Setup Instructions

This page includes all of our setup instructions, organized by platform. We do not recommend that you present instructions to students this way. Instead, please pick and choose the bits of setup that are most appropriate to their needs.

Overviews

The Bash Shell

Bash is a commonly-used shell. Using a shell gives you more power to do more tasks more quickly with your computer.

Editor

When you're writing code, it's nice to have a text editor that is optimized for writing code, with features like automatic color-coding of key words.

Git

Git is a state-of-the-art version control system. It lets you track who made changes to what when and has options for easily updating a shared or public version of your code on github.com.

Python

Python is becoming more and more popular in scientific computing, and it's a great language for teaching general programming concepts due to its easy-to-read syntax. We will be using Python version 2.7. Installing all the scientific packages for Python individually can be a bit difficult, so we recommend using an all-in-one installer.

Windows

Windows / Anaconda Python

Download and install Anaconda CE.
Use all of the defaults for installation except before pressing Finish make sure to check Make Anaconda the default Python.

Windows / Git Bash

Install Git Bash following these instructions. This gives you Git as well as Bash.

Windows / Cygwin

For Cygwin under Windows, start the Cygwin Terminal by clicking on its desk-top icon:

Or browse using Windows Explorer to C:\cygwin\bin\ and double-click on mintty.exe. You should see a terminal window like:

Cygwin terminal

Your home directory—the one the Cygwin Terminal defaults to—can be found at C:\cygwin\home\your-user-name\.

Windows / Editor

Notepad++ is a popular free code editor for Windows.

Windows / Git Bash

Install Git Bash following the instructions here. This gives you Bash as well as Git. NOTE: To copy/paste into/out of this window, right click on the top bar of the window, go to the properties menu, and click on ‘QuickEditMode’. Once you have selected that, highlight text and then hit enter to copy, right-click to paste.

Windows / Mercurial

Download and install Mercurial.
If your boot camp is using EasyMercurial, download and install it.

Windows / Python

For Windows we recommend the Enthought Canopy distribution since it seems to work well with Git Bash.

For other options check the Python4Astronomers page on installing scientific Python.

Windows / SQLite

Download sqlite-shell-win32-x86-SOMENUMBERS.zip from the SQLite download page.
Unzip the file.
Copy sqlite.exe into C:\Windows.

Windows / Software Carpentry Installer

Download the installer.
If the file opens directly in the browser select File→Save Page As to download it to your computer.
Double click on the file to run it.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X / Common

These instructions were tested using Mac OS X 10.7.4, which comes with:

Bash shell
vi and nano text editors
Python 2.7
Python setuptools
sqlite3

All installation needs to be done as a root user or user with certain administrator privileges.

Mac OS X / Bash

The default shell in all versions of Mac OS X is bash, so no need to install anything. You access bash from the Terminal (found in /Applications/Utilities). You may want to keep Terminal in your dock for this workshop.

Mac OS X / Editor

We recommend Text Wrangler or Sublime Text.

Mac OS X / Git

Installing Git may require you to first install XCode. This is a very large download (several gigabytes), so please do it before arriving at the bootcamp.

For Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8:

Go to the Xcode website. Get XCode from the App Store making certain to install the command line tools (from the Download preferences pane). Git is included in the command line tools.

For Mac OS X 10.6

If you have Mac OS X 10.6, first get XCode by going to the Apple developer site. You have to sign in with an Apple ID linked to a Developer account. If you don't have one, you can register and create one. Once you log in, go to page 8 and find "XCode 3.2.6 and iOS SDK 4.3 for Snow Leopard". Click to open that section, and then download the .dmg file. Finally, install just git.

Mac OS X / Make

If you do not already have access to make from within your shell, you will need to install XCode (which is free, but over a gigabyte to download).

Go to the Apple app store
Search for XCode
Click Free
Click Install App

Once XCode has installed:

Click Applications
Click XCode
Select XCode→Preferences...
Click Downloads
Select Command Line Tools
Click Install

You will now be able to run make within your Bash shell.

