Installation under Linux

This page describes the most common ways to install Pyrocko under Linux. Pick the one that fits your situation:

Your situation	Way to install
Debian or Ubuntu	Prebuilt packages from our apt repository
Any distribution (recommended)	pip in a virtual environment, prerequisites from the system
No suitable system packages, or no permission to install them	pip in an isolated virtual environment
Working on Pyrocko itself, or need a special branch	Installation from source
Conda user	Installation with conda

Recommended: pip in a virtual environment, prerequisites from the system

On any Linux distribution, Pyrocko can be installed with pip into a virtual environment (a directory with its own set of Python packages), while all its prerequisites come from the distribution’s own packages. This way, pip doesn’t interfere with the packages of your system, and the system’s packages for NumPy, Qt, etc. are used, which are well integrated with the rest of your system.

Step 1: Prerequisites

Install the prerequisites with your system’s package manager:

Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, …

sudo apt install python3-venv python3-numpy python3-scipy \
    python3-matplotlib python3-yaml python3-requests python3-jinja2 \
    python3-tornado python3-pyqt5 python3-pyqt5.qtopengl \
    python3-pyqt5.qtsvg python3-pyqt5.qtwebengine python3-vtk9

Fedora

sudo dnf install python3-numpy python3-scipy python3-matplotlib \
    python3-matplotlib-qt5 python3-pyyaml python3-requests \
    python3-jinja2 python3-tornado python3-qt5 python3-qt5-webengine \
    python3-vtk

openSUSE

sudo zypper install python3-numpy python3-scipy python3-matplotlib \
    python3-matplotlib-qt5 python3-PyYAML python3-requests \
    python3-Jinja2 python3-tornado python3-qt5 python3-PyQtWebEngine \
    python3-vtk

Arch

sudo pacman -S --needed python-numpy python-scipy python-matplotlib \
    python-yaml python-requests python-jinja python-tornado \
    python-pyqt5 vtk

Step 2: Virtual environment and Pyrocko

Create the virtual environment, with access to the system’s packages, and install Pyrocko into it:

python3 -m venv --system-site-packages ~/venv/pyrocko
source ~/venv/pyrocko/bin/activate
pip install pyrocko

source ~/venv/pyrocko/bin/activate activates the virtual environment in the current terminal: python3, pip and Pyrocko’s applications (e.g. snuffler, squirrel) then refer to the virtual environment. Run it in every new terminal in which you want to use Pyrocko. Alternatively, you can start the applications without activating, e.g. ~/venv/pyrocko/bin/snuffler.

• To update Pyrocko, activate the virtual environment and run pip install --upgrade pyrocko.

• To remove it, simply delete the directory ~/venv/pyrocko.

• If pip starts to download NumPy, SciPy, PyQt5 or other prerequisites, one of them is missing on your system. Stop pip (Ctrl-C), install the missing package with your system’s package manager (Step 1) and run pip again.

• If no prebuilt pip package of Pyrocko exists for your Python version (e.g. for very new Python versions), pip builds Pyrocko from source. This needs a C compiler and the Python headers, e.g. on Fedora: sudo dnf install gcc make patch python3-devel.

Alternative: pip in an isolated virtual environment

If suitable system packages for the prerequisites are not available, e.g. on an older distribution or on a system where you cannot install packages, pip can install all prerequisites into the virtual environment as well. The virtual environment is then isolated: it doesn’t use any of the system’s Python packages, only the Python interpreter itself.

python3 -m venv ~/venv/pyrocko
source ~/venv/pyrocko/bin/activate
pip install "pyrocko[gui]"

The [gui] part also installs the prerequisites of the GUI applications (PyQt5 and VTK); leave it out if you don’t need them. On Debian and Ubuntu, the venv module needs the package python3-venv.

Activating, updating and removing work as described above. Compared to the recommended way, the isolated virtual environment needs more disk space, you have to update the prerequisites yourself (pip install --upgrade ...), and the GUI libraries from pip may integrate less well with the desktop than the system’s.

Installation from source, for development

To work on Pyrocko itself, or to use a specific branch, install it from source. The first three variants use Pyrocko’s install.py helper, which can also install the prerequisites with your system’s package manager. The last one installs a branch directly with pip.

System-wide

Any Linux

cd ~/src/   # or wherever you keep your source packages
git clone https://git.pyrocko.org/pyrocko/pyrocko.git pyrocko
cd pyrocko
python install.py deps system  # installs prerequisites using apt/yum/pacman
python install.py system       # installs Pyrocko with pip, but uses system deps

Into a virtual environment, prerequisites from pip

Any Linux

cd ~/src/   # or wherever you keep your source packages
git clone https://git.pyrocko.org/pyrocko/pyrocko.git pyrocko
cd pyrocko
python -m venv myenv
source myenv/bin/activate
pip install .                          # pip auto-resolves prerequisites (!)
pip install --only-binary :all: PyQt5 PyQtWebEngine # for Snuffler

Into a virtual environment, prerequisites from the system

Any Linux

cd ~/src/   # or wherever you keep your source packages
git clone https://git.pyrocko.org/pyrocko/pyrocko.git pyrocko
cd pyrocko
python -m venv --system-site-packages myenv
source myenv/bin/activate
python install.py deps system  # installs prerequisites using apt/yum/pacman
python install.py user         # installs Pyrocko with pip, but uses system deps

Directly from the repository with pip, without cloning

To try out a specific branch (or tag, or commit) without keeping a source checkout, pip can fetch and build it directly from the Git repository. Set up the prerequisites and the virtual environment as described in Recommended: pip in a virtual environment, prerequisites from the system, then, with the virtual environment activated:

Any Linux

pip install "git+https://git.pyrocko.org/pyrocko/pyrocko.git@BRANCH"

Replace BRANCH with the name of the branch, e.g. main. This needs git, a C compiler and the Python headers (e.g. on Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install git gcc python3-dev). To pick up new commits on the branch later, run the command again with --force-reinstall --no-deps added.

Distribution specific details and prerequisite package lists

• Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, ... (deb based)
• Fedora, Centos, ... (rpm based)
• OpenSuse
• Arch

For instructions on how to install Pyrocko on other systems or if the installation with any of the above procedures fails, see System specific installation instructions or Detailed installation instructions.