Installing packages, plugins, and extensions

Using the Python package manager

The Python package manager is unstable. If it crashes, use the installation/ upgrade method described below.

A graphical package manager is available under Menu → Tools → Python package manager. This is a graphical manager for pip / PyPi.

Using pip / PyPi

If you receive permission errors on Windows, run OpenSesame as administrator.

Installing

The easiest way to install Python packages, and OpenSesame plugins/ extensions is through pip, the PyPA-recommended tool for installing Python packages. Although OpenSesame plugins/ extensions are not strictly Python packages, they can nevertheless be installed as such.

From within OpenSesame, to install opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy, run the following in the debug window:

import pip
pip.main(['install', 'opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy'])

Or for recent versions of pip:

import pip._internal
pip._internal.main(['install', 'opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy'])

From a terminal, to install opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy, run:

pip install opensesame-plugin-media_player_mpy

Upgrading

From within OpenSesame, to upgrade python-pygaze to the latest version, run the following in the debug window:

import pip
pip.main(['install', 'python-pygaze', '--upgrade'])

Or for recent versions of pip:

import pip._internal
pip._internal.main(['install', 'python-pygaze', '--upgrade'])

From a terminal, to upgrade python-pygaze to the latest version, run:

pip install python-pygaze --upgrade

Manually installing plugins and extensions

The easiest way to install OpenSesame plugins/ extensions is using pip install, as described above.

To manually install a plugin or extension, simply copy the plugin/ extension folder to one of the folders that OpenSesame scans for plugins and extensions. Which folders these are depends on your operating system and distribution of OpenSesame.

Under Windows, assuming that OpenSesame has been installed to c:\Program Files (x86)\OpenSesame, you can generally place plugins/ extensions in the following folders:

c:\Program Files (x86)\OpenSesame\share\opensesame_plugins
c:\Program Files (x86)\OpenSesame\share\opensesame_extensions

Under Linux, you can generally place plugins/ extensions in the following folders:

/home/[username]/.local/share/opensesame_plugins
/home/[username]/.local/share/opensesame_extensions

If you are unsure which folders are scanned, you can see the list of folders by executing the following in the debug window:

from libopensesame import misc
print(misc.base_folders)

Manually installing Python packages and modules

The easiest way to install Python packages is using pip install, as described above.

You can also copy a Python package or module to one of the folders in the Python path. Which folders these are depends on your operating system and distribution of OpenSesame. You can get a list of all folders in the Python path by executing the following in the debug window:

import sys
print(sys.path)

A Python module is a single .py file; this file should be copied directly into one of the folders in the Python path. A Python package is a folder with .py files in it; this folder should also be copied directly into one of the folders in the Python path.

Customizing your environment with environment.yaml

You can tell OpenSesame to scan extra folders, by specifying these folders in a file called environment.yaml. There are three entries:

• PYTHON_PATH
• OPENSESAME_PLUGIN_PATH
• OPENSESAME_EXTENSION_PATH

Each entry should be a semicolon-separated list of folders. All entries are optional.

PYTHON_PATH: "/home/user/mylibs1;/home/user/mylibs2"
OPENSESAME_PLUGIN_PATH: "/home/user/myplugins1;/home/user/myplugins2"
OPENSESAME_PLUGIN_PATH: "/home/user/myextensions1;/home/user/myextensions2"

This file should be placed in the working directory of OpenSesame. Under Windows, this is generally the OpenSesame program folder; under Linux and Mac OS this is generally your home folder. You can find out what the working directory is by executing the following in the debug window:

import os
print(os.getcwd())