Installation

Tip

For Windows users with relatively little experience with Python, we warmly recommend the Anaconda distribution. Anaconda provides Python, an integrated desktop environment (Spyder), and widely used packages such as NumPy and Matplotlib.

PyQInt is available via both Conda and PyPI. We recommend using an isolated environment rather than installing into the global Python or Conda base environment. This avoids package conflicts and makes your setup easier to reproduce.

Why environments?

An environment keeps the packages for a project separate from the rest of your system (and from other projects). This prevents accidental upgrades or conflicts that can break existing setups. It also makes it easy to remove the environment later without touching your system-wide Python. For these reasons, installing into Conda’s base environment is discouraged.

Windows / Conda (recommended)

Create and activate a fresh Conda environment, then install PyQInt:

conda create -n eoesc-env -c ifilot pyqint
conda activate eoesc-env

Note

If you would like to use PyQInt’s isosurface functionality, you will also need the optional package pytessel. You can install it together with PyQInt:

conda create -n eoesc-env -c ifilot pyqint pytessel
conda activate eoesc-env

or add it later with:

conda install -c ifilot pytessel

Optionally install the Spyder IDE and common scientific packages:

conda install spyder matplotlib scipy pandas openpyxl

Linux / macOS / PyPI (recommended via virtual environment)

Use Python’s built-in virtual environments to isolate your installation:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install pyqint

Optional extra for isosurface functionality:

pip install pytessel

To leave the environment, run:

deactivate

Alternative (single-user install without a virtual environment)

If you prefer not to create a virtual environment, you can install for the current user only (no system-wide changes):

pip install --user pyqint

Warning

We do not recommend using sudo pip install .... Installing packages with administrative privileges can overwrite or conflict with system Python components and may break tools your operating system relies on.

Troubleshooting

• If Conda reports conflicts during installation, it usually means the active environment has incompatible packages. Creating a fresh environment (as shown above) is the most reliable fix.

• If pip cannot find the package or fails due to permissions, ensure your virtual environment is activated, or use --user for a local user install.

• If Spyder does not see the environment, launch Spyder from within the activated environment (conda activate eoesc-env then spyder), or configure the interpreter path in Spyder’s preferences.