[Numpy-discussion] Update webpage for python requirements for Numpy/SciPy

[Jarrod Millman]

On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 1:24 PM, Bruce Southey <bsouthey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> Could someone please update the website to clearly state that numpy 1.2
> requires Python 2.4 or later?
> I know it is in the release notes but that assumes people read them :-)
>
> It would be great to state this on the download and installation pages:
> http://www.scipy.org/Download
> http://www.scipy.org/Installing_SciPy
>
> Also there should be a mention that nose is required at for testing.
>
> A couple of dated material that I noticed are:
>
> http://www.scipy.org/Installing_SciPy/BuildingGeneral
> 'To build SciPy, Python version 2.3 or newer is required.'
>
> The FAQ page (http://www.scipy.org/FAQ)
> NumPy/SciPy installation
> 'Prerequisities
> NumPy requires the following software installed:
> 1. Python 2.3.x or 2.4.x or 2.5.x '

It is extremely difficult to keep track of the numerous pages that
explain what the requirements are and how to build and install
everything.  I would love it if someone would volunteer to add this
information to the user documentation for numpy:
  http://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/user/
and scipy:
  http://docs.scipy.org/doc/scipy/reference/    (maybe in the tutorial)?

Then we can just link to the relevant authoritative site on as many
pages as we want.  Since the docs are checked into the source code, it
will be much easier--and more likely--that developers will update this
information will they are working on the code.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to do this myself, but I would be
extremely appreciative if some else was able to take the time to do
this.  It would be very useful.

You could start here:
  http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/scipy/browser/trunk/INSTALL.txt
  http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/numpy/browser/trunk/INSTALL.txt

And the integrate the various information from the other sites listed
above.  As soon as the information is moved from the wiki to the
official docs, you could replace the source pages with links to the
official, authoritative site.

I am thinking the final version would look something like this:
  http://neuroimaging.scipy.org/site/doc/manual/html/users/installation.html
  http://neuroimaging.scipy.org/site/doc/manual/html/devel/install/index.html

Of course, the information might not always be correct; but if there
is one authoritative site where everyone can point out things that are
broken or don't work, it hopefully won't take too long to get
everything in good shape.  So if you are up to the challenge, I would
recommend just merging everything to start and not worrying to much
about testing and verifying that everything works correctly before
starting.

Thanks,
Jarrod