Help installing ESAT with whl files

[ifoxfoot]

openjournals/joss-reviews#7316

Hello,

I'm having trouble installing ESAT using the installation instructions in the readme. I'm using Windows 10 Enterprise, 64-bit OS. I'm using a conda environment with python 3.12.7

I've tried running pip install esat-2024.0.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl in an empty project and in a project with a cloned version of esat and I get the error

WARNING: Requirement 'esat-2024.0.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl' looks like a filename, but the file does not exist
Processing c:\users\u4eewirf\desktop\esat\esat-2024.0.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl
ERROR: Could not install packages due to an OSError: [Errno 2] No such file or 
directory: 'C:\\Users\\u4eewirf\\Desktop\\esat\\esat-2024.0.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl'

I went to your github actions and downloaded the artifact for the wheel I wanted, unzipped it, and put it in the folder with the cloned version of esat and the installation worked. I used the esat-2024.0.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl wheel. Based on the installation instructions in the readme, it seems like the wheel file is supposed to be in the repo somewhere?

I also think that picking a code version is somewhat confusing because there aren't any code releases. Maybe you could include a list of recent code versions available to install in the readme?

[deronsmith]

Hey,

I apologize for the confusion. Once we have an external review (this JOSS review), we will be allowed to deploy the package to pypi and that will be the primary method for users to install the package. Though I can go ahead and include the necessary steps to install from the github actions, such as you completed, in the README.

Only the latest version is being compiled by the github actions and we will begin to increase the version number moving forward (though it will be specific updates, fixes not for all github pushes).

[ifoxfoot]

Hi @deronsmith, good to hear the package will be available on pypi, I think that will make installation a lot easier! For now I do think you should have installation instructions in the README, it will help with the JOSS reviewer checklist. I see you've already made some changes to the README so I will close this issue!