Using the Python Distribution
This page provides important information for users of the Ice for Python distribution.
On this page:
Overview of the Ice for Python Distribution
Ice for Python is available as a collection of Python packages on the Python Package Index. Each package provides the following components:
- Ice extension for Python
- Standard Slice files
- Slice-to-Python compiler (
slice2py
)
Installing the Ice for Python Distribution
Install Ice for Python using this command:
pip install zeroc-ice==3.6.5
On Linux this command will build and install the source package. On macOS and Windows it installs a pre-built wheel for the following configurations:
- Python 2.7 on macOS (64 bit) and Windows (32 bit and 64 bit)
- Python 3.6 on Windows (32 bit and 64 bit)
Using Ice for Python
The installation process automatically adds the Ice modules to Python's package directory and adds the Slice-to-Python compiler (slice2py
) to a directory that's likely already in your executable search path. To verify that Ice is installed, execute these commands:
python >>> import Ice >>> Ice.getSliceDir()
The output of getSliceDir
shows where the standard Slice files have been installed.
The Ice manual provides a complete description of the Python mapping, including the options for generating Python code from Slice definitions.
Using the sample programs
Sample programs are provided in a separate GitHub repository. You can browse this repository to see build and usage instructions for all supported programming languages. Simply clone this repository and use its 3.6 branch:
git clone -b 3.6 https://github.com/zeroc-ice/ice-demos.git cd ice-demos