condarc b/condarc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..21c399acd419337a4556b942c47816be2e47b5b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/condarc
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+default_channels:
+  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
+add_pip_as_python_dependency: false #!final
+always_yes: true #!final
+quiet: true #!final
+show_channel_urls: true #!final
+anaconda_upload: false #!final
+ssl_verify: false #!final
+remote_connect_timeout_secs: 120.0 #!final
+remote_max_retries: 50 #!final
+remote_read_timeout_secs: 180.0 #!final
+channels:
+  - defaults