IPython requires Python 2.6, 2.7, or ≥ 3.2.
Note
If you need to use Python 2.5, you can find an old version (≤0.10) of IPython here.
Quickstart
If you have :mod:`setuptools`, the quickest way to get up and running with IPython is:
$ easy_install ipython[all]
This will download and install IPython and its main optional dependencies:
- jinja2, needed for the notebook
- sphinx, needed for nbconvert
- pyzmq, needed for IPython's parallel computing features, qt console and notebook
- pygments, used by nbconvert and the Qt console for syntax highlighting
- tornado, needed by the web-based notebook
- nose, used by the test suite
- readline (on OS X) or pyreadline (on Windows), needed for the terminal
To run IPython's test suite, use the :command:`iptest` command:
$ iptest
Note
$ pip install ipython[all]
will also work in many cases, but it will ignore the binary eggs of packages such as pyzmq and readline, which may be required for some users on Windows or OS X.
Overview
This document describes in detail the steps required to install IPython, and its various optional dependencies. For a few quick ways to get started with package managers or full Python distributions, see the install page of the IPython website.
IPython is organized into a number of subpackages, each of which has its own dependencies. All of the subpackages come with IPython, so you don't need to download and install them separately. However, to use a given subpackage, you will need to install all of its dependencies.
Please let us know if you have problems installing IPython or any of its dependencies.
IPython and most dependencies can be installed via :command:`easy_install`, provided by the :mod:`setuptools` package, or :command:`pip`. In many scenarios, this is the most simplest method of installing Python packages. More information about :mod:`setuptools` can be found on its PyPI page.
Note
On Windows, IPython requires :mod:`setuptools`. We hope to change this in the future, but for now on Windows, you must install :mod:`setuptools` to use IPython.
More general information about installing Python packages can be found in Python's documentation.
Installing IPython itself
Given a properly built Python, the basic interactive IPython shell will work with no external dependencies. However, some Python distributions (particularly on Windows and OS X), don't come with a working :mod:`readline` module. The IPython shell will work without :mod:`readline`, but will lack many features that users depend on, such as tab completion and command line editing. If you install IPython with :mod:`setuptools`, (e.g. with easy_install), then the appropriate :mod:`readline` for your platform will be installed. See below for details of how to make sure you have a working :mod:`readline`.
Installation using easy_install or pip
If you have :mod:`setuptools` or :mod:`pip`, the easiest way of getting IPython is to simply use :command:`easy_install` or :command:`pip`:
$ pip install ipython
That's it.
Note
Many prefer :command:`pip` to :command:`easy_install`, but it ignores eggs (binary Python packages). This mainly affects pyzmq and readline, which are compiled packages and provide binary eggs. If you use :command:`pip` to install these packages, it will always compile from source, which may not succeed.
Installation from source
If you don't want to use :command:`easy_install`, or don't have it installed, just grab the latest stable build of IPython from here. Then do the following:
$ tar -xzf ipython.tar.gz $ cd ipython $ python setup.py install
If you are installing to a location (like /usr/local) that requires higher permissions, you may need to run the last command with :command:`sudo`.
Windows
As mentioned above, on Windows, IPython requires :mod:`setuptools`, and it also requires the PyReadline library to properly support coloring and keyboard management (features that the default windows console doesn't have). So on Windows, the installation procedure is:
- Install setuptools.
- Install pyreadline. You can use the command easy_install pyreadline from a terminal, or the binary installer appropriate for your platform from the PyPI page.
- Install IPython itself, which you can download from PyPI or from our site. Note that on Windows 7, you must right-click and 'Run as administrator' for the Start menu shortcuts to be created.
IPython by default runs in a terminal window, but the normal terminal application supplied by Microsoft Windows is very primitive. You may want to download the excellent and free Console application instead, which is a far superior tool. You can even configure Console to give you by default an IPython tab, which is very convenient to create new IPython sessions directly from the working terminal.
Installing the development version
It is also possible to install the development version of IPython from our Git source code repository. To do this you will need to have Git installed on your system. Then just do:
$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/ipython/ipython.git $ cd ipython $ python setup.py install
Some users want to be able to follow the development branch as it changes. If you have :mod:`setuptools` installed, this is easy. Simply replace the last step by:
$ python setupegg.py develop
This creates links in the right places and installs the command line script to the appropriate places. Then, if you want to update your IPython at any time, just do:
$ git pull
Basic optional dependencies
There are a number of basic optional dependencies that most users will want to get. These are:
- readline (for command line editing, tab completion, etc.)
- nose (to run the IPython test suite)
- pexpect (to use things like irunner)
If you are comfortable installing these things yourself, have at it, otherwise read on for more details.
readline
As indicated above, on Windows, PyReadline is a mandatory dependency. PyReadline is a separate, Windows only implementation of readline that uses native Windows calls through :mod:`ctypes`. The easiest way of installing PyReadline is you use the binary installer available here.
On OSX, if you are using the built-in Python shipped by Apple, you will be missing a full readline implementation as Apple ships instead a library called libedit that provides only some of readline's functionality. While you may find libedit sufficient, we have occasional reports of bugs with it and several developers who use OS X as their main environment consider libedit unacceptable for productive, regular use with IPython.
Therefore, we strongly recommend that on OS X you get the full :mod:`readline` module. We will not consider completion/history problems to be bugs for IPython if you are using libedit.
