Warning

This documentation is for an old version of Cantera. You can find docs for newer versions here.

Installation Prerequisites

Linux

General Notes

  • To download the source code, installing git is highly recommended.
  • SCons is only available for Python 2, so building the Python 3 module requires two installations of Python (one of Python 2 and one of Python 3), even if you do not intend to build the Python 2 module.
  • The following instructions use the system-installed versions of Python, but alternate installations such as the Anaconda distribution of Python can be used as well.
  • Cython is only required to be installed for the version of Python that also has SCons installed; following the instructions below will install Cython for the version of Python 2 installed in the system directories. The minimum compatible Cython version is 0.23. If your distribution does not contain a suitable version, you may be able to install a more recent version using pip.
  • Users of other distributions should install the equivalent packages, which may have slightly different names.
  • In addition to the below operating systems, Cantera should work on any Unix-like system where the necessary prerequisites are available, but some additional configuration may be required.

Ubuntu & Debian

  • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) or newer is required; 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) or newer is recommended

  • Debian 7.0 (Wheezy) or newer; 8.0 (Jessie) or newer is recommended

  • The following packages must be installed to build any of the Cantera modules using your choice of package manager:

    g++ python scons libboost-dev

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 2 module also requires:

    cython python-dev python-numpy python-numpy-dev python-setuptools

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 3 module also requires:

    cython python3 python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-numpy

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Fortran module also requires:

    gfortran

  • In addition to the general packages, building the MATLAB toolbox also requires:

    • MATLAB version later than 2009a

      • Typically installed to:

        /opt/MATLAB/R20YYn

        where YY is a two digit year and n is either a or b

Fedora & RHEL

  • The following packages must be installed to build any of the Cantera modules using your choice of package manager:

    gcc-c++ python scons boost-devel

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 2 module also requires:

    python-setuptools python-devel Cython numpy

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 3 module also requires:

    python3 python3-setuptools python3-devel Cython python3-numpy

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Fortran module also requires:

    gcc-gfortran

  • In addition to the general packages, building the MATLAB toolbox also requires:

    • MATLAB version later than 2009a

      • Typically installed to:

        /opt/MATLAB/R20YYn

        where YY is a two digit year and n is either a or b

OpenSUSE & SUSE Linux Enterprise

  • OpenSUSE 13.2 or newer; Leap 42.2 or newer recommended

  • The following packages must be installed to build any of the Cantera modules using your choice of package manager:

    gcc-c++ python scons boost-devel

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 2 module also requires:

    python-Cython python-devel python-numpy python-numpy-devel python-setuptools

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Python 3 module also requires:

    python-Cython python3 python3-devel python3-setuptools python3-numpy python3-numpy-devel

  • In addition to the general packages, building the Fortran module also requires:

    gcc-fortran

  • In addition to the general packages, building the MATLAB toolbox also requires:

    • MATLAB version later than 2009a

      • Typically installed to:

        /opt/MATLAB/R20YYn

        where YY is a two digit year and n is either a or b

Windows

General Notes

  • SCons is only available for Python 2, so building the Python 3 module requires two installations of Python (one of Python 2 and one of Python 3), even if you do not intend to build the Python 2 module.

  • The build process will produce a Python module compatible with the version of Python used for the compilation. To generate different modules for other versions of Python, you will need to install those versions of Python and recompile.

  • The following instructions use the versions of Python downloaded from https://www.python.org/downloads, but alternate installations such as the Anaconda distribution of Python can be used as well.

  • If you want to build the Matlab toolbox and you have a 64-bit copy of Windows, by default you will be using a 64-bit copy of Matlab, and therefore you need to compile Cantera in 64-bit mode. For simplicity, it is highly recommended that you use a 64-bit version of Python to handle this automatically. Note that the default download from the Python website (https://www.python.org) is for a 32-bit installer, and you will need to select the 64-bit installer specifically.

