.. _installation:
Installation guide
==================
Requirements
------------
polib requires python 2.5 or higher.
Installing polib
----------------
There are several ways to install polib:
* Automatically, via a package manager.
* Manually, by downloading a copy of the release package and
installing it yourself.
* Manually, by performing a Mercurial checkout of the latest code.
Automatic installation via a package manager
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several automatic package-installation tools are available for Python;
the most popular are `pip `_ and `easy_install
`_ .
Either can be used to install polib.
Using ``pip``, type::
pip install polib
Using ``easy_install``, type::
easy_install polib
It is also possible that your operating system distributor provides a
packaged version of polib. Consult your operating system's package list for
details, but be aware that third-party distributions may be providing older
versions of polib, and so you should consult the documentation which comes
with your operating system's package.
Manual installation from a downloaded package
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you prefer not to use an automated package installer, you can download a
copy of polib and install it manually. The latest release package can be
downloaded from `polib's page on the Python Package Index
`_.
Once you've downloaded the package, unpack it, this will create the directory
``polib-X-Y-Z``, which contains the ``setup.py`` installation script.
From a command line in that directory, type::
python setup.py install
.. note::
On some systems you may need to execute this with administrative
privileges (e.g., ``sudo python setup.py install``).
Manual installation from a Mercurial checkout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you'd like to try out the latest in-development code, you can obtain it
from the polib repository, which is hosted at
`Bitbucket `_ and uses `Mercurial
`_ for version control.
To obtain the latest code and documentation, you'll need to have Mercurial
installed, at which point you can type::
hg clone http://bitbucket.org/izi/polib/
This will create a copy of the polib Mercurial repository on your computer;
you can then add the ``polib.py`` file to your Python import path, or use the
``setup.py`` script to install as a package.