Installation¶
Babel is distributed as a standard Python package fully set up with all the dependencies it needs. On Python versions where the standard library zoneinfo module is not available, pytz needs to be installed for timezone support. If pytz is installed, it is preferred over the standard library zoneinfo module where possible.
virtualenv¶
Virtualenv is probably what you want to use during development, and if you
have shell access to your production machines, you’ll probably want to use
it there, too. Use pip
to install it:
$ sudo pip install virtualenv
If you’re on Windows, run it in a command-prompt window with administrator
privileges, and leave out sudo
.
Once you have virtualenv installed, just fire up a shell and create your own environment. I usually create a project folder and a venv folder within:
$ mkdir myproject
$ cd myproject
$ virtualenv venv
New python executable in venv/bin/python
Installing distribute............done.
Now, whenever you want to work on a project, you only have to activate the corresponding environment. On OS X and Linux, do the following:
$ . venv/bin/activate
If you are a Windows user, the following command is for you:
$ venv\scripts\activate
Either way, you should now be using your virtualenv (notice how the prompt of your shell has changed to show the active environment).
Now you can just enter the following command to get Babel installed in your virtualenv:
$ pip install Babel
A few seconds later and you are good to go.
System-Wide Installation¶
This is possible as well, though I do not recommend it. Just run pip with root privileges:
$ sudo pip install Babel
(On Windows systems, run it in a command-prompt window with administrator privileges, and leave out sudo.)
Living on the Edge¶
If you want to work with the latest version of Babel, you will need to use a git checkout.
Get the git checkout in a new virtualenv and run in development mode:
$ git clone https://github.com/python-babel/babel
Initialized empty Git repository in ~/dev/babel/.git/
$ cd babel
$ virtualenv venv
New python executable in venv/bin/python
Installing distribute............done.
$ . venv/bin/activate
$ python setup.py import_cldr
$ pip install --editable .
...
Finished processing dependencies for Babel
Make sure to not forget about the import_cldr
step because otherwise
you will be missing the locale data.
The custom setup command will download the most appropriate CLDR release from the
official website and convert it for Babel.
This will pull also in the dependencies and activate the git head as the
current version inside the virtualenv. Then all you have to do is run
git pull origin
to update to the latest version. If the CLDR data
changes you will have to re-run python setup.py import_cldr
.