Installation#

All you need to install MACPie is a Python environment. If you do not have Python installed or are not sure, the easiest way to proceed is to install Anaconda, a popular cross platform distribution of Python.

Python version support#

Python version 3.9 or greater is required.

Installing MACPie using your existing Python installation#

When using Python tools such as MACPie, it is recommended to isolate them inside of a virtual environment so they do not conflict with other Python tools or projects. So first create a virtual environment, and from then on, use this virtual environment every time you use MACPie.

Create a virtual environment#

Go to the directory where you would like to create your virtual environment.

On MacOS and Linux:

$ python3 -m venv env

On Windows:

$ py -m venv env

The second argument, env, is the name of your new virtual environment.

venv will create a virtual Python installation in the env folder.

Activate the virtual environment#

Before you can start installing or using packages in your virtual environment, you need to activate it.

On MacOS and Linux:

$ source env/bin/activate

On Windows:

$ .\env\Scripts\activate

You can confirm you’re in the activated virtual environment by checking the location of your Python interpreter; it should point to the env directory.

On MacOS and Linux:

$ which python
.../env/bin/python

On Windows:

$ where python
.../env/bin/python.exe

As long as your virtual environment is activated, pip will install packages into that specific virtual environment.

Install macpie via pip in your virtual environment#

Now that you’re in your virtual environment, you can install macpie.

$ pip install macpie

MACPie is now installed and you are ready to use it in your code or on the command line.

Leaving the virtual environment#

If you want to switch projects or otherwise leave your virtual environment, simply run:

$ deactivate

If you want to re-enter the virtual environment just follow the same instructions above about activating a virtual environment. There’s no need to re-create the virtual environment.

Installing MACPie with Anaconda#

If you don’t have an existing Python environment, we recommend installing Python by installing Anaconda.

Installing Conda#

The simplest way to install Anaconda is to use their minimal installer called Miniconda.

Starting Conda#

On MacOS and Linux:

  • Open a terminal window

  • All commands below are typed into the terminal window.

On Windows:

  • From the Start menu, search for and open “Anaconda Prompt (Miniconda)”

  • All commands below are typed into the Anaconda Prompt window.

Verify that conda is installed and running on your system by typing:

$ conda --version

Conda displays the number of the version that you have installed, such as conda 4.8.4.

If you get an error message, make sure of the following:

  • You are logged into the same user account that you used to install Anaconda or Miniconda.

  • You are in a directory that Anaconda or Miniconda can find.

  • You have closed and re-opened the terminal window after installing conda.

Create a conda environment#

When using Python tools, it is recommended to isolate them inside of a conda environment so they do not conflict with other Python tools or projects. So first create an environment, and from then on, you will use this environment every time you use MACPie.

To create an environment:

$ conda create --name myenv

Activate conda environment#

To activate your conda environment:

$ conda activate myenv

By default, the active environment–the one you are currently using–is shown in parentheses () or brackets [] at the beginning of your command prompt:

(myenv) $

Install macpie via pip in your conda environment#

Now that you’re in your conda environment and its activated, you can use pip to install macpie.

$ pip install macpie

Leaving the conda environment#

To leave your conda environment, it is better to return to the base environment rather than deactivate your current environment. You return to the base environment by calling activate with no environment specified.

$ conda activate

Installing optional dependencies#

macpie has optional dependencies that are only used for specific classes or methods. For example, macpie.collections.BasicGraph uses the networkx package, while the mpsql command requires the SQLAlchemy package.

mpsql command#

The mpsql commands deals with SQL databases, and therefore depends on the the following packages:

Dependency

Minimum Version

Notes

mysql-connector-python

8.0

Python driver for communicating with MySQL servers

SQLAlchemy

1.3

Python ORM library

Install with: pip install macpie[mpsql]

All command line tools#

You can also install all of the command line tool dependencies with:

$ pip install macpie[all_cli]