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Installation using pip

This is a guide to installing WeeWX using pip. It can be used to install WeeWX on almost any operating system, including macOS.

WeeWX V5 requires Python 3.7 or greater. Python 2, or earlier versions of Python 3, will not work. If you are constrained by this, you can install WeeWX V4, which runs with Python 2.7, 3.5, and 3.6, although it is not supported. You are best off installing Python 3.7+ on your system.

Although you do not need root privileges to install and configure WeeWX, you will need them to set up a daemon and, perhaps, to change device permissions.

While there are many ways to install WeeWX using pip (see the wiki document pip install strategies for a partial list), we recommend creating a virtual environment using venv, because it is the least likely to disturb the rest of your system. It's worth reading about venv in the Python3 documentation.

Install in a virtual environment

To install WeeWX in a virtual environment, you will need a few tools, which may or may not have already been installed on your system. Follow the directions below for your system:

Tested with Debian 10, Ubuntu 20.04, and 22.04.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install python3-pip -y
sudo apt install python3-venv -y

# Create the virtual environment:
python3 -m venv ~/weewx-venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

# Make sure pip is up to date
python3 -m pip install pip --upgrade

# Install WeeWX into the virtual environment:
python3 -m pip install weewx

Tested with Rocky 8.7.

sudo yum update
# Check your version of Python. You must have 3.7 or later
python3 -V

# If it is less than Python 3.7, install a later version of Python.
# For example, this would install Python 3.11.
# Afterwards, you must remember to invoke Python using "python3.11", NOT "python3"
sudo yum install python3.11 -y
sudo yum install python3.11-pip -y

# Create the virtual environment:
python3.11 -m venv ~/weewx-venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

# Make sure pip is up to date
python3.11 -m pip install pip --upgrade

# Install WeeWX into the virtual environment:
python3.11 -m pip install weewx

Tested with Rocky 9.1 and 9.2.

sudo yum update
sudo yum install python3-pip -y

# Create the virtual environment:
python3 -m venv ~/weewx-venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

# Make sure pip is up to date
python3 -m pip install pip --upgrade

# Install WeeWX into the virtual environment:
python3 -m pip install weewx

Tested with openSUSE Leap 15.5.

sudo zypper refresh
# Check your version of Python. You must have 3.7 or later
python3 -V

# If it is less than Python 3.7, install a later version of Python.
# For example, this would install Python 3.11.
# Afterwards, you must remember to invoke Python using "python3.11", NOT "python3"
sudo zypper install -y python311

# Create the virtual environment:
python3.11 -m venv ~/weewx-venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

# Make sure pip is up to date
python3.11 -m pip install pip --upgrade

# Install WeeWX into the virtual environment:
python3.11 -m pip install weewx

Tested on macOS 13.4 (Ventura)

# Create the virtual environment:
python3 -m venv ~/weewx-venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

# Make sure pip is up to date
python3 -m pip install pip --upgrade

# Install WeeWX into the virtual environment:
python3 -m pip install weewx

Generally, WeeWX can be installed on any operating system that offers a version of Python 3.7 or later.

You may need to install pip See Installing pip with Linux Package Managers. The installation directions of the pip website may also be useful.

You will also need venv. If it is not on your system, and your Linux Package Manager does not offer a version, then you can substitute virtualenv, which can be installed using pip.

When finished, the WeeWX executables will have been installed in ~/weewx-venv/bin, while the WeeWX libraries and dependencies will have been installed in ~/weewx-venv/lib/python3.x/site-packages, where 3.x is the version of Python you used.

Provision a new station

While the first step downloads WeeWX and installs it in a virtual environment, it does not set up the configuration specific to your station, nor does it set up the reporting skins. That is done in the next step, which uses the tool weectl. This step also does not require root privileges.

# Make sure your virtual environment is still active
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
# Then create the station data
weectl station create

The tool weectl will ask you a series of questions, then create a directory ~/weewx-data in your home directory with a new configuration file. It will also install skins, documentation, utilitiy files, and examples in the same directory. The database and reports will also go into that directory, but only after you run weewxd, as shown in the following step.

