Installation Guide - Linux

This brief guide will get you set up for this workshop with all the software you need. If you already have a piece of software, just skip the step corresponding to it.

Because there is a lot of variation between Linux setups, this guide is more vague than the others. I have omitted "sudo", use if you get a permissions error.

Install Python 2.7

  1. You should already have this.
  2. If not, install using your package manager.
  3. If you are using a sufficiently old distribution, you may not have 2.7 available in your package manager. 2.6 will probably be fine though.

Install Gurobi 5.0.2

  1. Go to www.gurobi.com
  2. Create an account, and request an academic license.
  3. Download the installer for Gurobi 5.0.2, 
    1. You'll need to get the appropriate version for your system!!! Check if you are using 32-bit or 64-bit
  4. Install Gurobi, using the README instructions. A good location is in /opt/
  5. Go back to the website and navigate to the page for your academic license. You'll be given a command with a big code in it, e.g. grbgetkey aaaaa-bbbb
  6. Open a terminal, and navigate to the .../gurobi502/linux64/bin folder e.g. cd /opt_/gurobi502/linux64/bin_
  7. Copy-and-paste the command from the website into the command prompt - you need to be on campus for this to work!
    • Not on campus? Try using vpn, as explained here. At least the command line instructions work
    • To run the command from the terminal, type ./grbgetkey aaaaa-bbbb
  8. Navigate back one level, and run python setup.py install
  9. You are done!

Install setuptools 

This small application helps you install Python packages. You may already have it, if not, install with your package manager.

Install PuLP 

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Type easy_install.exe pyparsing==1.5.3
  3. Type easy_install pulp
  4. easy_install will download and install PuLP to your computer

Check it! 

  1. Start python in interactive mode by typing python 
  2. Type import pulp, hit enter.
  3. Type pulp.tests.pulpTestAll(), hit enter.
  4. Things should mostly look happy, if you see something like "can't run Gurobi" or Gurobi is unavailable, check the steps above.
  5. Email idunning AT mit DOT edu if you need more help.

Confirm it

  1. Download and run the "installation test file"
  2. Copy the output and paste it into an email, and send it to me (idunning AT mit DOT edu)
  3. Do this the night before, or you will not be allowed into the class! See syllabus for more info.
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