Installation

Note

ESMValTool now uses mamba instead of conda for the recommended installation. For more information about the change, have a look at Move to Mamba.

ESMValTool 2.0 requires a Unix(-like) operating system and Python 3.7+.

The ESMValTool can be installed in multiple ways.

Recommended installation methods:

Further options for installation are:

The next sections will detail the procedure to install ESMValTool through each of these methods.

Note that there is also a Tutorial available with more explanations and guidance if the installation instructions here are too concise. See common installation issues if you run into trouble.

Mamba installation

In order to install the conda package, you will need mamba pre-installed.

For a minimal mamba installation (recommended) go to https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html. It is recommended that you always use the latest version of mamba, as problems have been reported when trying to use older versions.

First download the installation file for Linux or MacOSX. After downloading the installation file from one of the links above, execute it by running (Linux example):

bash Mambaforge-Linux-x86_64.sh

and follow the instructions on your screen. Immediately update mamba after installing it:

mamba update --name base mamba

You can check that mamba installed correctly by running

which mamba

this should show the path to your mamba executable, e.g. ~/mambaforge/bin/mamba.

ESMValTool installation

Once you have installed the above prerequisites, you can install the entire ESMValTool package by running:

mamba create --name esmvaltool esmvaltool python=3.9

Here mamba is the executable calling the mamba package manager to install esmvaltool. The reason why we are also specifying python=3.9 is that it will make it easier for mamba to find a working combination of all required packages, see Mamba fails to solve the environment in common installation issues for an in-depth explanation. Python 3.7 and 3.8 are also supported, in case you prefer to work with an older version of Python.

This will create a new conda environment and install ESMValTool into it with a single command.

conda activate esmvaltool

Of course it is also possible to choose a different name than esmvaltool for the environment.

The next step is to check that the installation works properly. To do this, run the tool with:

esmvaltool --help

If everything was installed properly, ESMValTool should have printed a help message to the console.

Note

Creating a new conda environment is often much faster and more reliable than trying to update an existing conda environment.

Julia installation

If you want to use the ESMValTool Julia functionality, you will also need to install Julia. If you are just getting started, we suggest that you come back to this step later when and if you need it. To perform the Julia installation, make sure that your conda environment is activated and then execute

mamba install julia

Installation of subpackages

The diagnostics bundled in ESMValTool are scripts in four different programming languages: Python, NCL, R, and Julia.

There are three language specific packages available:

  • esmvaltool-ncl

  • esmvaltool-python

  • esmvaltool-r

The main esmvaltool package contains all four subpackages listed above. If you only need to run a recipe with diagnostics in some of these languages, it is possible to install only the dependencies needed to do just that. The diagnostic script(s) used in each recipe, are documented in Recipes. The extension of the diagnostic script can be used to see in which language a diagnostic script is written.

To install support for diagnostics written in Python and NCL into an existing environment, run

mamba install esmvaltool-python esmvaltool-ncl

Some of the CMORization scripts are written in Python, while others are written in NCL. Therefore, both esmvaltool-python and esmvaltool-ncl need to be installed in order to be able to run all CMORization scripts.

Note that the ESMValTool source code is contained in the esmvaltool-python package, so this package will always be installed as a dependency if you install one or more of the packages for other languages.

There is also a lesson available in the ESMValTool tutorial that describes the installation of the ESMValTool in more detail. It can be found here.

Installation on MacOSX

The Python diagnostics of the ESMValTool are supported on MacOSX, but Julia, NCL, and R are not. If any of these are needed, deployment through a Docker container is advised.

The esmvaltool-python diagnostics can be installed as follows:

First, ensure mamba is pre-installed (see Mamba installation for more details).

Create a new environment with the esmvaltool-python package:

mamba create --name esmvaltool esmvaltool-python python=3.9

Activate the new environment:

conda activate esmvaltool

Confirm that the ESMValTool is working with:

esmvaltool --help

Note that some recipes may depend on the OpenMP library, which does not install via mamba on MacOSX. To install this library, run:

brew install libomp

to install the library with Homebrew. In case you do not have Homebrew, follow installation instructions here.

Pip installation

It is also possible to install ESMValTool from PyPI. However, this requires first installing dependencies that are not available on PyPI in some other way. By far the easiest way to install these dependencies is to use mamba. For a minimal mamba installation (recommended) go to https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html.