Mac OS X / Mercurial

Download and install the Mac binary package. If your bootcamp is also using the EasyMercurial GUI, download the Mac binary package.

Mac OS X / Python Nose

Run:

$ easy_install nose

and then run:

$ nosetests

You should see something like:

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 0 tests in 0.003s
OK

Mac OS X / Python

We recommend the all-in-one scientific Python installer Anaconda. (Installation requires using the shell and if you aren't comfortable doing the installation yourself just download the installer and we'll help you at the boot camp.)

Download the installer that matches your operating system and save it in your home folder.
Open a terminal window..
Type
```
bash Anaconda-
```
and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear.
Press enter. You will follow the text-only prompts. When there is a colon at the bottom of the screen press the down arrow to move down through the text. Type yes and press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the default location for the files. Type yes and press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH (this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).

Mac OS X / Terminal

Browse to the Applications folder, then into the Utilities folder and open the Terminal application. You should see a terminal window like:

Mac terminal

Your home directory—the one the terminal defaults to—can be found at /Users/your-user-name.

Generic Linux

Linux / Bash

The default shell is usually bash, but if your machine is set up differently you can run it by opening a terminal and typing bash. There is no need to install anything.

Linux / Editor

Kate is one option for Linux users.

Linux / Git

If Git is not already available on your machine you can try to install it via your distro's package manager (e.g. apt-get).

Linux / Python

Download the installer that matches your operating system and save it in your home folder.
Open a terminal window..
Type
```
bash Anaconda-
```
and then press tab. The name of the file you just downloaded should appear.
Press enter. You will follow the text-only prompts. When there is a colon at the bottom of the screen press the down arrow to move down through the text. Type yes and press enter to approve the license. Press enter to approve the default location for the files. Type yes and press enter to prepend Anaconda to your PATH (this makes the Anaconda distribution the default Python).

Red Hat Scientific Linux

Scientific Linux 6 already comes with:

Bash shell
Make
vi text editor

All installation needs to be done as a root user or user with certain administrator privileges. If you have such access you can do:

$ sudo su -

and then enter your usual password. The yum commands used in the instructions were tested using Scientific Linux release 6.2 (Carbon).

Red Hat Scientific Linux / EasyMercurial

If your bootcamp is using the EasyMercurial GUI, download the EasyMercurial Debian/Ubuntu source package. This can be done at the command-line by copying the download link from the download page (using right-click and Copy Shortcut) then using wget, e.g.:

$ wget https://code.soundsoftware.ac.uk/attachments/download/489/EasyMercurial-1.2.2-src.tar.gz

(This link may have been updated since this page was written, so check the download page above for the URL to use.) Next, unpack the distribution:

$ gunzip EasyMercurial-1.2.2-src.tar.gz
$ tar -xf EasyMercurial-1.2.2-src.tar
$ cd EasyMercurial-1.2.2-src

Install dependencies:

$ yum install qt4
$ yum install qt4-devel
$ yum install PyQt4

and then build (the EasyMercurial README says to use qmake but I used qmake-qt4):

$ qmake-qt4
$ make

Finally, run:

$ ./EasyMercurial

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Emacs or XEmacs

Run:

$ yum install emacs
$ emacs --version

Run:

$ yum install xemacs
$ xemacs --version

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Mercurial

If you are using the latest version of EasyMercurial then you need at least Mercurial 1.7. Unfortunately the easy-to-use command:

$ yum install mercurial

only installs 1.4, so we need to build from source. First, download the Mercurial source package. This can be done at the command-line by copying the download link from the download page (using right-click and Copy Shortcut) then using a wget, e.g.:

$ wget http://mercurial.selenic.com/release/mercurial-2.3.2.tar.gz

(This link may have been updated since this page was written, so check the download page above for the URL to use.) Second, unpack the distribution:

$ gunzip mercurial-2.3.2.tar.gz
$ tar -xf mercurial-2.3.2.tar
$ cd mercurial-2.3.2

Third, install dependencies:

$ yum install python-devel
$ easy_install docutils

Fourth and finally, build and install the software:

$ make install

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Nano

Run:

