Development Basics¶
Submitting patches¶
The source code for SnapPy and its various parts are hosted on bitbucket as Mercurial repositories. To contribute a patch, create a free bitbucket account, fork the appropriate repository, and then send us a pull request, as described in this tutorial.
OS X¶
Here is how to get a clean development setup under OS X.
Install the latest Python 3.7 from Python.org using the Mac Installer Disk Image. There are currently two versions, one for 10.6 and up (64-bit/32-bit) and one for 10.9 and up (64-bit); you want the second one. Set your path so that “python3” is:
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3
Use pip to install the following packages:
python3 -m pip install --upgrade setuptools virtualenv wheel pip python3 -m pip install cython # Used for Python-C interfacing python3 -m pip install sphinx # For building the documentation python3 -m pip install ipython # Improved Python shell python3 -m pip install py2app # For making app bundles python3 -m pip install pyx
Get the source code from the repository, using Mercurial. For example you can install Mercurial via its package installer. Now do:
hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/plink hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/spherogram hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/snappy
Test the stand-alone link editor:
cd plink python3 setup.py pip_install python3 -m plink.app # Link editor appears!
This last command runs the script “plink/app.py”; the real code for the link editor is in “plink/__init__.py”.
Build and install Spherogram:
cd ../spherogram python3 setup.py pip_install python3 setup.py test
Now build SnapPy itself. One builds it twice to generate the documentation, much of which is extracted from the installed module:
cd ../snappy python3 setup.py pip_install python3 setup.py test # Run the tests; pretty picture should appear. python3 setup.py build_docs pip_install python3 -m snappy.app #SnapPy starts!
To build the clickable app, just do the following:
cd mac_osx_app python3 release.py --manual
though for general development purposes
python3 -m snappy.app
is usually the way to go.
Some major parts of the SnapPy codebase are:
- “SnapPy.pyx”, “SnapPycore.pxi”, “SnapPy.pxi”: The Cython interface to the SnapPea kernel
- “opengl/CyOpenGL*.pyx”: The Cython interface to OpenGL*
- “snappy/app.py”: The core GUI code
- “snappy/polyviewer.py”: The GUI code for Dirichlet domains
- “snappy/horoviewer.py”: The GUI code for horoball pictures
- “snappy/database.py”: Interacts with the sqlite3 manifold database
In addition, Jeff’s old prototype for a Tk-based UI can be found in “misc/JeffsOldUI/SnapPeaGUI.py”; just run Python on this file to try it out, after installing PythonMegaWidgets.
Windows¶
These instructions have been tested on Windows 10, and describe setting up a development environment using the (free) MSVC compiler. To build the CyPari subcomponent, which few will want or need to do, one must install additional tools.
Install Python 2.7, specifically the 32 bit version (Windows x86 not Windows x86-64). Tested with version 2.7.13.
Install Python-specific free version of Microsoft Visual C++. If you would like to make your own installer you will also need Inno Setup, specifically the unicode version; tested with version 5.5.9.
Install whichever version of MSYS2 is appropriate for your version Windows. Most commonly, you will have a 64-bit Windows and hence want the “x86_64” installer; for concreteness the rest of these instructions assume this. (Technical note: even if you want to build 32-bit binaries, if your Windows is 64-bit you want the x86_64 installer.) Follow the instructions on the webpage to update everything to the very latest MSYS2 (
pacman -Sy pacman; pacman -Syu; pacman -Su
etc.).Make a shortcut to
c:\msys64\msys2.exe
as you will be using it all the time; alternatively, pinmys2.exe
to your taskbar.Install some additional packages:
pacman -S git make nano openssh perl tar unzip wget winpty patch
Install your favorite text editor, for example you can install Emacs via:
pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-emacs
Make it so that MinGW, Python, and Inno Setup are all in your PATH, as well as work around some stupid bug, by making the end of your “~/.bash_profile” file to read:
PATH=/c/Python27:/c/Python27/Scripts:$PATH PATH=$PATH:'/c/Program Files (x86)/Inno Setup 5' export PATH alias emacs="/mingw64/bin/emacs" winpty bash; exit
For example, do:
nano ~/.bash_profile
Python 2.7.9 and newer include pip so let’s use it to install the needed packages.:
pip install --upgrade pip setuptools # Upgrades pip to the current version. pip install pyreadline sphinx cython cypari pip install pyx==0.12.1 pip install mercurial # Installs "hg", used in next step
Fetch the latest development versions of the source straight from the t3m repository:
hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/plink hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/Spherogram hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/SnapPy
Build the components, from easiest to hardest, and then test:
cd plink python setup.py install cd ../Spherogram python setup.py install cd ../SnapPy python setup.py install cd .. python -m SnapPy.test
To run the app, you can just do:
python -m snappy.app
To build the binary installer, you need PyInstaller, but because of this bug, as of 2017/2/21 you need this special version:
pip install PyInstaller-3.3.dev0+g483c819d.mod-py2-none-any.whl
To build the binary installer do:
cd windows_exe python make.py
You will need to close the SnapPy window that pops up here to complete the build process.
Useful tips for those coming from Unix. In MSYS2, your home directory is really something like:
c:\msys2\home\Nathan Dunfield
whereas your Windows 10 home directory is:
c:\Users\Nathan Dunfield
It is handy to have symbolic links from your MSYS2 home directory to the Downloads and Desktop folders on the Windows side. See:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/
for a discussion, but basically you start a “Command Prompt” as Adminstrator and do:
cd "C:\msys64\home\Nathan Dunfield" mklink /D Desktop "C:\Users\Nathan Dunfield\Desktop" mklink /D Downloads "C:\Users\Nathan Dunfield\Downloads"
To build CyPari, first install the 32-bit gcc compiler:
pacman -S mingw-w64-i686-gcc Then open a *MinGW32 terminal window*, which is **different** than a MSYS2 terminal, and can be started via `c:\msys64\mingw32.exe`. This will put the 32-bit gcc in your path and set the correct "uname". Now do:: hg clone https://bitbucket.org/t3m/CyPari cd CyPari sh build_pari.sh python setup.py build --compiler=mingw32 python setup.py install python -m cypari.test # About 30 tests will fail. Warning: CyPari will not build if there are spaces in the path to the CyPari directory.