Installing python requirements
==============================

The Raspbian Wheezy images comes with python 2.7 already installed, but BrewPi uses a few python modules that you have to install yourself:

* `pySerial <http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/pyserial_api.html>`_ For communication with the Arduino.
* `simplejson <http://simplejson.github.com/simplejson/>`_ To encode and decode JSON objects. Easier to use than the default JSON module.
* `ConfigObj <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/configobj.html>`_  For configuration files support.
* `psutil <http://code.google.com/p/psutil/ psutil>`_ To view running processes and close/kill them from within python
* `python-git <http://pythonhosted.org/GitPython/0.3.1/tutorial.html>`_ A Python library to work with git repositories. Used by the update script.

All 5 modules can be easily installed with apt-get:

.. code-block:: bash

    sudo apt-get install python-serial python-simplejson python-configobj python-psutil python-git

Finally, the python script can reprogram the Arduino, but it needs avrdude to do so. Install arduino-core, which includes avrdude.

.. code-block:: bash

    sudo apt-get install arduino-core

That's it, everything is ready for running the BrewPi script. Let's get it from GitHub in the next step.