Installing pyDARN

---

For most users, pyDARN can be installed simply by:

pip3 install pydarn

If already installed, pyDARN can be upgraded by:

pip3 install --upgrade pydarn

Installing in virtual environments is recommended, see below for details.

Prerequisites

pyDARN requires python 3.8 or later, see list below for library dependencies.

Depending on your operating system or distribution, the following package installers, development environments or data parsers are required:

Ubuntu	OpenSuse	Fedora	OSX	Windows
libyaml-dev	python3-PyYAML	libyaml-devel	Xcode/pip	pip

You can check your python version using

$ python --version or $ python3 --version

Dependencies

On installation, pyDARN will download the following dependencies:

• NumPy
• scipy <1.15.0
• matplotlib 3.7.0+
• PyYAML
• pyDARNio 2.0.0+
• AACGMv2
• Cartopy 0.22.0+

pyDARN will also install any dependencies of the above libraries.

Cartopy

Updates to the Cartopy library mean that new versions can be installed as dependencies easily, unlike earlier versions which required an installation process. If you have any issues with the installation, you can try to pre-install Cartopy before pyDARN:

To install cartopy please follow the official installation instructions.

Virtual Environments

It is recommended to install pyDARN in a virtual environment if you have multiple python versions on your computer, or do not want to affect the main systems python libraries.

pip Virtual Environment

Instructions can be found here virtual environment

Option 1:

1. $ python3 -m pip install --user venv (Install virtual environment package)
2. $ python3 -m venv <environment name> (Make your virtual environment)
3. $ source <environment name>/bin/activate (Activate the virtual environment)
4. $ pip3 install pydarn (Install pyDARN)

Anaconda Virtual Environment

Instructions can be found here conda environment and installing anaconda

1. $ conda create -n yourenvname python=3.8 anaconda
2. $ conda activate yourenvname
3. $ pip install pydarn

Adding the environment to PyCharm

To set the project interpreter to the anaconda environment:

1. File -> Settings -> Project Folder -> Project Interpreter
2. Click the project Interpreter drop down list and click on show all.
3. If you don't see the environment you wish to use click the plus sign on the right side bar named "Add"
4. Select "Conda Environment" on the left side menu.
5. Click "Existing Environment" and give the interpreter field the path to your environment's python.exe and apply.

Installing for Development or Testing

pyDARN's default github branch is develop for quicker and easer development.

git clone https://github.com/SuperDARN/pydarn.git

To install a specific branch to develop or test:

cd pydarn

git checkout branch_name

pip3 install .

You can alternatively install a specific branch using the following installation, this is most useful for testing new branches:

pip3 install git+https://github.com/superdarn/pydarn@branch_name

Please read pyDARN Workflow documentation for more information on developing for pyDARN.

Troubleshooting

Some known issues with solutions are:

pip3 installation with Ubuntu 20.4/python 3.8.4

Issue: pip3 install --user git+https://github.com/superdarn/pydarn@develop not working

Solution:

1. check git is installed apt install git (for ubuntu)
2. Check pip version pip --version - with newer distros of Linux/Virtual machines pip may point to python3 and you will not need pip3.
3. Alternative virtual environment steps for getting python 3.8 working

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install python3-virtualenv python3-pip
$ cd ~/
$ mkdir venvs
$ virtualenv -p python3.8 ~/venvs/py38
$ echo "source $HOME/venvs/py38/bin/activate" >> ~/.bashrc

Then open a new terminal and you should see (pyy38) in the prompt.

More details on issue #37

aacgmv2 won't install

Issue: unable to execute 'gcc': No such file or directory error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1

Solution:

1. Ensure gcc is installed if not install it
2. Ensure you install python3-dev (Ubuntu) or python3-devel for RPM OS Linux operating systems.

General Plotting Errors

Solution:

1. check matplotlib version, if lower than 3.7.0, then upgrade matplotlib to an equal or higher version.
2. pip install -U matplotlib

If you find any problems/solutions, please make a github issue so the community can help you or add it to the documentation!