We wish to completely automate installation of OpenVisualizer. The work in SW-98 provides a standardized setup.py-based install for OpenVisualizer itself. However, we must extend this standardization to OpenVisualizer's requirements. The pip installer provides this capability for Python-based modules, and this page documents how we intend to implement pip per SW-74.
However, as we show below, pip itself usually is not sufficient for a completely automated installation. However, it provides a level of automation that is good enough for our present purposes.
Required Modules
The OpenVisualizer Confluence page lists the required modules. Some modules are Python based, and some are not. This This section provides a detailed review.
Python based modules
For all platforms, OpenVisualizer requires these Python-based modules:
- pyserial – mote communication
- PyDispatcher – event framework
- bottle – web application framework
Non-Python modules
Python itself may be required. Windows does not provide Python, and some Linux distributions include Python more or less by default, depending on how the distribution is installed.
Windows adds other requirements:
- PyWin32 – Windows extensions for Python
- TAP for Windows – TUN/TAP local IP interface
Complete Automation
So, if pip cannot completely automate installation of OpenVisualizer, let's look at the option to provide a completely automated installation. There are two popular open source packages:
There is a setup.py extension, bdist_nsi, to create an NSIS-based Windows installer. This could handle Python itself. There also is documentation on how to include a nested installer, which is required (I think) for PyWin32 and TAP for WIndows.
There is a similar setup.py extension, python-innosetup, for InnoSetup.
Package Upgrades via pip
pip does support package upgrades. See the usage page.