# Installation
The LAMMPS Python module enables calling the [LAMMPS C library
API](lammps_c_api) from Python by dynamically loading functions in the
LAMMPS shared library through the Python
[ctypes](https://docs.python.org/3/library/ctypes.html)\_ module.
Because of the dynamic loading, it is required that LAMMPS is compiled
in [\"shared\" mode](exe). It is also recommended to compile LAMMPS with
[C++ exceptions](exceptions) enabled.
Two components are necessary for Python to be able to invoke LAMMPS
code:
- The LAMMPS Python Package (`lammps`) from the `python` folder
- The LAMMPS Shared Library (`liblammps.so`, `liblammps.dylib` or
`liblammps.dll`) from the folder where you compiled LAMMPS.
## Installing the LAMMPS Python Module and Shared Library {#python_install_guides}
Making LAMMPS usable within Python and vice versa requires putting the
LAMMPS Python package (`lammps`) into a location where the Python
interpreter can find it and installing the LAMMPS shared library into a
folder that the dynamic loader searches or inside of the installed
`lammps` package folder. There are multiple ways to achieve this.
1. Install both components into a Python `site-packages` folder, either
system-wide or in the corresponding user-specific folder. This way
no additional environment variables need to be set, but the shared
library is otherwise not accessible.
2. Do an installation into a virtual environment.
3. Leave the files where they are in the source/development tree and
adjust some environment variables.
::::::::::: tabs
:::::: tab
Python package
Compile LAMMPS with either [CMake](Build_cmake) or the [traditional
make](Build_make) procedure in [shared mode](exe). After compilation has
finished, type (in the compilation folder):
``` bash
make install-python
```
This will try to build a so-called (binary) wheel file, a compressed
binary python package and then install it with the python package
manager \'pip\'. Installation will be attempted into a system-wide
`site-packages` folder and if that fails into the corresponding folder
in the user\'s home directory. For a system-wide installation you
usually would have to gain superuser privilege first, e.g. though `sudo`
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - | `X.Y` depends on the |
| Python | `$HOME/.local/lib/python | installed Python version |
| package | X.Y/site-packages/lammps` | |
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - | `X.Y` depends on the |
| shared | `$HOME/.local/lib/python | installed Python version |
| library | X.Y/site-packages/lammps` | |
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
For a system-wide installation those folders would then become.
+------------+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - `/usr/lib/pythonX. | `X.Y` depends on the |
| Python | Y/site-packages/lammps` | installed Python version |
| package | | |
+------------+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - `/usr/lib/pythonX. | `X.Y` depends on the |
| shared | Y/site-packages/lammps` | installed Python version |
| library | | |
+------------+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
No environment variables need to be set for those, as those folders are
searched by default by Python or the LAMMPS Python package.
::: versionchanged
24Mar2022
:::
:::: note
::: title
Note
:::
If there is an existing installation of the LAMMPS python module,
`make install-python` will try to update it. However, that will fail if
the older version of the module was installed by LAMMPS versions until
17Feb2022. Those were using the distutils package, which does not create
a \"manifest\" that allows a clean uninstall. The `make install-python`
command will always produce a
lammps-\<version\>-\<python\>-\<abi\>-\<os\>-\<arch\>.whl file (the
\'wheel\'). And this file can be later installed directly with
`python -m pip install <wheel file>.whl` without having to type
`make install-python` again and repeating the build step, too.
::::
For the traditional make process you can override the python version to
version x.y when calling `make` with `PYTHON=pythonX.Y`. For a CMake
based compilation this choice has to be made during the CMake
configuration step.
If the default settings of `make install-python` are not what you want,
you can invoke `install.py` from the python directory manually as
``` bash
python install.py -p <python package> -l <shared library> -v <version.h file> [-n]
```
- The `-p` flag points to the `lammps` Python package folder to be
installed,
- the `-l` flag points to the LAMMPS shared library file to be
installed,
- the `-v` flag points to the LAMMPS version header file to extract
the version date,
- and the optional `-n` instructs the script to only build a wheel
file but not attempt to install it.
::::::
::: tab
Virtual environment
A virtual environment is a minimal Python installation inside of a
folder. It allows isolating and customizing a Python environment that is
mostly independent from a user or system installation. For the core
Python environment, it uses symbolic links to the system installation
and thus it can be set up quickly and will not take up much disk space.
This gives you the flexibility to install (newer/different) versions of
Python packages that would potentially conflict with already installed
system packages. It also does not requite any superuser privileges. See
[PEP 405: Python Virtual
Environments](https://peps.python.org/pep-0405/)\_ for more information.
To create a virtual environment in the folder `$HOME/myenv`, use the
[venv](https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html)\_ module as follows.
``` bash
# create virtual environment in folder $HOME/myenv
python3 -m venv $HOME/myenv
```
For Python versions prior 3.3 you can use
[virtualenv](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/key_projects/#virtualenv)\_
command instead of \"python3 -m venv\". This step has to be done only
once.
To activate the virtual environment type:
``` bash
source $HOME/myenv/bin/activate
```
This has to be done every time you log in or open a new terminal window
and after you turn off the virtual environment with the `deactivate`
command.