$ yum install nano
$ nano --version

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Python Nose

Run:

$ easy_install nose

And check:

$ nosetests
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 0 tests in 0.003s
OK

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Python

Run:

$ yum install python

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Python Setuptools

Run:

$ yum install python-setuptools

Red Hat Scientific Linux / SQLite

SQLite does not need administrator privileges to run. To install, download the SQLite Precompiled Binaries for Linux package from the SQLite download page. This can be done at the command-line by copying the download link from the download page (using right-click and Copy Shortcut) then using wget, e.g.:

$ wget http://www.sqlite.org/sqlite-shell-linux-x86-3071401.zip

(This link may have been updated since this page was written, so check the download page above for the URL to use.) Next, unzip and make sure the binary runs:

$ unzip sqlite-shell-linux-x86-3071100.zip
$ ./sqlite3 --version

You can then copy the sqlite3 binary wherever you would like.

Red Hat Scientific Linux / Terminal

This depends on what windowing system you are using whether it be KDE, GNOME or X-windows. For example, for GNOME select the menu Applications→System Tools and select Terminal. You should see a terminal window like:

Gnome terminal

Ubuntu

Ubuntu / Common

These commands were tested using Ubuntu 11.04 running within VMWare. Ubuntu 11.04 already comes with:

Bash shell
Make
vi and nano text editors
Python 2.7
Firefox

All installation needs to be done as a root user or user with certain administrator privileges. If you have such access you can do:

$ sudo su -

Then enter your usual password.

Ubuntu / EasyMercurial

If your bootcamp is using the EasyMercurial GUI, download the EasyMercurial Debian/Ubuntu .deb package. This can be done at the command-line by copying the download link from the download page (using right-click and Copy Shortcut) then using wget, e.g.:

$ wget https://code.soundsoftware.ac.uk/attachments/download/487/easymercurial_1.2.2cc-1_i386.deb

(This link may have been updated since this page was written, so check the download page above for the URL to use.) Next, run:

$ dpkg -i easymercurial_1.2cc-1_i386.deb

This will produce a lot of warnings about dependency problems—ignore them. Now run:

$ apt-get -f install
$ dpkg -i easymercurial_1.2cc-1_i386.deb

Go to the Applications→Programming menu and you should see an EasyMercurial command. Select it and EasyMercurial should start.

Ubuntu / Emacs or XEmacs

Run:

$ apt-get install emacs23
$ emacs --version

Run:

$ apt-get install xemacs21
$ xemacs --version

Ubuntu / Mercurial

Run:

$ apt-get install mercurial
$ hg --version

Ubuntu / Python Nose

Run:

$ easy_install nose

and check:

$ nosetests
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ran 0 tests in 0.003s
OK

Ubuntu / Python Setuptools

Run:

$ apt-get install python-setuptools

Ubuntu / SQLite

$ wget http://www.sqlite.org/sqlite-shell-linux-x86-3071401.zip

(This link may have been updated since this page was written, so check the download page above for the URL to use.) Next, unzip and make sure the binary runs:

$ unzip sqlite-shell-linux-x86-3071100.zip
$ ./sqlite3 --version

You can then copy the sqlite3 binary wherever you would like.

Ubuntu / Terminal Window

Select the menu Applications→Accessories and select Terminal. You should see a terminal window like:

Ubuntu terminal

Virtual Machine

Installation issues can and do happen. To ensure that you can continue to participate in a lesson even if one of your software programs fails, we provide a Linux virtual machine that contains all the necessary software pre-installed. Please install VirtualBox and download this virtual machine image. Load the VM into VirtualBox by doing Import Appliance and loading the .ova file.

Firefox SQLite Manager Plugin

The SQLite Manager add-on can be installed through the "Add-ons Manager" in Firefox.

Start Firefox.
Select Tools→Add-ons.
In the search field, enter sqlite.
Click the search icon.
Double-click to select SQLite Manager 0.7.7.
Click Install.
Click restart now.
When Firefox restarts, select either Web Developer→SQLite Manager or Tools→SQLite Manager.