Comprehensive Installation¶

ScanCode requires Python 2.7.x and is tested on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Make sure Python 2.7 is installed first.

System Requirements¶

Hardware : ScanCode will run best with a modern X86 processor and at least 2GB of RAM and 250MB of disk.
Supported operating systems : ScanCode should run on these OSes:
1. Linux: on most recent 64-bit Linux distributions (32-bit distros are only partially supported),
2. Mac: on recent Mac OSX (10.6.8 and up),
3. Windows: on Windows 7 and up (32- or 64-bit) using a 32-bit Python.

ScanCode needs a Python 2.7 interpreter.

On Linux: Use your package manager to install python2.7. If Python 2.7 is not available from your package manager, you must compile it from sources. For instance, visit https://github.com/dejacode/about-code-tool/wiki/BuildingPython27OnCentos6 for instructions to compile Python from sources on Centos.
On Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04 and 16.04, you will need to install these packages first: python-dev bzip2 xz-utils zlib1g libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev
On Debian and Debian-based distros you will need to install these packages first: python-dev libbz2-1.0 xz-utils zlib1g libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev
On RPM-based distros, you will need to install these packages first: python-devel zlib bzip2-libs xz-libs libxml2-devel libxslt-devel
On Windows:

Use the Python 2.7 32-bit (e.g. The Windows x86 MSI installer) for X86 regardless of whether you run Windows on 32-bit or 64-bit. DO NOT USE Python X86_64 installer even if you run 64 bit Windows. Download Python from this url: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.13/python-2.7.13.msi

Install Python on the c: drive and use all default installer options (scancode will try to find python just in c:python27python.exe). See the Windows installation section for more installation details.
On Mac: Download and install Python from this url: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.13/python-2.7.13-macosx10.6.pkg

There is a bug in underlying libraries that prevent this.

Download and extract the latest ScanCode release from: https://github.com/nexB/scancode-toolkit/releases/

Open a terminal in the extracted directory and run:

./scancode --help

This will configure ScanCode and display the command line help.

Download the latest ScanCode release zip file from https://github.com/nexB/scancode-toolkit/releases/
In Windows Explorer (called File Explorer on Windows 10), select the downloaded ScanCode zip and right-click.
In the pop-up menu select ‘Extract All…’
In the pop-up window ‘Extract zip folders’ (‘Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders’ on Windows 10) use the default options to extract.
Once the extraction is complete, a new Windows Explorer/File Explorer window will pop up.
In this Explorer window, select the new folder that was created and right-click.

Note

On Windows 10, double-click the new folder, select one of the files inside the folder (e.g., ‘setup.py’), and right-click.

In the pop-up menu select ‘Properties’.
In the pop-up window ‘Properties’, select the Location value. Copy this to the clipboard and close the ‘Properties’ window.
Press the start menu button (On Windows 10, click the search box or search icon in the taskbar.)
In the search box type:
```
cmd
```
Select ‘cmd.exe’ listed in the search results. (On Windows 10, you may see ‘Command Prompt’ instead – select that.)
A new ‘cmd.exe’ window (‘Command Prompt’ on Windows 10) pops up.
In this window (aka a ‘command prompt’), type the following (i.e., ‘cd’ followed by a space):
```
cd
```
Right-click in this window and select Paste. This will paste the path where you extracted ScanCode.
Press Enter.
This will change the current location of your command prompt to the root directory where ScanCode is installed.
Then type:
```
scancode -h
```
Press enter. This will configure your ScanCode installation.
Several messages are displayed followed by the scancode command help.
The installation is complete.

Delete the directory in which you extracted ScanCode.
Delete any temporary files created in your system temp directory under a ScanCode directory.