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# Detailed Installation Instructions

SamSifter is written in Python3, so you need a working Python3 interpreter. It requires the additional packages `PyQt4` to display the GUI, `numpy` for vectorized calculations, `pandas` for statistical summaries, and `matplotlib` to plot optional coverage and read lengths distributions. The Python setup tools normally take care of these requirements for you, however at time of writing the package `PyQt4` is not available in the PyPI repositories so you have to install it using your operating system’s package management.

If you already have a working Python3 installation with all required packages you can skip the following section.

Contents

- Detailed Installation Instructions
  - Installing `Python3` and `PyQt4`
    - Debian 8 (jessie) and newer or Ubuntu 14.04 and newer
    - Older Debian or Ubuntu systems
    - Mac OS X using Homebrew
    - Windows (32 bit)
  - Installing SamSifter
  - Uninstalling SamSifter

## Installing `Python3` and `PyQt4`

Below you can find tested installation instructions for Debian-based GNU/Linux distributions. The package names for other Linux distributions should be very similar though. The Windows installation has only been tested on a 32-bit Windows XP installation (currently the only test system available). The installation instructions for Mac OS X are likely incomplete as they could not be tested at all.

### Debian 8 (jessie) and newer or Ubuntu 14.04 and newer

The preparation of the SamSifter installation on Debian 8 (jessie) and newer or Ubuntu 14.04 and newer is very simple as all packages are already available in the standard repositories:

    sudo aptitude install python3 python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-nose python3-pyqt4 python3-numpy python3-matplotlib python3-pandas

You can now proceed with the actual SamSifter installation.

### Older Debian or Ubuntu systems

Older Debian/Ubuntu systems provide only a rudimentary Python3 environment lacking the `matplotlib` package. We have to use the Python tools `easy_install` and `pip` to obtain it. The following steps have been tested successfully on Ubuntu 12.04:

    # install Python3 system (as far as possible)
    sudo aptitude install python3 python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-nose python3-pyqt4 python3-numpy python3-tornado libfreetype6-dev
    # install pip for Python3
    sudo easy_install3 -U distribute
    sudo easy_install3 pip
    # matplotlib is not yet available, thus we install it from PyPI
    sudo pip3 install matplotlib==1.3.1
    # same for pandas
    sudo pip3 install pandas==0.14.1

You can now proceed with the actual SamSifter installation.

### Mac OS X using Homebrew

Using Homebrew, the “missing package manager for OS X”, seems to be the easiest way to obtain an up to date `Python3` system including `PyQt4` on a Mac. Install `Homebrew` by pasting the following command into a Terminal prompt:

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

and follow the on-screen instructions. Once you have checked that the system is functional with

    brew doctor

you can install these packages with the following commands (current versions at time of release according to Braumeister):

    brew install python3        # current version: 3.4.2
    brew install pyqt           # current version: 4.11.3
    brew install pkg-config     # current version: 0.28

Open a fresh Terminal window, confirm that it uses the newly installed Python3 interpreter at /usr/local/bin/python by running

    which python

and continue to install additional Python packages with the built-in package management:

    # install pip
    easy_install -U distribute
    easy_install pip
    # install setuptools, numpy and matplotlib
    pip install setuptools
    pip install numpy
    pip install matplotlib==1.3.1
    pip install pandas==0.14.1

You can now proceed with the actual SamSifter installation.

### Windows (32 bit)

For any Windows system the use of a packaged Python 3.4 distribution like `Anaconda` from http://continuum.io/downloads#all is recommended. However, if you’d rather install the individual packages by yourself you can follow these steps. The following instructions have been tested successfully on Windows XP (32 bit):

1. Download and install Python from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. The recommended version is Python 3.4.2. During installation, make sure to include `pip` in the installation and check the option to automatically add `python.exe` to your `PATH`.
2. Download and install `PyQt4` from http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/software/pyqt/download. The recommended version is PyQt 4.11.3 for Python 3.4 and Qt 4.8.6.
3. Download and install `numpy` from http://www.numpy.org/. The recommended version is numpy 1.9.1 for Python 3.4.
4. Download and install `matplotlib` from http://www.matplotlib.org/. The recommended version is matplotlib 1.4.0 for Python 3.4.
5. Download and install `pandas` from http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#pandas. The recommended version is `pandas` 0.15.2 for Python 3.4.

You can now proceed with the actual SamSifter installation.

## Installing SamSifter

Once you have a working Python3 environment use an administrator account to download and install the current SamSifter package on your system with the command:

    pip3 install SamSifter

Previous versions will be uninstalled automatically. The installation can be tested with

    samsifter --help

If everything went fine you should see the following help text:

    usage: samsifter [-h] [-v] [-d]

    SamSifter helps you create filter workflows for next-generation sequencing
    data. It is primarily used to process SAM files generated by MALT prior to
    metagenomic analysis in MEGAN.

    optional arguments:
      -h, --help     show this help message and exit
      -v, --verbose  print additional information to stderr
      -d, --debug    show debug options in menu

Starting the program without any arguments will display the GUI and let you edit your first workflow.

## Uninstalling SamSifter

To get rid of SamSifter simply execute the following command as administrator:

    pip3 uninstall SamSifter

The Python utility `pip3` will list all currently installed available versions for selective removal. Proceed similarly with any required packages (e.g. `matplotlib`) if you don’t need them anymore.

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