# Installation

Tip

You will find the latest released version at pypi: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pymunk

## Install pymunk

pymunk can be installed with pip install:

    > pip install pymunk

Another option is to use the standard setup.py way, in case you have downloaded the source distribution:

    > python setup.py install

Note that this require a GCC compiler, which can be a bit tricky on Windows. If you are on Mac OS X or Linux you will probably need to run as a privileged user; for example using sudo:

    > sudo python setup.py install

Once installed you should be able to to import pymunk just as any other installed library. pymunk should also work just fine with virtualenv in case you want it installed in a contained environment.

## Compile Chipmunk

If a compiled binary library of Chipmunk that works on your platform is not included in the release you will need to compile Chipmunk yourself. Another reason to compile chipmunk is if you want to run it in release mode to get rid of the debug prints it generates.

To compile Chipmunk:

    > python setup.py build_ext

If you got the source and just want to use it directly you probably want to compile Chipmunk inplace, that way the output is put directly into the correct place in the source folder:

    > python setup.py build_ext --inplace

On Windows you will need to use a gcc-compatible compiler. The prebuilt version distributed with pymunk were compiled with the mingwpy GCC compiler at https://mingwpy.github.io/

See also

Module `pymunkoptions`
  Options module that control runtime options of pymunk such as debug settings. Use pymunkoptions together with release mode compilation to remove all debugs prints.