Installation

User Installation

For most users, installing Ulula can be done with a single command using pip:

pip install ulula

This will download and install the latest stable version of Ulula from the Python Package Index (PyPI).

Developer Installation

If you plan on modifying the code or contributing to the project, you should install Ulula in “editable” mode. This allows your code changes to be reflected immediately without needing to reinstall the package.

The recommended workflow is to first fork the repository on the BitBucket website (https://bitbucket.org/bdiemer/ulula). This will create a copy of the repository under your own account, for example, https://bitbucket.org/yourname/ulula.

Next, clone your forked repository to your local machine. You will need the version control system git for this step:

git clone https://bitbucket.org/yourname/ulula
cd ulula

The new way: editable pip install

Once you have cloned the repository, you can install it in editable mode using pip:

pip install -e .

Your local clone of the code is now installed in your Python environment. Any edits you make to the source files will be immediately available. If you want to update your fork to include changes from the main repository, you will need to sync your fork on BitBucket and then pull the changes to your local clone:

git pull

The old-school way: PYTHONPATH

While no longer recommended, you can manually include Ulula in your $PYTHONPATH variable, for example, by adding this command to your shell’s initialization script (e.g., bashrc):

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/Users/me/code/ulula

where the path is replaced with the actual location of the Ulula directory on your system. Manually modifying the PYTHONPATH can be less robust than using an editable install, especially when working with virtual environments.