After installing mamba, download the file with the list of dependencies:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValTool/main/environment.yml

and install these dependencies into a new conda environment with the command

mamba env create --name esmvaltool --file environment.yml

Finally, activate the newly created environment

conda activate esmvaltool

and install ESMValTool as well as any remaining Python dependencies with the command:

pip install esmvaltool

If you would like to run Julia diagnostic scripts, you will also need to install the Julia dependencies:

esmvaltool install Julia

If you would like to run R diagnostic scripts, you will also need to install the R dependencies:

esmvaltool install R

Docker installation

ESMValTool is also provided through DockerHub in the form of docker containers. See https://docs.docker.com for more information about docker containers and how to run them.

You can get the latest release with

docker pull esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable

If you want to use the current main branch, use

docker pull esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:latest

To run a container using those images, use:

docker run esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable --help

Note that the container does not see the data or environmental variables available in the host by default. You can make data available with -v /path:/path/in/container and environmental variables with -e VARNAME.

For example, the following command would run a recipe

docker run -e HOME -v "$HOME":"$HOME" -v /data:/data esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable run examples/recipe_python.yml

with the environmental variable $HOME available inside the container and the data in the directories $HOME and /data, so these can be used to find the configuration file, recipe, and data.

It might be useful to define a bash alias or script to abbreviate the above command, for example

alias esmvaltool="docker run -e HOME -v $HOME:$HOME -v /data:/data esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable"

would allow using the esmvaltool command without even noticing that the tool is running inside a Docker container.

Singularity installation

Docker is usually forbidden in clusters due to security reasons. However, there is a more secure alternative to run containers that is usually available on them: Singularity.

Singularity can use docker containers directly from DockerHub with the following command

singularity run docker://esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable run examples/recipe_python.yml

Note that the container does not see the data available in the host by default. You can make host data available with -B /path:/path/in/container.

It might be useful to define a bash alias or script to abbreviate the above command, for example

alias esmvaltool="singularity run -B $HOME:$HOME -B /data:/data docker://esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable"

would allow using the esmvaltool command without even noticing that the tool is running inside a Singularity container.

Some clusters may not allow to connect to external services, in those cases you can first create a singularity image locally:

singularity build esmvaltool.sif docker://esmvalgroup/esmvaltool:stable

and then upload the image file esmvaltool.sif to the cluster. To run the container using the image file esmvaltool.sif use:

singularity run esmvaltool.sif run examples/recipe_python.yml

Install from source

Installing the tool from source is recommended if you need the very latest features or if you would like to contribute to its development.

Obtaining the source code

The ESMValTool source code is available on a public GitHub repository: https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValTool

The easiest way to obtain it is to clone the repository using git (see https://git-scm.com/). To clone the public repository:

git clone https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValTool

or

git clone git@github.com:ESMValGroup/ESMValTool

if you prefer to connect to the repository over SSH.

The command above will create a folder called ESMValTool containing the source code of the tool in the current working directory.

Note

Using SSH is much more convenient if you push to the repository regularly (recommended to back up your work), because then you do not need to type your password over and over again. See this guide for information on how to set it up if you have not done so yet. If you are developing ESMValTool on a shared compute cluster, you can set up SSH agent forwarding to use your local SSH keys also from the remote machine.

It is also possible to work in one of the ESMValTool private repositories, e.g.:

git clone https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValTool-private

GitHub also allows one to download the source code in as a tar.gz or zip file. If you choose to use this option, download the compressed file and extract its contents at the desired location.

Prerequisites

It is recommended to use mamba to manage ESMValTool dependencies. For a minimal mamba installation go to https://mamba.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html. To simplify the installation process, an environment definition file is provided in the repository (environment.yml in the root folder).

Attention

Some systems provide a preinstalled version of conda (e.g., via the module environment). However, several users reported problems when installing NCL with such versions. It is therefore preferable to use a local, fully user-controlled mamba installation. Using an older version of mamba can also be a source of problems, so if you have mamba installed already, make sure it is up to date by running mamba update -n base mamba.

To enable the mamba command, please source the appropriate configuration file from your ~/.bashrc file:

source <prefix>/etc/profile.d/conda.sh

or ~/.cshrc/~/.tcshrc file:

source <prefix>/etc/profile.d/conda.csh

where <prefix> is the install location of your anaconda or miniconda (e.g. /home/$USER/mambaforge, /home/$USER/anaconda3 or /home/$USER/miniconda3).

