# Downloading and Installing PyPy

## Using a packaged PyPy

Some Linux distributions provide a pypy package. Note that in order to install additional modules that require compilation, you may need to install additional packages such as pypy-dev. This will manifest as an error about "missing Python.h". Distributions do not as of yet supply many pypy-ready packages, if you require additional modules we recommend creating a virtualenv and using pip.

## Download a pre-built PyPy

The quickest way to start using PyPy is to download a prebuilt binary for your OS and architecture. You can either use the most recent release or one of our development nightly build. Please note that the nightly builds are not guaranteed to be as stable as official releases, use them at your own risk.

## Installing PyPy

PyPy is ready to be executed as soon as you unpack the tarball or the zip file, with no need to install it in any specific location:

    $ tar xf pypy-x.y.z.tar.bz2
    $ ./pypy-x.y.z/bin/pypy
    Python 2.7.x (xxxxxxxxxxxx, Date, Time)
    [PyPy x.y.z with GCC x.y.z] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    And now for something completely different: ``PyPy is an exciting technology
    that lets you to write fast, portable, multi-platform interpreters with less
    effort''
    >>>>

If you want to make PyPy available system-wide, you can put a symlink to the `pypy` executable in `/usr/local/bin`. It is important to put a symlink and not move the binary there, else PyPy would not be able to find its library.

## Installing more modules

If you want to install 3rd party libraries, the most convenient way is to install pip using ensurepip (unless you want to install virtualenv as explained below; then you can directly use pip inside virtualenvs):

    $ ./pypy-xxx/bin/pypy -m ensurepip
    $ ./pypy-xxx/bin/pip install -U pip wheel # to upgrade to the latest versions
    $ ./pypy-xxx/bin/pip install pygments  # for example

Third party libraries will be installed in `pypy-xxx/site-packages`, and the scripts in `pypy-xxx/bin`.

## Installing using virtualenv

It is often convenient to run pypy inside a virtualenv. To do this you need a recent version of virtualenv -- 1.6.1 or greater. You can then install PyPy both from a precompiled tarball or from a mercurial checkout:

    # from a tarball
    $ virtualenv -p /opt/pypy-xxx/bin/pypy my-pypy-env

    # from the mercurial checkout
    $ virtualenv -p /path/to/pypy/pypy/translator/goal/pypy-c my-pypy-env

    # in any case activate it
    $ source my-pypy-env/bin/activate

Note that my-pypy-env/bin/python is now a symlink to my-pypy-env/bin/pypy so you should be able to run pypy simply by typing:

    $ python

You should still upgrade pip and wheel to the latest versions via:

    $ my-pypy-env/bin/pip install -U pip wheel

## Building PyPy yourself

If you're interested in getting more involved, or doing something different with PyPy, consult the build instructions.