.. _installation:

Installation
============

The recommended version of Python to run this package is version 3.11 (3.10 or higher
are supported), when it provides the smoothest plotting. It is also the version used
for development.

There are more ways to install the Python package. For regular use we recommend
installation from PyPI using **pip**, which will provide the latest released version.
For development, you can install from source by cloning the repository.

Using pip:

.. code-block:: bash

    pip install rational-linkages

or with optional dependencies:

.. code-block:: bash

    pip install "rational-linkages[opt,cad]"

for installing also **opt** (optional) dependencies (ipython - inline plotting,
scipy - optimization problems solving, matplotlib - alternative engine for 3D plotting)
and **cad** dependencies (exudyn - multibody simulations, ngsolve - work with meshes in exudyn,
build123d - generating STEP files of linkages, trimesh + manifold3d - generating STL files).

On **Linux** systems, to run GUI interactive plotting, some additional
libraries are required for plotting with PyQt6. Using
Ubuntu, it can be installed as follows:

.. code-block:: bash

    sudo apt install libgl1-mesa-glx libxkbcommon-x11-0 libegl1 libdbus-1-3

or on Ubuntu 24.04 and higher:

.. code-block:: bash

    sudo apt install libgl1 libxkbcommon-x11-0 libegl1 libdbus-1-3


On 64-bit platform, **gmpy2** package for optimized symbolic computations can be useful.

To install the package **from source as editable** package for development and experimental
usage, please follow the instructions in the **Install from source** section on
the main README.md page of the repository:
https://git.uibk.ac.at/geometrie-vermessung/rational-linkages#install-from-source