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How to run PyTecplot with Anaconda


Problem:

I’m running into errors when I try to run PyTecplot scripts with Anaconda.

Solution:

PyTecplot scripts can be run with Anaconda installed after creating a new, streamlined, conda environment which does not include Qt dependencies. PyTecplot is dependent on an external package, Qt version 5.15.2 (as of 360 2021 R2) which conflicts with the version of Qt (5.9.x as of November 2021) included in the base conda environment.

The minimum recommended environment for running PyTecplot can be created as follows:

(base) > conda create -n new_env python numpy
(base) > conda activate new_env
(new_env) > python –m pip install pytecplot
(new_env) > ~/Tecplot360_20xxRx/bin/tec360-env -- python -O script.py

If the problem persists, another option is to use Python as installed by the operating system’s package manager instead of Anaconda.


Installing PyTecplot in an offline environment:

If you are offline and need to create an Anaconda environment to use PyTecplot in batch mode, use the  --offline  flag:

(base) > conda create --offline -n new_env python numpy
(base) > conda activate new_env

Once in the new offline conda environment, you’ll also have to perform an offline install of PyTecplot. The use of ‘--no-deps‘ (aka ‘--no-dependencies‘) is important to avoid attempting to download external dependencies, which are required for connected mode. Here is an example of these offline install commands:

(new_env) > python –m pip install --no-deps “path/to/tec360/pytecplot”

If you need to use PyTecplot in “connected” mode you’ll need to install pyzmq and protobuf manually. To install these offline, you’ll need to first download the “Wheel” package from PyPi.org on a machine that is connected to the internet and transfer the file to your offline machine. Make sure to download the Wheel file for your specific version of Python and computer architecture. Those Wheel files can be found here:

https://pypi.org/project/protobuf/#files

https://pypi.org/project/pyzmq/#files

(new_env) > python –m pip install “path/to/pyzmq.whl”
(new_env) > python –m pip install “path/to/protobuf.whl”