Setting up an independent Python environment via virtualenv¶

The easiest way to set up a working environment is to install virtualenv first (if not already installed). Grab the latest version via:

curl -O https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/v/virtualenv/virtualenv-X.X.tar.gz
tar xvfz virtualenv-X.X.tar.gz
cd virtualenv-X.X
python virtualenv.py royweb

This will install a freshly new configured python in its own directory within the virtualenv folder. From now on, you can simply activate the virtual environment via:

cd royweb
source bin/activate

and mess around with it. Btw. I recommend having a look at virtualenvwrapper, which is a great addition to the already awesome virtualenv tool.

Easier sandboxing via virtualenvwrapper¶

As I already wrote, I recommend virtualenvwrapper to manage your Python environments, which of course you can install via pip:

pip install virtualenvwrapper

And then follow the instructions to setup your virtualenvwrapper environment. It is very simple, you only have to put a line into your shell startup script (.bashrc or whatever) and define a working directory and another directory to store your virtual envorionments. After that, the workflow to create an independent Python environment is:

mkproject royweb
pip install royweb

To exit the environment simply type:

deactivate

And to switch back anytime, use the workon command:

workon royweb

This way you can create a bunch of virtual envrionemnts which are completely clean and independent from each other.

Installing the dependencies when using the source¶

If you want to work on the develeopment version, you’ll need to install Tornado and daemon. This is easy as pip is:

pip install tornado
pip install daemon

You can also use the requirements.txt file to install all dependencies automatically:

pip install -r requirements.txt

From now on, every time you want to start a ROyWeb server, activate the virtual environment and you’re ready to go.