  • It is generally helpful to have SCons and Python in your PATH environment variable. This can be done by checking the appropriate box during the installation of Python or can be accomplished by adding the top-level Python directory and the Scripts subdirectory (e.g., C:\Python27;C:\Python27\Scripts) to your PATH. The dialog to change the PATH is accessible from:

    Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables

    Make sure that the installation of Python that has SCons comes first on your PATH.

  • In order to use SCons to install Cantera to a system folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Cantera) you must run the scons install command in a command prompt that has been launched by selecting the Run as Administrator option.

Windows Requirements

  • Windows 7 or later; either 32-bit or 64-bit

  • To build any of the Cantera modules, you will need to install

  • In addition to the general software, building the Python 2 module also requires

    • Pip

      • Pip should be distributed with Python version 2.7.9 and higher. If you are using an older version of Python, see these instructions to install pip

      • Most packages will be downloaded as Wheel (*.whl) files. To install these files, type:

        pip install C:\Path\to\downloaded\file\package-file-name.whl

    • Cython

      • http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#cython
      • Download the *.whl file for your Python architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and Python 2.7 (indicated by cp27 in the file name).
      • Cython must be installed in the version of Python that has SCons installed

    • NumPy

  • In addition to the general software, building the Python 3 module also requires

    • Python 3

      • https://www.python.org/downloads/
      • Cantera supports Python 3.3 and higher
      • Be sure to choose the appropriate architecture for your system - either 32-bit or 64-bit
      • Be careful that the installation of Python 3 does not come before Python 2 on your PATH environment variable

    • Pip

      • Pip should be distributed with Python version 3.4 and higher. If you are using an older version of Python, see these instructions to install pip

      • Most packages will be downloaded as Wheel (*.whl) files. To install these files, type:

        pip3 install C:\Path\to\downloaded\file\package-file-name.whl

    • Cython

      • http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#cython
      • Download the *.whl file for your Python architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and Python 2.7 (indicated by cp27 in the file name).
      • Cython must be installed in the version of Python that has SCons installed

    • NumPy

  • In addition to the general software, building the MATLAB toolbox also requires:

    • MATLAB version later than 2009a

      • Typically installed to:

        C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R20YYn

        where YY is a two digit year and n is either a or b/Applications/MATLAB_R2011a.app

OS X & macOS

General Notes

  • It is not recommended to use the system-installed version of Python to build Cantera. Instead, the following instructions use Homebrew to install a separate copy of Python, independent from the system Python.
  • To download the source code, installing git via HomeBrew is highly recommended.
  • SCons is only available for Python 2, so building the Python 3 module requires two installations of Python (one of Python 2 and one of Python 3), even if you do not intend to build the Python 2 module.
  • Cython is only required to be installed for the version of Python that also has SCons installed; following the instructions below will install Cython for the version of Python 2 installed in the system directories. The minimum compatible Cython version is 0.23.

OS X & macOS Requirements

  • OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or newer required; 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer is recommended

  • To build any of the Cantera modules, you will need to install

    • Xcode

      • Download and install from the App Store

      • From a Terminal, run:

        sudo xcode-select --install

        and agree to the Xcode license agreement

    • Homebrew

      • http://brew.sh

      • From a Terminal, run:

        /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

    • Once Homebrew is installed, the rest of the dependencies can be installed with:

      brew install python scons boost

  • In addition to the general software, building the Python 2 module also requires:

    pip install cython numpy

  • In addition to the general software, building the Python 3 module also requires:

    brew install python3
pip install cython
pip3 install numpy

    Note that Cython should be installed into the version of Python that has SCons installed.

  • In addition to the general software, building the Fortran module also requires:

    brew install gcc

  • In addition to the general software, building the MATLAB toolbox also requires:

    • MATLAB version later than 2009a

      • Typically installed to:

        /Applications/MATLAB_R20YYn.app

        where YY is a two digit year and n is either a or b