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Although as important as the software it supports, education and documentation are relatively neglected in the Open-source world. Coders love to code, and explaining how best to use or improve the software tends to be deferred or even sidelined.

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Screencasting is easier than you think, and we're happy to help you. You can email us for advice or just use some of the how-to screencasts on the site. This screencasting learning-path is a good place to start.

[591] Installing easy_install with ez_setup.py (1/1)

in series: Installing easy_install with ez_setup.py

video tutorial by Ian Ozsvald

Name: [002] Ian Ozsvald
Member: 51 months
Authored: 181 videos
Description: I am the co-founder of ShowMeDo (see http://showmedo.com/about), author of `The Screencasting Handbook <http://thescreencastinghandbook.com>`_ and the founder of the professional screencast production ...

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(Showmedo is undergoing major changes. To report any problems viewing the videos please email us and include browser and OS specifics. Cheers - Kyran.)

Here we install easy_install using ez_setup.py (linked on the easy_install page). easy_install lets you install many python packages using a 1-line install command - just like using apt-get or rpms on Linux.

On Windows you might need to setup your DOS path - see Adding Python to DOS Path.

windows setup python paths path packages package linux like installing install ez_setup easy_install commands beginner_programming

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Published: 22 months ago

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27. Richard Shea Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:05

Very useful thanks. I'm actually installing onto a Unix box but was under the impression that the result of installing easy_install was a python script and Ikept looking for "something".py. Your video set me straight and I'm now able to use it - I appreciate it - thanks.

26. anonymous Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:21

Thanks for the information!

25. David_Rogers Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:06

Thanks again

24. anonymous Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:47

Thank you very much for the video. It would be helpful if you could show the example script in the video also. Best wishes, Y.

23. anonymous Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:54

Informative,... I was just wondering whether it would be more complicated but it seems like a peace of cake.

It has served me well.

Thank you.

22. anonymous Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:19

I think the video showed what I need it is just that I am using Mac

21. anonymous Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:04

good!

20. anonymous Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:48

good work & thanx

19. anonymous Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:44

Well done. But the hard part to install this in a linux box with severeal pythons installed !

18. Kevin Du Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:41

thanks

17. anonymous Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:03

I have installes newest version of Easy Install on ActivePython 2.5 via Win32 Installer

C:\Python25>easy_install dot2tex

'import site' failed; use -v for traceback

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "c:\Python25\Scripts\easy_install-script.py", line 5, in <module>

from pkg_resources import load_entry_point

ImportError: No module named pkg_resources

16. anonymous Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:00

Thank you for this valuable video. ShowMeDo is an infinite source of knowledge!

15. anonymous Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:18

Thanks a lot for the easy_install video

14. anonymous Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:31

Very clear and helpful!

13. anonymous Sat, 13 Jun 2009 09:03

Great - would love to have more ShowMeDo's on Python. Would also be great to show how to set up virtual python with Easy Install on shared hosting (and some other vids for using Python with webhosting - e.g. MySQLdb and XMLRPC, etc.

12. anonymous Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:14

Great video, nice and clear. But don't know where to find ez_setup, link no longer there, and you don't explain how to add the scripts dir to the path that clearly

11. anonymous Mon, 25 May 2009 06:57

Similar for Mac OS X, but here's a thorough step-by-step:

1. Find out which version of Python you're running:

python -V

(that's a capital 'V')

2. Go to the setuptools page:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools

(the Wiki URL in the vid was blank at the time of writing this!)

Scroll to the bottom and find the version that matches your Python version and operating system.

All the files start with "setuptools-0.6c9" so (if you have Python 2.6) you download:

setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg

3. Open Terminal, type 'cd' and hit the spacebar, then drag the folder containing file you just downloaded into the terminal window and hit the return key.

To see the download, type:

ls -al

and look in the list. Select the name of the file and copy it.

Type: 'sudo sh' and hit the spacebar, then paste in the name of the file (e.g.):

sudo sh setuptools-0.6c9-py2.6.egg

Hit return then type in your password when prompted.

4a. Success?

If this goes ahead without any errors, open a new terminal window and type:

which easy_install

to find out where it is.

If you get a result, you're up and running and can now install Python packages (eggs) in terminal:

sudo easy_install package_name

where 'package_name' is what you want to install (e.g.):

sudo easy_install CleverCSS

4b. Problem?

If typing 'which easy_install' doesn't find anything, find out where easy_install has been placed by typing:

locate easy_install

This will give something like (e.g.):

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin/easy_install

Copy the path to easy_install:

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin

and add the path to your Terminal's startup file - this is a hidden file in your home directory (the default location when you open a terminal window) and is called (for the bash shell) .bash_login - look for it by listing the all the files:

ls -al

You can make the file (if it doesn't already exist) and add a path quickly by typing (all one line) in terminal:

echo 'export PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile

Or you can do this manually (check well first that it doesn't already exist) - make and open it with:

touch .bash_login

open .bash_login

Then add the path like this (e.g.):

export PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/bin:$PATH"

To test your path, open a new Terminal Window and type:

easy_install

to check it is being found - it should complain harmlessly (because there's no package name to install) which is fine:

error: No urls, filenames, or requirements specified (see --help)

10. anonymous Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:50

good

9. anonymous Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:20

Thank you! Your videos are great!

8. jfrizzle Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:20

Enjoying all your videos but I am having trouble installing easy_install I have downloaded the .exe file on my vista PC but the installer says that it cannot find Python in the windows registry. I was just wondering if there was an easy fix for this. Anyway thank you for all your videos.

7. Ben45 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:42

Prior to joining ShowMeDo I installed python 2.6.

Is there a way to use nosetests and easyInstall with python 2.6, or would it be better for me to uninstall python 2.6 and use python 2.5?

6. anonymous Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:42

For the installing problem with Python3.0, it is true. I back installed with Python2.5, it works well.

currently, it is fixed.

5. anonymous Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:29

I am a new learner for Python. It seems not work on Python3.0, many exceptions. as below:

d:\resource\tools\twill>ez_setup.py

File "d:\resource\tools\twill\ez_setup.py", line 94

except pkg_resources.VersionConflict, e:

SyntaxError: invalid syntax

How can i do?

4. anonymous Fri, 23 May 2008 09:51

How do you do this on a mac?

3. Ian Ozsvald Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:54

I'm glad to hear that :-) It really is very simple...unless your net connection is broken and then weird errors occur. I hoped that this video would make it obvious just how simple it should be!

Ian.

2. richard1956 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:27