When using CMake to build LAMMPS, you need to set `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`
to the value of the `$VIRTUAL_ENV` environment variable during the
configuration step. For the traditional make procedure, no additional
steps are needed. After compiling LAMMPS you can do a \"Python package
only\" installation with `make install-python` and the LAMMPS Python
package and the shared library file are installed into the following
locations:
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - | `X.Y` depends on the |
| Python | `$VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/python | installed Python version |
| Module | X.Y/site-packages/lammps` | |
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
| LAMMPS | - | `X.Y` depends on the |
| shared | `$VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/python | installed Python version |
| library | X.Y/site-packages/lammps` | |
+-----------+---------------------------+-----------------------------+
:::
::::: tab
In place usage
You can also [compile LAMMPS](Build) as usual in [\"shared\" mode](exe)
leave the shared library and Python package inside the
source/compilation folders. Instead of copying the files where they can
be found, you need to set the environment variables `PYTHONPATH` (for
the Python package) and `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` (or `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` on
macOS
For Bourne shells (bash, ksh and similar) the commands are:
``` bash
export PYTHONPATH=${PYTHONPATH}:${HOME}/lammps/python
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${HOME}/lammps/src
```
For the C-shells like csh or tcsh the commands are:
``` csh
setenv PYTHONPATH ${PYTHONPATH}:${HOME}/lammps/python
setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${HOME}/lammps/src
```
On macOS you may also need to set `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` accordingly. You
can make those changes permanent by editing your `$HOME/.bashrc` or
`$HOME/.login` files, respectively.
:::: note
::: title
Note
:::
The `PYTHONPATH` needs to point to the parent folder that contains the
`lammps` package!
::::
:::::
:::::::::::
To verify if LAMMPS can be successfully started from Python, start the
Python interpreter, load the `lammps` Python module and create a LAMMPS
instance. This should not generate an error message and produce output
similar to the following:
> ``` console
> $ python
> Python 3.8.5 (default, Sep 5 2020, 10:50:12)
> [GCC 10.2.0] on linux
> Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> import lammps
> >>> lmp = lammps.lammps()
> LAMMPS (18 Sep 2020)
> using 1 OpenMP thread(s) per MPI task
> >>>
> ```
:::: note
::: title
Note
:::
Unless you opted for \"In place use\", you will have to rerun the
installation any time you recompile LAMMPS to ensure the latest Python
package and shared library are installed and used.
::::
:::: note
::: title
Note
:::
If you want Python to be able to load different versions of the LAMMPS
shared library with different settings, you will need to manually copy
the files under different names (e.g. `liblammps_mpi.so` or
`liblammps_gpu.so`) into the appropriate folder as indicated above. You
can then select the desired library through the *name* argument of the
LAMMPS object constructor (see [python_create_lammps]{.title-ref}).
::::
## Extending Python to run in parallel {#python_install_mpi4py}
If you wish to run LAMMPS in parallel from Python, you need to extend
your Python with an interface to MPI. This also allows you to make MPI
calls directly from Python in your script, if you desire.
We have tested this with [MPI for
Python](https://mpi4py.readthedocs.io/)\_ (aka mpi4py) and you will find
installation instruction for it below.
Installation of mpi4py (version 3.0.3 as of Sep 2020) can be done as
follows:
- Via `pip` into a local user folder with:
``` bash
pip install --user mpi4py
```
- Via `dnf` into a system folder for RedHat/Fedora systems:
``` bash
sudo dnf install python3-mpi4py-openmpi
sudo dnf install python3-mpi4py-openmpi
```
- Via `pip` into a virtual environment (see above):
``` console
$ source $HOME/myenv/activate
(myenv)$ pip install mpi4py
```
- Via `pip` into a system folder (not recommended):
``` bash
sudo pip install mpi4py
```
For more detailed installation instructions and additional options,
please see the [mpi4py
installation](https://mpi4py.readthedocs.io/en/stable/install.html)\_
page.
To use `mpi4py` and LAMMPS in parallel from Python, you **must** make
certain that **both** are using the **same** implementation and version
of MPI library. If you only have one MPI library installed on your
system this is not an issue, but it can be if you have multiple MPI
installations (e.g. on an HPC cluster to be selected through environment
modules). Your LAMMPS build is explicit about which MPI it is using,
since it is either detected during CMake configuration or in the
traditional make build system you specify the details in your low-level
`src/MAKE/Makefile.foo` file. The installation process of `mpi4py` uses
the `mpicc` command to find information about the MPI it uses to build
against. And it tries to load \"libmpi.so\" from the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH`.
This may or may not find the MPI library that LAMMPS is using. If you
have problems running both mpi4py and LAMMPS together, this is an issue
you may need to address, e.g. by loading the module for different MPI
installation so that mpi4py finds the right one.
If you have successfully installed mpi4py, you should be able to run
Python and type
``` python
from mpi4py import MPI
```
without error. You should also be able to run Python in parallel on a
simple test script
``` bash
mpirun -np 4 python3 test.py
```
where `test.py` contains the lines
``` python
from mpi4py import MPI
comm = MPI.COMM_WORLD
print("Proc %d out of %d procs" % (comm.Get_rank(),comm.Get_size()))
```
and see one line of output for each processor you run on. Please note
that the order of the lines is not deterministic
``` console
$ mpirun -np 4 python3 test.py
Proc 0 out of 4 procs
Proc 1 out of 4 procs
Proc 2 out of 4 procs
Proc 3 out of 4 procs
```