Run weewxd

The program weewxd does the data collection, archiving, uploading, and report generation. You can run it directly, or as a daemon.

Run directly

When you run WeeWX directly, it will print data to the screen, and WeeWX will stop when you either control-c or log out.

# Make sure your virtual environment is still active
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
# Then run weewxd:
weewxd

Run as a daemon

To make WeeWX start when the system is booted, run weewxd as a daemon. The steps to configure weewxd to run as a daemon depend on your operating system, and require root privileges.

# Systems that use systemd, e.g., Debian, Redhat, SUSE
sudo cp ~/weewx-data/util/systemd/weewx.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable weewx
sudo systemctl start weewx

Note

The resulting daemon will be run using your username. If you prefer to use run as root, you will have to modify the file /etc/systemd/system/weewx.service.

# Systems that use SysV init, e.g., Slackware, Devuan, Puppy, DD-WRT
sudo cp ~/weewx-data/util/init.d/weewx.debian /etc/init.d/weewx
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/weewx
sudo update-rc.d weewx defaults 98
sudo /etc/init.d/weewx start     

Note

The resulting daemon will be run using your username. If you prefer to use run as root, you will have to modify the file /etc/init.d/weewx.

sudo cp ~/weewx-data/util/launchd/com.weewx.weewxd.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist

Verify

After about 5 minutes (the exact length of time depends on your archive interval), copy the following and paste into a web browser. You should see your station information and data.

~/weewx-data/public_html/index.html

If there are problems, check the system log.

Configure

If you chose the simulator as your station type, then at some point you will probably want to switch to using real hardware. This is how to reconfigure.

# Stop the weewx daemon:
sudo systemctl stop weewx
# Reconfigure to use your hardware:
weectl station reconfigure
# Remove the old database:
rm ~/weewx-data/archive/weewx.sdb
# Start the weewx daemon:
sudo systemctl start weewx
# Stop the weewx daemon:
sudo /etc/init.d/weewx stop
# Reconfigure to use your hardware:
weectl station reconfigure
# Remove the old database:
rm ~/weewx-data/archive/weewx.sdb
# Start the weewx daemon:
sudo /etc/init.d/weewx start
# Stop the weewx daemon:
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist
# Reconfigure to use your hardware:
weectl station reconfigure
# Remove the old database:
rm ~/weewx-data/archive/weewx.sdb
# Start the weewx daemon:
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist

Customize

To enable uploads or to customize reports, modify the configuration file. Use any text editor, such as nano:

nano ~/weewx-data/weewx.conf

WeeWX must be restarted for the changes to take effect.

sudo systemctl restart weewx
sudo /etc/init.d/weewx stop
sudo /etc/init.d/weewx start
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist

See the User Guide and Customization Guide for details.

Upgrade

Get the latest release using pip:

python3 -m pip install weewx --user --upgrade

Optional: You may want to upgrade your documentation and examples.

weectl station upgrade --what docs examples util

Optional: You may want to upgrade your skins, although this may break or remove modifications you have made to them. Your old skins will be saved in a timestamped directory.

weectl station upgrade --what skins

Optional: You may want to upgrade your configuration file. This is only necessary in the rare case that a new WeeWX release is not backward compatible with older configuration files.

weectl station upgrade --what config

Uninstall

Before you uninstall, be sure that weewxd is not running.

If you installed a daemon configuration, remove it.

Systems that use systemd, e.g., Debian, Redhat, SUSE

sudo systemctl stop weewx
sudo systemctl disable weewx
sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/weewx.service

Systems that use SysV init, e.g., Slackware, Devuan, Puppy, DD-WRT

sudo /etc/rc.d/init.d/weewx stop
sudo update-rc.d weewx remove
sudo rm /etc/init.d/weewx
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist
sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.weewx.weewxd.plist

Use pip to uninstall weewx.

python3 -m pip uninstall weewx -y

You can also use pip to uninstall the dependencies, but first be sure that they are not being used by other programs!

python3 -m pip uninstall pyserial pyusb configobj ephem CT3 Pillow PyMySQL -y

Finally, if desired, delete the data directory:

rm -r ~/weewx-data