Note

Note that during the installation, mamba will ask you if you want the installation to be automatically sourced from your .bashrc or .bash-profile files; if you answered yes, then mamba will write bash directives to those files and every time you get to your shell, you will automatically be inside conda’s (base) environment. To deactivate this feature, look for the # >>> conda initialize >>> code block in your .bashrc or .bash-profile and comment the whole block out.

The ESMValTool conda environment file can also be used as a requirements list for those cases in which a mamba installation is not possible or advisable. From now on, we will assume that the installation is going to be done through mamba.

Ideally, you should create a separate conda environment for ESMValTool, so it is independent from any other Python tools present in the system.

Note that it is advisable to update mamba to the latest version before installing ESMValTool, using the command (as mentioned above)

mamba update --name base mamba

To create an environment, go to the directory containing the ESMValTool source code (called ESMValTool if you did not choose a different name)

cd ESMValTool

and (when on Linux) create a new environment called esmvaltool containing just Python with the command

mamba create --name esmvaltool 'python=3.9'

if needed, older versions of Python can also be selected. Next, install many of the required dependencies, including the ESMValCore package and Python, R, and NCL interpreters, into this environment by running

mamba env update --name esmvaltool --file environment.yml

MacOSX note: ESMValTool functionalities in Julia, NCL, and R are not supported on MacOSX, due to conflicts in the conda environment. To install a conda environment on MacOSX, use the dedicated environment file:

mamba env create --name esmvaltool --file environment_osx.yml

The environment is called esmvaltool by default, but it is possible to use the option --name SOME_ENVIRONMENT_NAME to define a custom name. You should then activate the environment using the command:

conda activate esmvaltool

It is also possible to update an existing environment from the environment file. This may be useful when updating an older installation of ESMValTool:

mamba env update --name esmvaltool --file environment.yml

but if you run into trouble, please try creating a new environment.

Attention

From now on, we assume that the conda environment for ESMValTool is activated.

Software installation

Once all prerequisites are fulfilled, ESMValTool can be installed by running the following commands in the directory containing the ESMValTool source code (called ESMValTool if you did not choose a different name):

pip install --editable '.[develop]'

Using the --editable flag will cause the installer to create a symbolic link from the installation location to your source code, so any changes you make to the source code will immediately be available in the installed version of the tool. This command will also install extra development dependencies needed for building the documentation, running the unit tests, etc.

If you would like to run Julia diagnostic scripts, you will need to install the ESMValTool Julia dependencies:

esmvaltool install Julia

If you would like to run R diagnostic scripts, you will also need to install the R dependencies. Install the R dependency packages:

esmvaltool install R

The next step is to check that the installation works properly. To do this, run the tool with:

esmvaltool --help

If everything was installed properly, ESMValTool should have printed a help message to the console.

MacOSX note: some recipes may depend on the OpenMP library, which does not install via mamba on MacOSX. Instead run

brew install libomp

to install the library with Homebrew. In case you do not have Homebrew, follow installation instructions here.

For a more complete installation verification, run the automated tests and confirm that no errors are reported:

pytest -m "not installation"

or if you want to run the full test suite remove the -m "not installation" flag; also if you want to run the tests on multiple threads, making the run faster, use the -n N flag where N is the number of available threads e.g:

pytest -n 4

Using the development version of the ESMValCore package

If you need the latest developments of the ESMValCore package, you can install it from source into the same conda environment.

Attention

The recipes and diagnostics in the ESMValTool repository are compatible with the latest released version of the ESMValCore. Using the development version of the ESMValCore package is only recommended if you are planning to develop new features for the ESMValCore, e.g. you want to implement a new preprocessor function.

First follow all steps above. Next, go to the place where you would like to keep the source code and clone the ESMValCore github repository:

git clone https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore

or

git clone git@github.com:ESMValGroup/ESMValCore

The command above will create a folder called ESMValCore containing the source code of the tool in the current working directory.

Go into the folder you just downloaded

cd ESMValCore

and then install ESMValCore in development mode

pip install --editable '.[develop]'

To check that the installation was successful, run

python -c 'import esmvalcore; print(esmvalcore.__path__[0])'

this should show the directory of the source code that you just downloaded.

