System requirements
-------------------

ViTables 3.0.0 has been tested against the latest versions of Python (2 and 3),
PyTables and PyQt. You can try other versions at your own risk :).

Installation on a conda environment
-----------------------------------

Using conda you should be able to run vitables on any system, let it
be linux, mac or windows. The following are instructions for linux-like
systems.

Install conda:
  http://www.conda.io

Clone vitables...
```sh
  git clone git@github.com:uvemas/ViTables.git
  cd ViTables
```
...or download it
```sh
  wget https://github.com/uvemas/ViTables/archive/master.tar.gz
  tar xzvf master.tar.gz
  rm -f master.tar.gz
  cd ViTables-master
```

You can use the provided ```environment.yml``` file to create a new
environment with the minimal dependencies needed to run vitables:
```sh
  conda env create -n vitables -f environment.yml
```

Activate the environment whenever you want to run vitables
```sh
  source activate vitables
  vitables [whatever.h5]
```

Installation on Windows and Mac OS X platforms
----------------------------------------------
Currently there are no graphical installers available for these platforms. You
have to install ViTables from the command line, using one of the methods
described in the Linux section.

Installation on Linux platforms
-------------------------------

The Python setuptools are used to build and install ViTables. You can install
the package from PyPI issuing the command::

  $ pip install vitables

This should install the ViTables wheel. If you experience problems installing
the binary package you can install from sources (provided your system fulfills
the requirements listed in the above section). Just download the tarball from
PyPI, uncompress it, change to the distribution directory and execute (as root)

 $ python setup.py install

If you are doing this on a MacOS X platform, please make sure that the
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable has been setup properly.

By default ViTables will be installed in the system-protected area where
your system installs third party Python packages so you will need superuser
privileges. If you prefer to install the package in a different location
(for instance, your home directory) so that the installation can be done by
non privileged users, you can do it using the --prefix (or --home) tag

 $ python setup.py install --prefix=/home/myuser/mystuff

Please, remember that installing Python modules in non-standard locations
makes it necessary to setup properly the PYTHONPATH environment variable so
that the Python interpreter can find the new modules.

If you need further customizations, please have a look to the output of the
command

 $python setup.py install --help

to see all the available options. Complete information about them can be
found in the Distutils documentation.
