Installing the OpenQuake Engine for development#
To develop with the OpenQuake Engine and Hazardlib an installation from sources must be performed. The easiest way it to use the universal installer. The guide here is for people wanting to do everything manually.
Prerequisites#
Knowledge of Python (and its virtual environments), git and software development are required.
Some software prerequisites are needed to build the development environment. First of your you need a Python version supported by the engine. At the moment we recommend Python 3.10, which is the only version supported on Windows and macOS.
NB: Python 3.11 and 3.12 are not supported yet, so please do NOT install such versions
Ubuntu#
sudo apt install git python3-venv
RedHat 8 and clones#
sudo dnf install python3
macOS#
This procedure refers to the official Python distribution from python.org. If you are using a different python (from brew, macports, conda) you may need to adapt the following commands.
Xcode#
You must install the Command Line Tools Package for Xcode first. You can install the Command Line Tools package without having to install the entire Xcode software by running:
xcode-select --install
If Xcode is already installed on your machine, then there is no need to install the command-line tools.
Encoding#
Make sure that the encoding set in the terminal is en_US.UTF-8. To force it, you should put the following lines in your ~/.profile:
export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
Download the OpenQuake source code#
Considering that the complete repository is quite large given its long history, we recommend shallow cloning the repository to download only the latest revision.
mkdir src && cd src
git clone https://github.com/gem/oq-engine.git --depth=1
In case you needed the source code with the full history of the repository, you
can convert the shallow clone into a full repository with the command
git fetch --unshallow.
Install OpenQuake in development mode#
$ cd oq-engine && python3 install.py devel
Loading and unloading the development environment#
To exit from the OpenQuake development environment type deactivate. Before using again the OpenQuake software the environment must be reloaded running source openquake/bin/activate(assuming that it has been installed under ‘openquake’). For more information about virtualenv, see http://docs.python-guide.org/en/latest/dev/virtualenvs/.
To load the virtual environment automatically at every login, add the following line at the bottom of your ~/.bashrc (Linux) or ~/.profile (macOS):
source $HOME/openquake/bin/activate
You can also add a short-hand command to enable it:
alias oqenv="source $HOME/openquake/bin/activate"
Put it again at the bottom of ~/.bashrc or ~/.profile; close and re-open the terminal. You can now load your environment just typing oqenv.
It is also possible to run the oq command without the corresponding virtual environment loaded. Just run $HOME/openquake/bin/oq; for convenience you can also add it as an alias in your ~/.bashrc (Linux) or ~/.profile (macOS):
alias oq="$HOME/openquake/bin/oq"
Multiple installations#
If any other installation of the Engine exists on the same machine, like a system-wide installation made with packages, you must change the DbServer port from the default one (1908) to any other unused port. Using a DbServer started from a different codebase (which may be out-of-sync) could lead to unexpected behaviours and errors. To change the DbServer port oq-engine/openquake/engine/openquake.cfg must be updated:
[dbserver] | [dbserver]
## cut ## | ## cut ##
port = 1908 > port = 1985
authkey = changeme | authkey = changeme
## cut ## | ## cut ##
Running the tests#
To run the OpenQuake Engine tests see the testing page.
Sync the source code with remote#
You can pull all the latest changes to the source code running
cd oq-engine
oq dbserver stop
git pull
Uninstall the OpenQuake Engine#
To uninstall the OpenQuake development make sure that its environment is not loaded, typing deactivate, and then remove the folder where it has been installed: rm -Rf $HOME/openquake.
Install third party software#
It is possible to install, as an example, the Silx HDF5 viewer in the same environment as the OpenQuake Engine. To make that happen run the following commands via the oq-console.bat prompt:
pip install PyQt5 silx
Silx viewer can be then run as
silx view calc_NNN.hdf5
Notes#
If your system does not support the provided binary dependencies (python wheels)
pip install -e oq-engine
will try to download the required dependencies from pypi. This may require some extra work to get all the external C dependencies resolved. Also, there is not guarantee that the engine wil work, since newer versions of the libraries could be incompatible. If you are using a non-standard python distribution (like macports or anaconda) you should use tools provided by such distribution to get the required dependencies.
Getting help#
If you need help or have questions/comments/feedback for us, you can subscribe to the OpenQuake users mailing list: https://groups.google.com/g/openquake-users