Installing with GIT

This installs and runs Evennia from its sources. This is required if you want to contribute to Evennia itself or have an easier time exploring the code. See the basic Installation for a quick installation of the library. See the troubleshooting if you run into trouble.

Important

If you are converting an existing game from a previous version, see here.

Summary

For the impatient. If you have trouble with a step, you should jump on to the more detailed instructions for your platform.

1. Install Python and GIT. Start a Console/Terminal.

2. cd to some place you want to do your development (like a folder /home/anna/muddev/ on Linux or a folder in your personal user directory on Windows).

3. git clone https://github.com/evennia/evennia.git (a new folder evennia is created)

4. python3.11 -m venv evenv (a new folder evenv is created)

5. source evenv/bin/activate (Linux, Mac), evenv\Scripts\activate (Windows)

6. pip install -e evennia

7. evennia --init mygame

8. cd mygame

9. evennia migrate

10. evennia start (make sure to make a superuser when asked)

Evennia should now be running and you can connect to it by pointing a web browser to http://localhost:4001 or a MUD telnet client to localhost:4000 (use 127.0.0.1 if your OS does not recognize localhost).

Virtualenv

A Python virtual environment allows you to install Evennia and all its dependenceis in its own little isolated folder, separate from the rest of the system. This also means you can install without any extra permissions - it all goes into a folder on your drive.

It’s optional to use a virtualenv, but it’s highly recommended. Not only is this common Python praxis, it will make your life easier and avoid clashes with other Python programs you may have.

Python supports virtualenv natively:

Using py on Windows

If you have older versions of Python installed on Windows, you should instead use py here instead of python. The py launcher automatically selects the latest python version among those you installed.

python3.11 -m venv evenv   (linux/mac)
python -m venv evenv       (Windows)

This will create a new folder evenv in your current directory. Activate it like this:

source evenv/bin/activate (Linux, Mac)

evenv\Scripts\activate    (Windows Console)

.\evenv\scripts\activate  (Windows PS Shell, 
                           Git Bash etc)

The text (evenv) should appear next to your prompt to show that the virtual environment is enabled. You do not need to actually be in or near the evenv folder for the environment to be active.

Important

Remember that you need to (re-)activate the virtualenv like this every time you start a new terminal/console (or restart your computer). Until you do, the evennia command will not be available.

Linux Install

For Debian-derived systems (like Ubuntu, Mint etc), start a terminal and install the requirements:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3.11 python3.11-venv python3.11-dev gcc

You should make sure to not be root after this step, running as root is a security risk. Now create a folder where you want to do all your Evennia development:

mkdir muddev
cd muddev

Next we fetch Evennia itself:

git clone https://github.com/evennia/evennia.git

A new folder evennia will appear containing the Evennia library. This only contains the source code though, it is not installed yet.

At this point it’s now optional but recommended that you initialize and activate a virtualenv.

Next, install Evennia (system-wide, or into your active virtualenv). Make sure you are standing at the top of your mud directory tree (so you see the evennia/ folder, and likely the evenv virtualenv folder) and do

The -e means that we install evennia in editable mode. If you want to develop on Evennia itself, it means that changes you do to the code is immediately reflected on your running server (you don’t have to reinstall every time you make a change).

pip install -e evennia

Test that you can run the evennia command.

Next you can continue initializing your game from the regular Installation instructions.

Mac Install

The Evennia server is a terminal program. Open the terminal e.g. from Applications->Utilities->Terminal. Here is an introduction to the Mac terminal if you are unsure how it works.

• Python should already be installed but you must make sure it’s a high enough version - go for 3.11. (This discusses how you may upgrade it).

• GIT can be obtained with git-osx-installer or via MacPorts as described here.

• If you run into issues with installing Twisted later you may need to install gcc and the Python headers.

After this point you should not need sudo or any higher privileges to install anything.

Now create a folder where you want to do all your Evennia development:

mkdir muddev
cd muddev

Next we fetch Evennia itself:

git clone https://github.com/evennia/evennia.git

A new folder evennia will appear containing the Evennia library. This only contains the source code though, it is not installed yet.

At this point it’s now optional but recommended that you initialize and activate a virtualenv.

Next, install Evennia (system-wide, or into your active virtualenv). Make sure you are standing at the top of your mud directory tree (so you see the evennia/, and likely the evenv virtualenv folder) and do

pip install --upgrade pip   # Old pip versions may be an issue on Mac.
pip install --upgrade setuptools   # Ditto concerning Mac issues.
pip install -e evennia

Test that you can run the evennia command.

Next you can continue initializing your game from the regular Installation instructions.

Windows Install

If you are running Windows10+, consider using the Windows Subsystem for Linux > (WSL) instead. Just set up WSL with an Ubuntu image and follow the Linux install instructions above.

The Evennia server itself is a command line program. In the Windows launch menu, start All Programs -> Accessories -> command prompt and you will get the Windows command line interface. Here is one of many tutorials on using the Windows command line if you are unfamiliar with it.

• Install Python from the Python homepage. You will need to be a Windows Administrator to install packages. Get Python 3.11, 64-bit version. Use the default settings; make sure the py launcher gets installed.

• You need to also get GIT and install it. You can use the default install options but when you get asked to “Adjust your PATH environment”, you should select the second option “Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt”, which gives you more freedom as to where you can use the program.

• If you run Python 3.11: You must also install the Windows SDK. Download and run the linked installer. Click the Individual Components tab at the top. Search and checkmark the latest Windows 10 SDK (also for older and newer Windows versions). Click Install. If you later have issues with installing Evennia due to a failure to build the “Twisted wheels”, this is where you are missing things. If you have trouble, use Python 3.10 for now (2022)

• You may need the pypiwin32 Python headers. Install these only if you have issues.

You can install Evennia wherever you want. cd to that location and create a new folder for all your Evennia development (let’s call it muddev).

mkdir muddev
cd muddev

If cd isn’t working you can use pushd instead to force the directory change.

Next we fetch Evennia itself:

git clone https://github.com/evennia/evennia.git

A new folder evennia will appear containing the Evennia library. This only contains the source code though, it is not installed yet.

At this point it’s optional but recommended that you initialize and activate a virtualenv.

Next, install Evennia (system wide, or into the virtualenv). Make sure you are standing at the top of your mud directory tree (so you see evennia, and likely the evenv virtualenv folder when running the dir command). Then do:

pip install -e evennia

Test that you can run the evennia command everywhere while your virtualenv (evenv) is active.

Next you can continue initializing your game from the regular Installation instructions.