On 9/12/2013 8:52 PM, David Baddeley wrote:
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone knows of an easy (or relatively easy) way of putting together a scientific python distribution with a one-click installer. I've got a python package with _lots_ of dependencies and would like to give users (with relatively limited computer skills) a simple way of installing python, my package, and all the dependencies. I have previously told people to download EPD, upgrade wxpython, and install a couple of additional packages (which is already pushing it in terms of what the users are comfortable with). The switch to canopy (with the accompanying move to a package management system in which one has to manually select which packages to install) makes this infeasible. The alternative distributions (PythonXY, Anaconda etc ...) are all either 32 bit only, or lack many of the packages I need, meaning that I'd need to get users to download a much longer list of additional packages. I want a python distribution, rather than just a py2exed version as parts of my code don't work well with py2exe.
Has anyone encountered this situation, and what did you do?
many thanks, David
Hi David, I recently taught a class in which we used Python and a variety of scientific packages, and faced a similar problem. My approach was to get things downloaded and tested locally before providing a 'batteries and extras included' distribution to the students. I used Python(x,y), installed the necessary software locally into this distribution, did thorough testing of all of the packages to be used, zipped the whole enhanced distribution onto a few usb drives, and had these available for students to copy. Best regards, gyro