If the command above shows a directory inside your conda environment instead, e.g. ~/mamba/envs/esmvaltool/lib/python3.8/site-packages/esmvalcore, you may need to manually remove that directory and run `pip install -e '.[develop]' again.

Pre-installed versions on HPC clusters

The ESMValTool is also available on the HPC clusters CEDA-JASMIN and DKRZ-MISTRAL and there will be no need to install it yourself if you are just running diagnostics:

  • CEDA-JASMIN: esmvaltool is available on the scientific compute nodes (sciX.jasmin.ac.uk where X = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) after login and module loading via module load esmvaltool; see the helper page at CEDA ;

  • DKRZ-Mistral: esmvaltool is available on login nodes (mistral.dkrz.de) and pre- and post-processing nodes (mistralpp.dkrz.de) after login and module loading via module load esmvaltool; the command module help esmvaltool provides some information about the module.

Common installation problems and their solutions

Mamba fails to solve the environment

If you see the text Solving environment: with the characters -\|/ rotating behind it for more than 10 minutes, mamba may be having problems finding a working combination of versions of the packages that the ESMValTool depends on. Because the ESMValTool is a community tool, there is no strict selection of which tools can be used and installing the ESMValTool requires installing almost any package that is available for processing climate data. To help mamba solve the environment, you can try the following.

Always use the latest version of mamba, as problems have been reported by people using older versions, to update, run:

mamba update --name base mamba

Usually mamba is much better at solving new environments than updating older environments, so it is often a good idea to create a new environment if updating does not work.

It can help mamba if you let it know what version of certain packages you want, for example by running

mamba create -n esmvaltool esmvaltool python=3.9

you ask for Python 3.9 specifically and that makes it much easier for mamba to solve the environment, because now it can ignore any packages that were built for other Python versions. Note that, since the esmvaltool package is built with Python>=3.7, asking for an older Python version, e.g. python=3.6, in this way, it will result in installation failure.

Problems with proxies

If you are installing ESMValTool from source from behind a proxy that does not trust the usual PyPI URLs you can declare them with the option --trusted-host, e.g.

pip install --trusted-host=pypi.python.org --trusted-host=pypi.org --trusted-host=files.pythonhosted.org -e .[develop]

If R packages fail to download, you might be able to solve this by setting the environment variable http_proxy to the correct value, e.g. in bash:

export http_proxy=http://user:pass@proxy_server:port

the username and password can be omitted if they are not required. See e.g. here for more information.

Anaconda servers connection issues

HTTP connection errors (of e.g. type 404) to the Anaconda servers are rather common, and usually a retry will solve the problem.

Installation of R packages fails

Problems have been reported if the R interpreter was made available through the module load command in addition to installation from mamba. If your ESMValTool conda environment is called esmvaltool and you want to use the R interpreter installed from mamba, the path to the R interpreter should end with mamba/envs/esmvaltool/bin/R or conda/envs/esmvaltool/bin/R. When the conda environment for ESMValTool is activated, you can check which R interpreter is used by running

which R

The Modules package is often used by system administrators to make software available to users of scientific compute clusters. To list any currently loaded modules run module list, run module help or man module for more information about the Modules package.

Problems when using ssh

If you log in to a cluster or other device via SSH and your origin machine sends the locale environment via the SSH connection, make sure the environment is set correctly, specifically LANG and LC_ALL are set correctly (for GB English UTF-8 encoding these variables must be set to en_GB.UTF-8; you can set them by adding export LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 and export LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8) in your origin or login machines’ .profile.

Problems when updating the conda environment

Usually mamba is much better at solving new environments than updating older environments, so it is often a good idea to create a new environment if updating does not work. See also Mamba fails to solve the environment.

Do not run mamba update --update-all in the esmvaltool environment since that will update some packages that are pinned to specific versions for the correct functionality of the tool.

Move to Mamba

Mamba is a much faster alternative to conda, and environment creation and updating benefits from the use of a much faster (C++ backend) dependency solver; tests have been performed to verify the integrity of the esmvaltool environment built with mamba, and we are now confident that the change will not affect the way ESMValTool is installed and run, whether it be on a Linux or OSX platform. From the user’s perspective, it is a straightforward use change: the CLI (command line interface) of mamba is identical to conda: any command that was run with conda before will now be run with mamba instead, keeping all the other command line arguments and flags as they were before. The only place where conda should not be replaced with mamba at command line level is at the environment activation point: conda activate will still have to be used.