Running from source

Running from source

You will currently need at least Python 3.7.x to run stable code. In order to run develop you will need Python 3.8.x or higher (3.9.x has had some testing).

Ensure Python is installed

On Windows or macOS Download and install an appropriate version from python.org. Do not use HomeBrew on macOS, that version is known to have a broken tk. See #670 Update requirements.txt for MacOS for discussion about this.

On Linux you should use your distribution's Python 3.x packages. Note that at least Debian 10 still has 2.7.x as python and pip, and you will need to specify python3 (from the package of that name) and pip3 (from python3-pip in the commands below in order to use a 3.x version.

As and when we move from Python 3.7 to 3.8 or beyond you might find that your Linux distribution is still only shipping Python 3.7, in which case you will need to install a later version separately and ensure you are using the correct version. You already need at least Python 3.8.x to use our develop branch code.

Ensure you have working pip

Ensure you both have pip installed, and that it is for Python 3.x by running:

pip --version

The output will have "(python X.Y)" on the end, indicating the version of Python it is for. If this says "2.7", or indeed anything other than "3.X" for some value of "X" then try:

pip3 --version

On Debian and derivaties you will need the following command in order to install this:

sudo apt install python3-pip

Otherwise see Installing pip.

Remember which of pip or pip3 is the correct command for your system when you get to Use pip to install application requirements below.

Ensure you have dependencies installed

tkinter

If using a python.org package it will include this.

On Debian, Ubuntu, and other Debian derivatives the package you need to install is python3-tk:

sudo apt install python3-tk

On Arch you need:

sudo pacman -S tk

For other Linux distributions you will need to find the requisite package and how to install it. Keep in mind you need 'tkinter' for 'python3'. Installing 'tkinter' for Python 2.7 won't help you.

Others

All other dependencies will be handled by pip below.

Obtain a copy of the application source

Choose one of the following:

1. Using a zip of the latest stable source. Download and extract the latest stable source code.

2. OR Clone and checkout the source using git:

   1. cd <directory you want t be the parent of the source>
   2. git clone https://github.com/EDCD/EDMarketConnector.git
   3. cd EDMarketConnector
   4. git checkout stable

As per Contributing.md stable will contain the latest released code, or possibly some extra commits leading up to the next release. If you're feeling slightly braver you could use the main branch source code (or git checkout main) instead which might contain newer code that we consider stable enough for the next release.

NB: Do not use the master branch, it's almost empty! The name is deprecated and we use main instead.

Use pip to install application requirements

1. Ensure additional necessary Python modules are installed with

   pip install -r requirements.txt .

• Note that on Debian (at least up to and including 10.x aka 'Buster') you'll need pip3 install -r requirements.txt .
• If you get 'command not found' or similar for the 'pip' command then try: python -m pip --user install pip.

Provide access to live Journal files

The main application doesn't work without access to Journal files. It can't even determine your Commander name without them. So, if you're running this application on a machine separate from where you play the Game you will need to set up a network share of those files.

You'll always find them on Windows at:

shell:SavedGames\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\

so share that folder. Then get that mounted on the remote machine.

Then you will need to set the correct location on the remote machine in the application's Settings > Configuration > E:D journal file location option.

Run the application

• Linux: python3 EDMarketConnector.py .
• Mac: python3 EDMarketConnector.py .
• Windows: EDMarketConnector.py .

#Command-line

The command-line program EDMC.py writes the current system and station (if docked) to stdout and optionally writes player status, ship locations, ship loadout and/or station data to file.

This program requires that the user has performed Frontier Authentication through the main application.

Arguments:

 -h, --help     show this help message and exit
 -v, --version  print program version and exit
 -a FILE        write ship loadout to FILE in Companion API json format
 -e FILE        write ship loadout to FILE in E:D Shipyard plain text format
 -l FILE        write ship locations to FILE in CSV format
 -m FILE        write station commodity market data to FILE in CSV format
 -o FILE        write station outfitting data to FILE in CSV format
 -s FILE        write station shipyard data to FILE in CSV format
 -t FILE        write player status to FILE in CSV format
 -d FILE        write raw JSON data to FILE
 -n             send data to EDDN
 -p CMDR        Returns data from the specified player account

The program returns one of the following exit codes. Further information may be written to stderr.

0. Success. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that any requested output files have been produced - for example if the current station doesn't support the facilities for which data was requested.
1. Server is down.
2. Invalid Credentials.
3. Verification Required.
4. Server is lagging.
5. I/O or other OS error.