1.3.2. Installing the CTSM Python environment

Many of our Python-based tools require non-standard Python modules to be installed. To facilitate this, you can install a CTSM-specific Conda environment with the exact version of everything needed. From the top level of your CTSM checkout, simply do

./py_env_create

and that script will install the ctsm_pylib environment for you. If ctsm_pylib already exists, it will give you options on how to handle that.

As CTSM Python tools continue to be developed, they may evolve to require an updated version of ctsm_pylib. If you encounter "Module not found" errors, you may need to run py_env_create again; for a given CTSM commit (version), this will always install what's needed to run all the CTSM Python tools in that commmit.