Python¶
We use the system python3. By default this is the one in
/usr/bin. The development packages are required, eg the file
/usr/include/python3.6/Python.h and so forth. After you have
ensured that you have python and your development packages installed,
you will probably want to set up additional python tools.
To build against non-system python:
$ cmake ../src -DPython_EXECUTABLE=/path/to/python/executable
Important
You should be using Python3. Support for Python2 was dropped at the beginning of 2021.
Setting Up Additional Python Tools¶
There are several useful python tools that can be added to your local environment to provide analysis-level tools like IPython (https://ipython.org/), MatPlotLib (https://matplotlib.org/), Numpy (https://numpy.org/) and PyTables (https://www.pytables.org/). These instructions will help you get these additional tools setup and guide you through a few examples.
Ubuntu or Debian Linux¶
On recent Ubuntu (7.10 or better) and Debian (5.0 or better) Linux releases, the system provided python tools work very well. Install the following packages and their dependencies:
ipython
python-matplotlib
python-tables
python-scipy
Mac OS X¶
See Python on macOS for tips on setting up your Python environment. The following packages are quite helpful and can be installed with pip:
ipython
matplotlib
pytables
numpy
scipy
FreeBSD¶
The python modules in ports work quite well. The recommended set is:
devel/ipython
math/py-matplotlib
devel/py-tables
science/py-scipy
Site CMake¶
You will need to have a site cmake file for python, or else cmake will try to use your system python and you will all sorts of ugly errors. More information can be found in the I3_SITE_CMAKE_DIR section (which contains a python specific example.)
Taking your new python tools for a test-drive¶
This section has become grossly out-of-date and has been removed. A new test-drive tutorial is welcome!
