Control and Slycot Libraries

[John Lambert]

Hello,

Can the control and slycot libraries be added to WinPython?  They are very but require a three step non-intuitive process.  These have state space models that are very helpful.

Step #1:

(info from slycot-0.1.1 README.rst

Download libs and dlls from http://icl.cs.utk.edu/lapack-for-windows/libraries/VisualStudio/3.4.1/Dynamic-MINGW/Win32/

Place the respective files in the libs and dll folders

libs: libblas.lib; liblpack.lib; liblpacke.lib

dlls: libblas.dll; liblpack.dll; liblpacke.dll; libtmglib.dll

Step #2:

pip install slycot

(https://pypi.python.org/pypi/slycot)

Step #3:

pip install control

(https://pypi.python.org/pypi/control/0.6.6)

Thanks,

John

[Yuxiang Wang]

stonebig (and of course Pierre) will have the final say on this, but personally I feel that these two packages are too domain-specific to be added into WinPython...

Or, probably could be the "flavor of the month" in December?

-Shawn

[stonebig]

Winpython is preferably with one external source of binaries, which by luck has a slycot binary :
http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#slycot

Does that procedure work for the slycot part ?

Step #1 :
- download and install your prefered winpython
Step #2 :
- download the slycot  binary prepared by Christoph Gholke  (the one that matches the winpython you installed)
  http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#slycot
- place it on c:\test_this

Step #3 :
- click on "WinPython Control Panel.exe" ,
- click on "add packages",
- select the binary you just downloaded
- click on "install"
- check if the resulting winpython+slycot works for you.

[John Lambert]

"The following packages are not (yet) supported by WinPython Control Panel: Slycot-0.1.0.win32-py2.7.exe"

I had to use "pip install xxx" to install it.  The tar.gz files didn't work either.  

I attached the created files in site-packages after I installed it - there is a large _wrapper.pyd file that I think has all of the compiled fortran routines.

Why would the exe not be loadable through the control panel?

Thanks,

John

[stonebig]

Can you precise exactly which version of Winpython you are using ?

[John Lambert]

I have tried the 32 bit versions 2.7.6.3; 2.7.8.1 and the most recent 2.7.8.2.

Thanks for checking-

John

[stonebig]

Sorry, I don't know why it fails on this PC.

[stonebig]

[John Lambert]

My fault: the file was named "Slycot-0.1.0.win32-py2.7 (1).exe" and according to this post (https://code.google.com/p/winpython/issues/detail?id=25) the name needs to end in 2.7, not the "(1)".  It is now installed successfully and officially.

If the libs and dll's along with the Slycot binary could be included in the normal distribution, that would be a big help.  About it being too specific, that is your decision.  If at least the dll's and libs could be included, then the user experience in installing would be seamless.

Thanks,

John

[stonebig]

Hi John,

I agree the error message is somewhat misleading
"The following packages are not (yet) supported by WinPython Control Panel: Slycot-0.1.0.win32-py2.7 (1).exe"

Would this message be a little more clear ?
"The following packages filename are incorrect or  not (yet) supported by WinPython Control Panel: Slycot-0.1.0.win32-py2.7 (1).exe"

The "slycot" package doesn't seems to be ready for "mainstream" yet :
-  on Christoph Gohlke site :
   . it is somewhat old (February 2014),
   . with an experimental code (v0.1.0), which is not the 'v0.1.1' that appeared on April on Pypi (did Christoph had a problem with last version ?)
- it is tagged as "3-alpha" on pypi.

If it is for a classroom or laboratory usage, well aware of what to expect of this package, it's no  problem :
- go there : http://sourceforge.net/projects/stonebig.u/files/Do_It_Yourself
- learn first to rebuild winpython "original",
- then add your missing package, and generate the version that will best fit your need.

==> It may take you :
- 2 hours, if you limit yourself to a python 3.4,
- 3 hours  if you want a python 2.7.


regards,

[John Lambert]

Thank you for the information on bundling my own WinPython - that is probably my best solution.

Yes, a more descriptive error condition would be nice, maybe including what file name convention it is expecting.

Thanks,

John