.. _installing:

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Downloading and installing
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The latest version of the code and installation instructions are available on the PyBDSF GitHub page at https://github.com/lofar-astron/PyBDSF. Please go there to obtain PyBDSF.

.. note::

    Most of the documentation assumes that the ``pybdsf`` interactive shell is used, so it is recommended that you install it (it is not installed by default; see the installation instructions at the GitHub page above for details). However, if you are only interested in using PyBDSF inside Python scripts (see :ref:`scripting`) and are already familiar with its usage, the interactive shell is not needed.

.. note::

    If you are working on the LOFAR CEP3 cluster, then PyBDSF is already installed. All that needs to be done is to initialize your environment as follows::

        $ module load lofim