Installing WarpX as a Python package

A full Python installation of WarpX can be done, which includes a build of all of the C++ code, or a pure Python version can be made which only installs the Python scripts. WarpX requires Pythone version 3.7 or newer.

For a full Python installation of WarpX

WarpX’ Python bindings depend on numpy, periodictable, picmistandard, and mpi4py.

Type

make -j 4 USE_PYTHON_MAIN=TRUE

or edit the GNUmakefile and set USE_PYTHON_MAIN=TRUE, and type

make -j 4

Additional compile time options can be specified as needed. This will compile the code, and install the Python bindings and the Python scripts as a package (named pywarpx) in your standard Python installation (i.e. in your site-packages directory).

If you do not have write permission to the default Python installation (e.g. typical on computer clusters), there are two options. The recommended option is to use a virtual environment, which provides the most flexibility and robustness.

Alternatively, add the --user install option to have WarpX installed elsewhere.

make -j 4 PYINSTALLOPTIONS=--user

With --user, the default location will be in your home directory, ~/.local, or the location defined by the environment variable PYTHONUSERBASE.

In HPC environments, it is often recommended to install codes in scratch or work space which typically have faster disk access.

The different dimensioned versions of WarpX, 3D, 2D, and RZ, can coexist in the Python installation. The appropriate one will be imported depending on the input file. Note, however, other options will overwrite - compiling with DEBUG=TRUE will replace the version compiled with DEBUG=FALSE for example.

For a pure Python installation

This avoids the compilation of the C++ and is recommended when only using the Python input files as preprocessors. This installation depend on numpy, periodictable, and picmistandard.

Go into the Python subdirectory and run

python setup.py install

This installs the Python scripts as a package (named pywarpx) in your standard Python installation (i.e. in your site-packages directory). If you do not have write permission to the default Python installation (e.g. typical on computer clusters), there are two options. The recommended option is to use a virtual environment, which provides the most flexibility and robustness.

Alternatively, add the --user install option to have WarpX installed elsewhere.

python setup.py install --user

With --user, the default location will be in your home directory, ~/.local, or the location defined by the environment variable PYTHONUSERBASE.