To get a working :mod:`readline` module, just do (with :mod:`setuptools` installed):
$ easy_install readline
Note
Other Python distributions on OS X (such as fink, MacPorts and the official python.org binaries) already have readline installed so you likely don't have to do this step.
When IPython is installed with :mod:`setuptools`, (e.g. using the easy_install command), readline is added as a dependency on OS X, and PyReadline on Windows, and will be installed on your system. However, if you do not use setuptools, you may have to install one of these packages yourself.
nose
To run the IPython test suite you will need the :mod:`nose` package. Nose provides a great way of sniffing out and running all of the IPython tests. The simplest way of getting nose is to use :command:`easy_install` or :command:`pip`:
$ pip install nose
Another way of getting this is to do:
$ pip install ipython[test]
For more installation options, see the nose website.
Once you have nose installed, you can run IPython's test suite using the iptest command:
$ iptest
pexpect
The pexpect package is used in IPython's :command:`irunner` script, as well as for managing subprocesses. IPython now includes a version of pexpect in :mod:`IPython.external`, but if you have installed pexpect, IPython will use that instead. On Unix platforms (including OS X), just do:
$ pip install pexpect
Note
On Python 3, you should actually install :mod:`pexpect-u`, a unicode-safe fork of pexpect.
Windows users are out of luck as pexpect does not run there.
Dependencies for IPython.parallel (parallel computing)
IPython.parallel provides a nice architecture for parallel computing, with a focus on fluid interactive workflows. These features require just one package: PyZMQ. See the next section for PyZMQ details.
On a Unix style platform (including OS X), if you want to use :mod:`setuptools`, you can just do:
$ easy_install ipython[zmq] # will include pyzmq
Security in IPython.parallel is provided by SSH tunnels. By default, Linux and OSX clients will use the shell ssh command, but on Windows, we also support tunneling with paramiko.
Dependencies for IPython.kernel.zmq
pyzmq
IPython 0.11 introduced some new functionality, including a two-process execution model using ZeroMQ for communication. The Python bindings to ZeroMQ are found in the PyZMQ project, which is easy_install-able once you have ZeroMQ installed. If you are on Python 2.6 or 2.7 on OSX, or 2.7 on Windows, pyzmq has eggs that include ZeroMQ itself.
IPython.kernel.zmq depends on pyzmq >= 2.1.4.
Dependencies for the IPython QT console
pyzmq
Like the :mod:`IPython.parallel` package, the QT Console requires ZeroMQ and PyZMQ.
Qt
Also with 0.11, a new GUI was added using the work in :mod:`IPython.kernel.zmq`, which can be launched with ipython qtconsole. The GUI is built on Qt, and works with either PyQt, which can be installed from the PyQt website, or PySide, from Nokia.
pygments
The syntax-highlighting in ipython qtconsole is done with the pygments project, which is easy_install-able.
Dependencies for the IPython HTML notebook
The IPython notebook is a notebook-style web interface to IPython and can be started with the command ipython notebook.
pyzmq
Like the :mod:`IPython.parallel` and :mod:`IPython.frontend.qt.console` packages, the HTML notebook requires ZeroMQ and PyZMQ.
Tornado
The IPython notebook uses the Tornado project for its HTTP server. Tornado 2.1 is required, in order to support current versions of browsers, due to an update to the websocket protocol.
Jinja
The IPython notebook uses the Jinja templating tool to render HTML pages.
MathJax
The IPython notebook uses the MathJax Javascript library for rendering LaTeX in web browsers. Because MathJax is large, we don't include it with IPython. Normally IPython will load MathJax from a CDN, but if you have a slow network connection, or want to use LaTeX without an internet connection at all, you can install MathJax locally.
A quick and easy method is to install it from a python session:
from IPython.external.mathjax import install_mathjax install_mathjax()
If you need tighter configuration control, you can download your own copy of MathJax from http://www.mathjax.org/download/ - use the MathJax-2.0 link. When you have the file stored locally, install it with:
python -m IPython.external.mathjax /path/to/source/mathjax-MathJax-v2.0-20-g07669ac.zip
For unusual needs, IPython can tell you what directory it wants to find MathJax in:
python -m IPython.external.mathjax -d /some/other/mathjax
By default Mathjax will be installed in your ipython profile directory, but you can make system wide install, please refer to the documentation and helper function of :mod:`IPython.external.mathjax`
Browser Compatibility
The IPython notebook is officially supported on the following browers:
- Chrome ≥ 13
- Safari ≥ 5
- Firefox ≥ 6
The is mainly due to the notebook's usage of WebSockets and the flexible box model.
The following browsers are unsupported:
- Safari < 5
- Firefox < 6
- Chrome < 13
- Opera (any): CSS issues, but execution might work
- Internet Explorer < 10
The following specific combinations are known NOT to work:
- Safari, IPython 0.12, tornado ≥ 2.2.0
- Safari with HTTPS connection to notebook and an untrusted certificate (websockets will fail)
- The [diigo Chrome extension](http://help.diigo.com/tools/chrome-extension) seems to interfere with scrolling
There are some early reports that the Notebook works on Internet Explorer 10, but we expect there will be some CSS issues related to the flexible box model.
Dependencies for nbconvert (converting notebooks to various formats)
pandoc
The most important dependency of nbconvert is Pandoc, a document format translation program. This is not a Python package, so it cannot be expressed as a regular IPython dependency with setuptools.
To install pandoc on Linux, you can generally use your package manager:
sudo apt-get install pandoc
On other platforms, you can get pandoc from their website.