Py4J - A Bridge between Python and Java
1. Installing Py4J
1.1. Installing Python 2.6+ or 3.4
Py4J is a library written in Python and Java. Currently, Py4J has been tested
with Python 2.6, 2.7, and 3.4, but it should also be compatible with Python 3.3.
You can install Python by going to the official Python download page.
1.2. Installing Java 6
You also need to install a Java environment, version 6. You can install a Java
environment by going to the official Java download page You will need to download
the JDK if you plan to use the Java compiler, but you only need the JRE if you
are using another compiler, such as the one provided by the Eclipse
Development Environment.
1.3. Installing Py4J
There are three ways to install Py4J:
1.3.1. Using easy_install or pip
- Run pip install py4j or easy_install py4j (don’t forget
to prefix with sudo if you install Py4J system-wide on a
*NIX operating system).
- Py4J should now be in your PYTHONPATH.
- The Py4J Java library is located in share/py4j/py4j0.x.jar. The exact
location depends on the platform and the installation type. Some likely
locations are:
- /usr/share/py4j/py4j0.x.jar for system-wide install on Linux.
- {virtual_env_dir}/share/py4j/py4j0.x.jar for installation in a
virtual environment.
- C:\python27\share\py4j\py4j0.x.jar for system-wide install on
Windows.
1.3.2. Using an official release
- Download the latest official release from SourceForge or from PyPI. If you are using a *NIX OS, download
the tar.gz file. If you are using Windows, download the zip file.
- Untar/Unzip the file and navigate to the newly created directory, e.g., cd
py4j-0.x.
- Run python setup.py install (don’t forget to prefix with sudo if you
install Py4J system-wide).
- Py4J should now be in your PYTHONPATH.
- The Py4J Java library is located under py4j-java/py4j0.x.jar. Add this
library to your classpath when using Py4J in a Java program.
1.3.3. Using the latest development source code
You can install the latest version with pip and git:
pip install git+https://github.com/bartdag/py4j.git
Otherwise, to build the Java and Python libraries, you need:
- Git to download the latest source code.
Execute the command line git clone https://github.com/bartdag/py4j.git
py4j to download the source code.
- Apache ant to build the Py4J Java library execute
the command line ant jar in the py4j-java project directory to build the
code and create a jar file.
- Sphinx to build the documentation. Just
execute the command line make html in the
py4j-web project.
- nose to test the Py4J Python
library.
Execute the command line ant python-light-release in the py4j-java
directory to create a tar.gz and zip source distribution. The
python-light-release target will (1) build the Py4J Java library, (2)
build the documentation, and (3) build the Py4J Python library and package it
into a tar.gz and zip source distribution.
1.3.4. Maven install
- Download the source code as explained above.
- Go to the py4j-java directory and execute mvn install.
- Alternatively, if a test fails (possible because of sockets), execute
mvn -Dmaven.test.skip=true install
- Builded binaries will be in the directory target/py4j-0.x.jar.