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Setting Python environmental variables under Windows

With Python 3.10 in Conda or Pyenv platforms, the BornAgain GUI might crash when a Python script is imported. This problem is not observed with Python 3.11 or newer. Therefore, we recommend upgrading to a newer Python version >= 3.11.

If Python 3.10 is the preferred version, the Python-related environmental variables must be set manually before running the BornAgain GUI to avoid the crash.

To obtain the proper environmental variables, paste the following Python script into a file, say ba_hint.py:

import os, sys

SEP = '-' * 30
py_exe = sys.executable
py_root = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(py_exe))
py_lib = os.path.realpath(os.path.dirname(os.__file__))

print(SEP)
print("* Python root: '{}'\n"
      "* Python exectuable: '{}'\n"
      "* Python lib dir: '{}'"
      .format(py_root, py_exe, py_lib))
print(SEP)

ba_msg = "* BornAgain %s installed in the current Python environment."
try:
    import bornagain as ba
    print(ba_msg % "is")
except Exception as ex:
    print(ba_msg % "is _not_")
    print(SEP)
    raise ex
print(SEP)

print("""\
* Open a CMD.EXE shell and run the following commands before executing
  BornAgain GUI in the _same_ shell environment:
""")

print(f"""\
set py_path={py_root:}
set PATH=%py_path%;%PATH%
set PYTHONPATH=%py_path%\Lib;%py_path%\DLLs;%py_path%\Lib\site-packages;%PYTHONPATH%
""")
print(SEP)

Open a CMD.EXE shell and run the script ba_hint.py with the preferred Python interpreter:

python C:\path\to\ba_hint.py

The script finds the root path where the Python interpreter is installed and checks if BornAgain is installed as a Python package. If BornAgain is not installed, an error message will be displayed.

If BornAgain is installed in the Python environment, the scripts provides the correct environmental variables which must be set before executing the BornAgain GUI; for instance,

------------------------------
* Python root: 'C:\conda\envs\py310'
* Python exectuable: 'C:\conda\envs\py310\python.exe'
* Python lib dir: 'C:\conda\envs\py310\Lib'
------------------------------
* BornAgain is installed in the current Python environment.
------------------------------
* Open a CMD.EXE shell and run the following commands before executing
  BornAgain GUI in the _same_ shell environment:

set py_path=C:\conda\envs\py310
set PATH=%py_path%;%PATH%
set PYTHONPATH=%py_path%\Lib;%py_path%\DLLs;%py_path%\Lib\site-packages;%PYTHONPATH%

------------------------------

Notice that the paths might differ on each machine.

With the above instructions, BornAgain GUI can be executed via the following commands in a CMD.EXE shell; for instance:

set py_path=C:\conda\envs\py310
set PATH=%py_path%;%PATH%
set PYTHONPATH=%py_path%\Lib;%py_path%\DLLs;%py_path%\Lib\site-packages;%PYTHONPATH%

C:\path\to\BornAgain\bin\bornagain.exe