This tutorial will show you how to create an Environment on MacOS.
How to install Conda and Mamba
Homebrew is a package manager that helps with the installation of software. It is open-source and free to users. Homebrew allows us to install the software we need all in the terminal.
- Start by going to https://brew.sh/ or by searching the web for Homebrew. On the webpage you will see a line of code under Install Homebrew. Click the clipboard icon next to the line of code to copy it.
- Now let’s open a terminal window. You can do this by selecting the magnifying glass search icon on the top right of your computer, searching for Terminal, and pressing enter.
- In the new terminal window, press Command + V to paste the copied code from Homebrew. Run it by pressing Return. You may be prompted to enter a passcode or PIN for your computer to continue. Type it in and press Return. Note that the terminal does not show characters as you type for security purposes.
- After entering your password, the code will run for a bit more before asking you to press RETURN/ENTER to continue. Press Return on your keyboard.
- Let it run a bit more, and then it will ask you to enter your passcode or pin one more time. Type it in and press Return.
- You will know that the installation is complete when you get to this screen with the Installation successful! message.
Conda is a package management system used to install and manage software. We can use it to create environments for different projects. Mamba is a new version of Conda that works even faster to manage environments. We will use Homebrew to install both Conda and Mamba.
- Go to https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/mambaforge or search the web for Homebrew Mambaforge. Next to Install command: you will see a line of code. Click the clipboard icon next to the line of code to copy it.
- Navigate back to the terminal window and paste the copied line of code in it. Run the code. This code will install both Conda and Mamba.
- You will know it has been installed successfully when you get the line that says mambaforge was successfully installed!
An environment is a separate place on your computer where you can install software and libraries specific to the project you are working on. This allows you to have multiple projects all with their unique requirements. We need to create an environment that has all the tools we need to work with ECOSTRESS data.
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Now that Conda and Mamba are installed, let’s create an environment that contains the python packages we need for geospatial analysis. Open a terminal window and type mamba create -y -n ECOSTRESS -c conda-forge python=3.11 jupyter rioxarray hvplot and run it. Here is an explanation of each part of that command:
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mamba create is the command to make the environment.
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-y confirms changes being made.
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-n ECOSTRESS is used to name our environment. In this case the environment is being named ECOSTRESS but if you would like a different name, you can change it. Just make sure to keep the -n and not use spaces or special characters in your name.
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-c conda-forge sets the channel where mamba will pull the packages from.
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For the end of the command, we list all of the packages we want. Here is a description of each one we will use in our tutorial:
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python=3.12 connects to python, in this case setting it to version 3.12.
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jupyter allows us to use jupyter notebooks.
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rioxarray lets us open rasters.
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hvplot will allow us to create maps.
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Tip: If you get Error: invalid option: -y, re-run the code to create the environment without the -y.
Example: mamba create -n ECOSTRESS -c conda-forge python=3.11 jupyter rioxarray hvplot
- The code may run for a little bit. You will know that your environment has been successfully created when you get instructions on how to activate and deactivate your environment.
- Before we can activate the environment, we need to initialize mamba so that we can use it to run commands. In the terminal, type mamba init zsh and press enter to run it.
- It may prompt you to enter your password or PIN. Remember, as you type it in, the characters will not show up for security reasons. Once you have typed it in, press Return. If it does not ask you for this information, continue to the next step.
- Once you get to this screen, you will know that mamba has been initialized. Close the terminal to save this change.
- Now, to activate the environment, open the terminal again and type mamba activate ECOSTRESS into the terminal and run it.
- You will know that your new environment has been activated when you see the environment name, in this case ECOSTRESS, in parentheses before your line of code instead of (base).
Now you have an environment set up to run your code with!