*  Informatique / Python / Installing Minconda Python 2.7 with Mayavi 4.5.0 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

pict pict

Download the miniconda (Python 2.7, 64-bit) installer on https://conda.io/miniconda.html or directly from this (official) link Miniconda2-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh.

Here are the commands for downloading and starting installation:

wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda2-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh 
bash ./Miniconda2-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh

Here is part of the output of the install process where default directory is changed to /fcopt/miniconda2 ( a writable directory for current user called <username>)
... Do you approve the license terms? [yes|no] >>> yes Miniconda2 will now be installed into this location: /home/<username>/miniconda2   - Press ENTER to confirm the location   - Press CTRL-C to abort the installation   - Or specify a different location below [/home/<username>/miniconda2] >>> /fcopt/miniconda2 PREFIX=/fcopt/miniconda2 installing: python-2.7.13-0 ... installing: asn1crypto-0.22.0-py27_0 ... installing: cffi-1.10.0-py27_0 ... installing: conda-env-2.6.0-0 ... installing: wheel-0.29.0-py27_0 ... ... Python 2.7.13 :: Continuum Analytics, Inc. creating default environment... installation finished. Do you wish the installer to prepend the Miniconda2 install location to PATH in your /home/<username>/.bashrc ? [yes|no] [no] >>> You may wish to edit your .bashrc or prepend the Miniconda2 install location: $ export PATH=/fcopt/miniconda2/bin:$PATH Thank you for installing Miniconda2! Share your notebooks and packages on Anaconda Cloud! Sign up for free: https://anaconda.org

Thereafter, in a terminal we modify the PATH environment variable:

export PATH=<MINICONDA2_PATH>/bin:$PATH

where <MINICONDA2_PATH> is the installation directory (i.e. /home/<username>/miniconda2 by default or /fcopt/miniconda2 in the previous intallation example)

To install the mayavi Python package, one can execute the following command in the terminal with the PATH environment variable correctly set:

conda install mayavi=4.5.0

Here is a part of the output
Fetching package metadata ......... Solving package specifications: . Package plan for installation in environment /fcopt/miniconda2: The following NEW packages will be INSTALLED:     apptools:   4.4.0-py27_0     cairo:      1.14.8-0     configobj:  5.0.6-py27_0     envisage:   4.5.1-py27_0     fontconfig: 2.12.1-3     freetype:   2.5.5-2     glib:       2.50.2-1     harfbuzz:   0.9.39-2     libiconv:   1.14-0     libpng:     1.6.30-1     libxml2:    2.9.4-0     mayavi:     4.5.0-py27_0     mkl:        2017.0.3-0     numpy:      1.13.1-py27_0     pango:      1.40.3-1     pcre:       8.39-1     pixman:     0.34.0-0     pyface:     5.1.0-py27_0     pygments:   2.2.0-py27_0     pyqt:       4.11.4-py27_4     qt:         4.8.7-4     sip:        4.18-py27_0     traits:     4.6.0-py27_0     traitsui:   5.1.0-py27_0     vtk:        6.3.0-py27_1 The following packages will be UPDATED:     conda:      4.3.21-py27_0 --> 4.3.25-py27_0 Proceed ([y]/n)? y ...

To quickly test the mayavi package, one can run the python code mayavi_boy.py (774 bytes) .

python mayavi_boy.py

If all is ok we obtain the following figure:
pict

If you have the following warning message when using mayavi:

>>> from mayavi import mlab GLib-GIO-Message: Using the ’memory’ GSettings backend.  Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.

it can be corrected by setting the GIO_EXTRA_MODULES environment variable as
export GIO_EXTRA_MODULES=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/gio/modules/

One can install some other usefull packages (for me) as scipy, ipython, ...

conda install scipy ipython

To date, due to conflict in packages version, it’s not possible to install (with mayavi package) the matplotlib package for a version >1.5.1.