============
Installation
============
------------
Requirements
------------
The following packages are *required* to work with ESMPy:
* `ESMF installation `_
* `python `_, minimum version 3.7
* `numpy `_
The following packages are *optional*:
* ESMF installation with NetCDF - required to create :class:`Grids `, :class:`Meshes ` and :class:`Fields ` from file, and to write regridding weights to file
- NetCDF must be built as a shared library for ESMPy installation to succeed
* ESMF installation with PIO (the Parallel IO library) - required to create :class:`Meshes ` and :class:`Fields ` from file, and to write regridding weights to file
- Note that building ESMF with PIO requires building with a real MPI library (not mpiuni)
* `mpi4py `_- python bindings to MPI, needed to run some of the parallel regridding examples
* `pytest `_ - for testing
----------------
Getting the code
----------------
The ESMPy source code can be downloaded from the
`ESMF git repository `_.
The `ESMF User's Guide `_
contains information on building and installing esmpy.
The `ESMF Reference Manual `_
contains information on the architecture of ESMF, example code, and details of the API (Application Programming
Interface).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anaconda Packages
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ESMPy conda packages are available through the conda-forge channel:
.. code::
conda create -n esmpy -c conda-forge esmpy
Specific versions of the conda package can be installed like this:
.. code::
conda create -n esmpy -c conda-forge esmpy=8.1.0
Development versions can be found in the ``esmpy_dev`` channel:
.. code::
conda create -n esmpy -c conda-forge -c esmpy_dev esmpy
----------------------------
Installing ESMPy from Source
----------------------------
When installing from source, ESMPy uses `pip `_
to build and install the package. An installation of ESMPy in the default location for Python packages can be done
with the following command issued from the top level ESMPy directory (``src/addon/esmpy``):
.. code::
python3 -m pip install .
Please contact esmf_support@ucar.edu with any questions.
.. Note::
With some python versions, there is a problem with the automatic installation of the required package ``setuptools-git-versioning``. If the output from the ``pip install`` command ends with ``Successfully installed esmpy-0.0.0``, this indicates that the ``setuptools-git-versioning`` package was not invoked and the build thinks you are using ESMF version 0.0.0. This will cause problems when you try to use ESMPy. To solve this problem, simply rerun the above installation command (``python3 -m pip install .``). You should then see a reasonable version number at the end, such as, ``Successfully installed esmpy-8.4.0``.
---------------
Importing ESMPy
---------------
To use ESMPy in an external program, import it with:
.. code::
import esmpy
The environment variable ``ESMFMKFILE`` should be set when using ESMPy. If it is not found, the package will
try to guess a few very common locations, but we recommend correctly setting the variable nonetheless.
.. Note::
The Python module name for ESMPy was changed in v8.4.0 from "ESMF" to "esmpy". If you are using a version older than v8.4.0, the import command is ``import ESMF``. See the `ESMF Release Notes `_ for more details and links to previous versions of the ESMPy documentation.
----------
Validation
----------
The ESMPy testing is done with the pytest package, both in serial and
parallel. Basic unit tests can be run with the following command, from
the top level ESMPy directory (``src/addon/esmpy``):
.. code::
python3 -m pytest
There are a few other pytest targets available for a wider range of testing if
greater test coverage is desired:
.. code::
make test_unit
make test_examples
make test_unit_parallel
make test_examples_parallel
make test_regrid_from_file
.. Note::
The ``regrid_from_file`` and ``example`` tests can take up a lot of memory
and bandwidth. The ``download_regrid_from_file`` and ``download_examples``
commands will simply download the test files without actually running them
(allowing the stress on the machine to be applied to bandwidth first, and
then memory).
-----------
Limitations
-----------
ESMPy doesn't include many aspects of ESMF, including components, field bundles,
time management, etc. The limitations listed here are relative
to ESMF offline and integrated regridding capabilities.
- ESMPy cannot use an ESMF installation that is built with external LAPACK
support.
- Coordinates cannot be retrieved from the elements of a
:class:`~esmpy.api.mesh.Mesh`. This can affect the ability to set
:class:`~esmpy.api.field.Field` values on a source :class:`~esmpy.api.mesh.Mesh`
created from file when using conservative regridding.
- Multi-tile :class:`~esmpy.api.grid.Grid` support is limited to cubed-sphere
grids created on 6 processors. A cubed-sphere grid can be created on any
number of processors, but only when it is created on 6 processors will the
coordinates be retrievable for the entire object. A
:class:`~esmpy.api.field.Field` created from a cubed-sphere
:class:`~esmpy.api.grid.Grid` cannot be written to file in parallel.
- There is no ``FieldBundle`` class, only single :class:`Fields `.
Testing related:
- Nightly regression testing is limited to a small subset of the ESMF test platforms,
including Darwin and Linux running gfortran with openMPI.