Installation

Getting Python

tetra3 is written for Python 3.7 (and therefore runs on almost any platform) and should work with most modern Python 3 installations. There are many ways to get Python on your system. The preferred method is by downloading Miniconda for Python 3+. If you are on Windows you will be given the option to add conda to PATH during installation. If you do not select this option, the instructions (including running python and tetra3) which refer to the terminal/CMD window will need to be carried out in the Anaconda Prompt instead.

Now, open a terminal/CMD window and test that you have conda and python by typing:

conda
python
exit()

(On Windows you may be sent to the Windows Store to download Python on the second line. Do not do this, instead go to Manage app execution aliases in the Windows settings and disable the python and python3 aliases to use the version installed with miniconda.)

Now ensure you are up to date:

conda update conda

You can now run any python script by typing python script_name.py.

Optional: Environment for tetra3

To run tetra3 in a python environment that is separated from your other projects (therefore avoiding requirements clashes and other issues) you may elect to create an environment. To do so:

conda create --name tetra3_env python=3.7 pip
conda activate tetra3_env

and then proceed the same. (To go to your base environment type conda deactivate.)

Getting tetra3

tetra3 is not available on PIP/PyPI (the Python Package Index). Instead you need to get the software repository from GitHub and place it in the directory where you wish to use it. (I.e. as a folder next to the python project you are writing.)

The quick way

Go to the GitHub repository, click Clone or Download and Download ZIP and extract the tetra3 directory to where you want to use it.

The good way

To be able to easily download and contribute updates to tetra3 you should install Git. Follow the instructions for your platform over here.

Now open a terminal/CMD window in the directory where you wish to use tetra3 and clone the GitHib repository:

git clone "https://github.com/esa/tetra3.git"

You should see the tetra3 directory created for you with all neccessary files. Check the status of your repository by typing:

cd tetra3
git status

which should tell you that you are on the branch “master” and are up to date with the origin (which is the GitHub version of tetra3). If a new update has come to GitHub you can update yourself by typing:

git pull

If you wish to contribute (please do!) and are not familiar with Git and GitHub, start by creating a user on GitHub and setting you username and email:

git config --global user.name "your_username_here"
git config --global user.email "email@domain.com"

You will now also be able to push proposed changes to the software. There are many good resources for learning about Git, the documentation which includes the reference, a free book on Git, and introductory videos is a good place to start.

Installing tetra3

To install the requirements open a terminal/CMD window in the tetra3 directory and run:

pip install -r requirements.txt

to install all requirements. Test that everything works by running an example:

cd examples
python test_tetra3.py

which should print out the solutions for the included test images.

If problems arise

Please get in touch by filing an issue.