setuptools

​setuptools is a Python module that helps to compile, distribute and install Python packages by packaging them into "egg"s. Eggs contain additional information to process dependencies, etc. The setuptools package is required for installing Trac.

Check your setuptools version

The version of your setuptools installation can be checked with the following commands (should work for other Python packages too):

$ python
Python 2.3.5
>>> import setuptools
>>> setuptools.__version__ 
'0.7a1' 

Install setuptools

Setuptools can be installed using the bootstrap script from the ​Python Package Indexer (​installation instructions):

$ wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/ez_setup.py -O - | python

Notes:

• Do not use setuptools prior to version 0.6c10. If you are, look for the notes in an earlier version of this page.
• If you're using Python 2.4 (still supported for 0.12-stable) or Python 2.5, you won't be able to use a recent version of setuptools. You can still install an earlier version:
  • grab and execute the older ​ez_setup.py script, you'll then have 0.6c11, which is enough if you're installing from a Trac checkout made with Subversion 1.6, but is problematic for newer Subversion versions.
  • with easy_install from 0.6c11, install the latest Python 2.4/2.5 compatible version of the new setuptools: easy_install -U setuptools==1.4.2

• if you're using setuptools versions 5.4 through 5.6, the environment variable PKG_RESOURCES_CACHE_ZIP_MANIFESTS should be set, otherwise the performance of Trac will be significantly degraded.
  • Linux: $ export PKG_RESOURCES_CACHE_ZIP_MANIFESTS=1
  • Windows: > set PKG_RESOURCES_CACHE_ZIP_MANIFESTS=1

More details can be found in TracInstall#DeployingTrac.

Install Trac using easy_install

setuptools includes the easy_install script for convenient installation of packages found on ​Python Package Index including Trac with all necessary dependencies.

$ python -m easy_install Trac

You will need root permissions or equivalent (e.g. sudo) for this step.

Note: pip is a modern package installer that was developed as a replacement for easy_install, which you should use instead if it's available for your platform. See TracInstall for more information.

If you are working behind a proxy, note that easy_install will rely on environment variables, such as http_proxy, https_proxy, ftp_proxy.

Install Trac from source using easy_install

You can obtain the source for a .tar.gz or .zip file corresponding to a release (e.g. Trac-1.0.tar.gz) from the TracDownload page, or you can get the source directly from the repository. See TracRepositories for details.

$ python ./setup.py install

This will byte-compile the Python source code and install it as an .egg file or folder in the site-packages directory of your Python installation. The .egg will also contain all other resources needed by standard Trac, such as htdocs and templates.

If you install from source and want to make Trac available in other languages, make sure Babel is installed. Only then, perform the install (or simply redo the install once again afterwards if you realize Babel was not yet installed):

$ python ./setup.py install

Alternatively, you can run bdist_egg and copy the .egg from dist/ to the place of your choice, or you can create a Windows installer (bdist_wininst).

Advanced easy_install Options

To install Trac to a custom location, or find out about other advanced installation options, run:

$ easy_install --help

Also see ​Installing Python Modules for detailed information.

Specifically, you might be interested in:

$ easy_install --prefix=/path/to/installdir

or, if installing Trac on a Mac OS X system:

$ easy_install --prefix=/usr/local --install-dir=/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages

On Mac OSX, running easy_install trac will install into /usr/local and /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages by default.

The tracd and trac-admin commands will be placed in /usr/local/bin and will install the Trac libraries and dependencies into /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages, which is Apple's preferred location for third-party Python application installations.

Reference Documentation

• ​setuptools
• ​pkg_resources (setuptools)
• ​.egg format

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See also: TracDev/Proposals/Setuptools