If you are reading this, then you are looking at the development version of Cura. If you just want to use Cura, take a look at the following location: https://daid.github.com/Cura

Cura is developed in Python with a C++ engine. The part you are looking at right now is the Python GUI. The C++ engine is responsible for generating the actual toolpath. For development of the engine check out https://github.com/Ultimaker/CuraEngine

Cura development comes with a script "package.sh", this script has been designed to run under *nix OSes (Linux, MacOS). For Windows the package.sh script can be run from bash using git. The "package.sh" script generates a final release package. You should not need it during development, unless you are changing the release process. If you want to distribute your own version of Cura, then the package.sh script will allow you to do that.

Both MacOS and Linux require some extra instructions for development, as you need to prepare an environment. Look below at the proper section to see what is needed.

To build and install Cura, run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/daid/Cura.git

sudo apt-get install python-opengl
sudo apt-get install python-numpy
sudo apt-get install python-serial
sudo apt-get install python-setuptools

cd Cura

sudo ./package.sh debian

sudo dpkg -i ./scripts/linux/Cura*.deb

The following section describes how to prepare working environment for developing and packaing for Mac OS X. The working environment consist of build of Python, build of wxPython and all required Python packages.

We assume you already have Apple hardware with 64bit processor and you are familiar with tools like virtualenv, virtualenvwrapper and pip. Also ensure you have modern compiler installed.

###Install Python You'll need non-system, framework-based, universal with deployment target set to 10.6 build of Python 2.7

non-system: Output of
python -c "import sys; print sys.prefix"
should not start with "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/".

framework-based: Output of
python -c "import distutils.sysconfig as c; print(c.get_config_var('PYTHONFRAMEWORK'))"
should be non-empty string. E.g. Python.

universal: Output of
lipo -info `which python`
should include both i386 and x86_64. E.g "Architectures in the fat file: /usr/local/bin/python are: i386 x86_64".

deployment target set to 10.6: Output of
otool -l `which python`
should contain "cmd LC_VERSION_MIN_MACOSX ... version 10.6".

The easiest way to install it is via Homebrew using the formula from Cura's repo:
brew install --build-bottle --fresh Cura/scripts/darwin/python.rb --universal
Note if you already have Python installed via Homebrew, you have to uninstall it first.

You can also install official build.

###Configure Virtualenv Create new virtualenv. If you have virtualenvwrapper installed:
mkvirtualenv Cura

wxPython cannot be installed via pip, we have to build it from source by specifing prefix to our virtualenv.

Assuming you have virtualenv at ~/.virtualenvs/Cura/ and wxPython sources at ~/Downloads/wxPython-src-2.9.4.0/:

1. cd into ~/Downloads/wxPython-src-2.9.4.0/ and configure the sources:

    ./configure \
    CFLAGS='-msse2 -mno-sse3 -mno-sse4' \
    CXXFLAGS='-msse2 -mno-sse3 -mno-sse4' \
    --disable-debug \
    --enable-clipboard \
    --enable-display \
    --enable-dnd \
    --enable-monolithic \
    --enable-optimise \
    --enable-std_string \
    --enable-svg \
    --enable-unicode \
    --enable-universal_binary=i386,x86_64 \
    --enable-webkit \
    --prefix=$HOME/.virtualenvs/Cura/ \
    --with-expat \
    --with-libjpeg=builtin \
    --with-libpng=builtin \
    --with-libtiff=builtin \
    --with-macosx-version-min=10.6 \
    --with-opengl \
    --with-osx_cocoa \
    --with-zlib=builtin
   

2. make install
   Note to speedup the process I recommend you to enable multicore build by adding the -jcores flag:
   make -j4 install

3. cd into ~/Downloads/wxPython-src-2.9.4.0/wxPython/

4. Build wxPython (Note python is the python of your virtualenv):

    python setup.py build_ext \
    BUILD_GIZMOS=1 \
    BUILD_GLCANVAS=1 \
    BUILD_STC=1 \
    INSTALL_MULTIVERSION=0 \
    UNICODE=1 \
    WX_CONFIG=$HOME/.virtualenvs/Cura/bin/wx-config \
    WXPORT=osx_cocoa
   

5. Install wxPython (Note python is the python of your virtualenv):

    python setup.py install \
    --prefix=$HOME/.virtualenvs/Cura \
    BUILD_GIZMOS=1 \
    BUILD_GLCANVAS=1 \
    BUILD_STC=1 \
    INSTALL_MULTIVERSION=0 \
    UNICODE=1 \
    WX_CONFIG=$HOME/.virtualenvs/Cura/bin/wx-config \
    WXPORT=osx_cocoa
   

6. Create file ~/.virtualenvs/Cura/bin/pythonw with the following content:

    #!/bin/bash
    ENV=`python -c "import sys; print sys.prefix"`
    PYTHON=`python -c "import sys; print sys.real_prefix"`/bin/python
    export PYTHONHOME=$ENV
    exec $PYTHON "$@"
   

At this point virtualenv is configured for wxPython development.
Remember to use python for pacakging and pythonw to run app for debugging.

###Install Python Packages Required python packages are specified in requirements.txt and requirements_darwin.txt
If you use virtualenv, installing requirements as easy as pip install -r requirements_darwin.txt

###Package Cura into application Ensure that virtualenv is activated, so python points to the python of your virtualenv (e.g. ~/.virtualenvs/Cura/bin/python).Use package.sh to build Cura:
./package.sh darwin

Note that application is only guaranteed to work on Mac OS X version used to build and higher, but may not support lower versions. E.g. Cura built on 10.8 will work on 10.8 and 10.7, but not on 10.6. In other hand, Cura built on 10.6 will work on 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8.