Installation

The Python SDK provides access from Python to the Arvados API and Keep, along with a number of command line tools for using and administering Arvados and Keep.

Installation

If you are logged in to an Arvados VM, the Python SDK should be installed.

To use the Python SDK elsewhere, you can install it from an Arvados distribution package or from PyPI using pip.

Note:

As of Arvados 2.2, the Python SDK requires Python 3.6+. The last version to support Python 2.7 is Arvados 2.0.4.

Install from a distribution package

This installation method is recommended to make the CLI tools available system-wide. It can coexist with the pip installation method described below.

First, configure the Arvados package repositories

Install python3-arvados-python-client

Alma/CentOS/Red Hat/Rocky

# dnf install python3-arvados-python-client

Debian and Ubuntu

# apt-get install python3-arvados-python-client

Note:

If you are on Ubuntu 18.04, please note that the Arvados packages that use Python depend on the python-3.8 package. This means they are installed under /usr/share/python3.8, not /usr/share/python3. You will need to update the commands below accordingly.

The package includes a virtualenv, which means the correct Python environment needs to be loaded before the Arvados SDK can be imported. You can test the installation by doing that, then creating a client object. Ensure your ARVADOS_API_HOST and ARVADOS_API_TOKEN credentials are set up correctly. Then you should be able to run the following without any errors:

~$ source /usr/share/python3/dist/python3-arvados-python-client/bin/activate
(python-arvados-python-client) ~$ python
Python 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44)
[GCC 8.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import arvados
>>> arvados.api('v1')
<apiclient.discovery.Resource object at 0x233bb50>

Alternatively, you can run the Python executable inside the virtualenv directly:

~$ /usr/share/python3/dist/python3-arvados-python-client/bin/python
Python 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44)
[GCC 8.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import arvados
>>> arvados.api('v1')
<apiclient.discovery.Resource object at 0x233bb50>

After you have successfully tested your installation, proceed to the the API client overview and cookbook to learn how to use the SDK.

Install from PyPI with pip

This installation method is recommended to use the SDK in your own Python programs. If installed into a virtualenv, it can coexist with the system-wide installation method from a distribution package.

Note the Python SDK uses pycurl which depends on the libcurl C library. To build the module you may have to first install additional packages. On Debian-based distributions you can install them by running:

# apt install git build-essential python3-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libssl-dev

Run python3 -m pip install arvados-python-client in an appropriate installation environment, such as a virtualenv.

Note:

If your version of pip is 1.4 or newer, the pip install command might give an error: “Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement arvados-python-client”. If this happens, try python3 -m pip install --pre arvados-python-client.

You can test the installation by creating a client object. Ensure your ARVADOS_API_HOST and ARVADOS_API_TOKEN credentials are set up correctly. Then you should be able to run the following without any errors:

~$ python3
Python 3.7.3 (default, Jul 25 2020, 13:03:44)
[GCC 8.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import arvados
>>> arvados.api('v1')
<apiclient.discovery.Resource object at 0x233bb50>

After you have successfully tested your installation, proceed to the the API client overview and cookbook to learn how to use the SDK.

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