# Windows Installation

The SpacePy team currently provides binary “wheels” via PyPI so it can be installed on Windows without a compiler. Binaries are provided for Python 3.6 through 3.10 in 64-bit and 32-bit variants for each. `pip install spacepy` should find and install these binaries.

Our recommended (but not required) Python distribution is Anaconda running 64-bit Python 3. Anaconda includes much of the scientific Python stack. Another excellent distribution is Canopy.

You may need to install the dependencies some way other than pip; for example, if you are running an earlier version of Python. The latest version of many dependencies requires Python 3.6 and pip will not install older versions to get around this. See Dependencies via conda.

## Compiling

If a binary wheel is not available for your version of Python, `pip` will try to compile SpacePy. The only supported compiler is `mingw32`. Install it with:

    conda install m2w64-gcc-fortran libpython

This is also required if installing from a source distribution or git checkout.

`irbempy` requires Fortran to compile and the only supported compiler is `gnu95`; this is the default and provided by `m2w64-gcc-fortran`.

If you have difficulties, it may be useful to reference the build scripts the SpacePy developers use.

## NASA CDF

`pycdf` requires the NASA CDF library . Binary installers are available for Windows; be sure to pick the version that matches your Python installation. The current 32-bit version is cdf37_1_0-setup-32.exe; for 64-bit, cdf37_1_0-setup-64.exe.

This is a simple self-extracting installer that can be installed either before or after installing SpacePy.

## Dependencies via conda

Installation via `pip` will automatically install most Python dependencies (but not the NASA CDF library). They can also be installed from conda:

    conda install numpy scipy matplotlib h5py

## Standalone dependencies

Most of the SpacePy Dependencies have Windows installers available via their pages, but `pip` or `conda` are recommended instead.

## Developers

If you want to build the documentation yourself (rather than using the documentation shipped with SpacePy), install sphinx and numpydoc. The easiest way is via pip:

    pip install sphinx numpydoc

They are also available via conda:

    conda install sphinx numpydoc