What’s the correct process to install and run a .py application and its dependencies? Where should I save the .py file, where should I run it from, and can it interfere with the rest of my system?

Often there is an application/script I’d like to use and it is provided as a .py file download, along with a list of other applications/scripts that need to be installed separately for it to work. Often not all of these dependencies are available in my distro’s repository. There seems to be an assumption of prior knowledge as to how to get set up to run .py files, and it is therefore not documented on developers pages. Can anyone fill me in?

I’d like to install this application. Perhaps it could be used as an example to help explain the process.

My distro is Debian 13, in case that’s relevant.

Thanks!

  • Da Oeuf@slrpnk.netOP
    1·
    1 hour ago

    Thanks for the help! For some reason tab autocompletion doesn’t work for me but that’s an issue for another day…

    put the .py file in the right place to run inside the venv

    This could be where I’ve been getting lost. How do I figure out what the right place is?

    • doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml
      1·
      1 hour ago

      One man’s right place is another man’s evidence of clinical insanity. You could just leave them on your desktop and invoke them through the venv. You could make a folder called Folder For Python Scripts That Don’t Run Good and put all your different python things there.

      You can also put the target python script inside the folder its respective venv lives in.

      Really the world is your oyster because ultimately you’re gonna make another script that does something like “read $a; ~./<venv_location>/python3 <target_.py_file> $a;” and naming it what you wanna type to run your .py and put it in your local $PATH directory.

      Don’t trust that one liner btw it’s definitley wrong.