numpy - How to install python packages without root privileges?

Question

I am using numpy /?scipy / pynest to do some research computing on Mac OS X. For performance, we rent a 400-node cluster (with Linux) from our university so that the tasks could be done parallel. The problem is that we are NOT allowed to install any extra packages on the cluster (no sudo or any installation tool), they only provide the raw python itself.

How can I run my scripts on the cluster then? Is there any way to integrate the modules (numpy and scipy also have some compiled binaries I think) so that it could be interpreted and executed without installing packages?

Answer 1

You don't need root privileges to install packages in your home directory. You can do that with a command such as

pip install --user numpy

or from source

python setup.py install --user

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/7143496/284795

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The first alternative is much more convenient, so if the server doesn't have pip or easy_install, you should politely ask the admins to add it, explaining the benefit to them (they won't be bothered anymore by requests for individual packages).