Install and run BORIS from the Python Package Index (PyPI)

BORIS PyPI package

Requirement

The minimal version of Python for running BORIS is 3.8.

Check the Python version installed on your system

Open a terminal and type:

python3 -V

You should obtain a string like:

Python 3.8.10

If your Python version is 3.8 or higher, BORIS will run without issues. However, if your Python version is lower, BORIS will not be compatible.

Installation

Install the required packages following the instructions relative to your Linux distribution:

Example for Debian based distributions like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu ...:

For Debian 12 (Bookworm), open a terminal and type:

su (your root password will be required)
apt install mpv libmpv2 python3 ffmpeg graphviz python3-venv

For Debian 11 (Bullseye), open a terminal and type:

su (your root password will be required)
apt install mpv libmpv1 python3 ffmpeg graphviz python3-venv

For Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04 and other Ubuntu like:

sudo apt install mpv libmpv1 python3 ffmpeg graphviz python3-venv
(your password will be required)

For Ubuntu 23.04 or 23.10 and other Ubuntu like:

sudo apt install mpv libmpv2 python3 ffmpeg graphviz python3-venv
(your password will be required)

Creation of the Python virtual environment

It is strongly recommended to create a Python virtual environment to prevent interference with the modules installed on your system:

python3 -m venv boris_venv

The Python virtual environment will be created in your home directory.
However, you have the option to create it in a different directory if you prefer.:

python -m venv <PATH>

where <PATH> is the directory where do you want to create the virtual environment

Activation of the virtual environment

source boris_venv/bin/activate

or

source <PATH>/bin/activate

Installation of BORIS with pip

pip install pip --upgrade
pip install boris-behav-obs

Launch BORIS

Open a terminal and type:

boris_venv/bin/boris

or

<PATH>/bin/boris

BORIS will launch, do not close the terminal whhile BORIS is running.

Additional libraries

On Ubuntu 20.04 it can be necessary to install the following libraries:

sudo apt install libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-xkb1 libxkbcommon-x11-0
(your password will be required)

and create a symbolic link to the libffi.so.7 library. Open a terminal and type:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffi.so.7 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffi.so.6
(your root password will be required)

See the change log for details of changes.

If you want to report a bug, see the how to report a bug page.