Dev_Getting Started on Mac

If you are a developer and want to help build CodaLab, this page will explain how to to get started.

To use and test the submission process, a queue server will need to be installed. RabbitMQ installs easily on a Mac and requires no configuration out of the box for testing purposes. A database besides SQLite is recommended. MySQL and Postgres work on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Install Prerequisites

CodaLab is built with Python, supporting development on local machines with Windows, Linux, Mac and BSD. If something is broken, please open a new issue.

In this section, we will walk you through installing Python 2.7.x, installing prerequisites, and running the CodaLab site in a local virtual environment.

1. Install Python 2.7.

2. Install PIP.

   sudo easy_install python-pip

3. Install virtualenv.

   sudo easy_install virtualenv

4. Install Git.

5. Install MySQL

   export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin

6. Install XCode

7. Install GCC. XCode Menu > Preferences > Downloads > Install Command Line Tools

Install Compass (optional)

If you want to make changes to CodaLab's stylesheets via SCSS files, you will need to install Compass. Note that this step is only required if you plan to make any changes to stylesheets.

• Install Ruby from http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/. (Version 1.9.3 is recommended). During installation be sure to select the option to add Ruby to your PATH.

• Open a command window and install compass by executing:

  sudo gem install compass

Take the following steps to generate the css files after you've made changes to the scss files in the sass folder:

 `cd codalab/apps/web/static`

 `compass compile`

Or to start a process which will automatically re-generate the files when changes are made:

 `cd codalab/apps/web/static`

 `compass watch .`

Install the JavaScript Closure Compiler (optional)

If you need to modify any JavaScript files, you'll need the JavaScript Closure Compiler. Note that this step is only required if you make changes to JavaScript files.

• Install Java from https://www.java.com/en/download/.

• Add Java bin folder to the PATH environment variable.

• Download and extract Closure from http://dl.google.com/closure-compiler/compiler-latest.zip.

Take the following steps to generate the javascript files after you've made changes to the js folder:

 `cd codalab/codalab/apps/web/static`

 `python ../../../../scripts/javascript.py ~/java/compiler.jar`

You can also make this easier by pip install watchdog and then:

cd codalab/codalab/apps/web/static

watchmedo shell-command --patterns="*.js" --recursive --command "python ../../../../scripts/javascript.py ~/java/compiler.jar" js/

Next steps

• Configure CodaLab for Development(## Get the source code)
• Review the Developer Guidelines of the CodaLab team.