python on MAC os X: "no module named Orange"

Question

I'm running Python on Mac OS X, and trying to use the Orange package.

I've installed the bundle, but the Orange package cannot be imported. I tried to remove and re-install everything, but I still get the error:

Python 2.7.8 (v2.7.8:ee879c0ffa11, Jun 29 2014, 20:34:45) 
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5577)] on darwin
Type  "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information.
>>> import sys
>>> import Orange

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#1>", line 1, in <module>
import Orange
ImportError: No module named Orange
>>> import Orange

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#2>", line 1, in <module>
    import Orange
ImportError: No module named Orange
>>> import orange

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#3>", line 1, in <module>
import orange
ImportError: No module named orange

There is a similar thread to this (Importing Orange returns "ImportError: no module named orange"), but the only advice given there was to use orange with lower case. Unfortunately this doesn't solve the problem. Any advice?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The Orange .dmg installer on OSX does not install the library in the system's (homebrew's, or any other) python site packages directory. It is a self contained .app with it's own python interpreter.

You can start the Orange's python interpreter by running /Applications/Orange.app/Contents/MacOS/python (or /Applications/Orange.app/Contents/MacOS/ipython if you prefer).

Alternatively you can add the Orange's site packages directory to your python's search path

export PYTHONPATH="/Applications/Orange.app/Contents/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/lib/python2.7/site-packages/"
python -c "import Orange"

Note that this will add all packages (numpy, scipy, ...) that come with Orange onto the search path and might override already installed packages in the system's python. Use with caution.