Installation

From binary archive

Download the binary zip archive for MS Windows, MacOS or Linux Ubuntu platforms from https://github.com/PySisyphe/Sisyphe (PySisyphe binaries).

Unzip the downloaded archive into the directory of your choice. The PySisyphe folder can be placed anywhere; it does not have to be in the Program Files directory on Windows or the Applications directory on MacOS. We recommend copying it to the user directory. To launch the software, double-click on PySisyphe.exe on Windows, PySisyphe.app on MacOS. PySisyphe may take more than a minute to start up when running for the first time. Subsequent starts take less than 30 seconds.

On the Linux Ubuntu platform, install the X11 xcb library from the terminal:

sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-xinput0 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-xfixes0 libxkbcommon-x11-0

Unzip the PySisyphe archive from the terminal:

cd ~
unzip PySisyphe_release_cp312_x-xx-xx_xx-xx-20xx_linux_ubuntu_LTS26-04_amd64.zip

Launch PySisyphe from the terminal:

cd ~/PySisyphe
./PySisyphe

Launch PySisyphe from the Nautilus file manager:

  • double-click on PySisyphe executable in the ~/PySisyphe folder, or

  • right-click on the PySisyphe executable, and select “Run” from the popup menu.

PySisyphe may trigger false alerts from antivirus software, particularly on the Windows platform (e.g., Avast One). If this happens, be sure to add PySisyphe.exe to the list of trusted software.

On the Windows 11 platform, the terminal (i.e. the console) remains visible in the taskbar. If you would prefer it to be hidden, simply change the default terminal application.

  • click the Start button,

  • open Windows Terminal application,

  • click the dropdown arrow (▾) in the tab bar,

  • select Settings,

  • under Startup, locate Default terminal application,

  • set it to Windows Console Host,

  • save changes.

The PySisyphe graphical user interface has been optimized for dark mode, so we recommend using this mode for the best user experience.

Enabling dark mode on the Windows 11 platform:

  • click the Start button,

  • select Settings (or press Windows + I),

  • click Personalization in the left menu,

  • select Colors,

  • in the Choose your mode line, select the Dark option to enable Windows 11 dark mode.

Enabling dark mode on the MacOS platform:

  • click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen,

  • select System Settings,

  • click Appearance in the sidebar,

  • choose Dark.

Enabling dark mode on Linux Ubuntu platform:

  • click on the System Tray in the upper right corner and click the gear wheel icon to open settings,

  • in the dialog box that opens, in the left side pane, scroll down and click on Appearance,

  • in the center pane, in the Style section, click on Dark.

Additional content, such as templates, atlases, samples, and various modality scans from volunteer groups, can be retrieved directly from the download manager integrated into the PySisyphe interface. To access the download manager, select File > Download Manager.

From source

If you plan to develop plugins, you will need to install PySisyphe from source.

PySisyphe runs on Python version 3.12, download the last release with binary installer (3.12.10 release date: April 8, 2025) at https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-31210/, and install it.

Python 3.12 (version 3.12.13), gcc, and xcb must be installed from the terminal on the Linux Ubuntu platform:

sudo apt install software-properties-common -y
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update -y
sudo apt install python3.12 python3.12-venv python3.12-dev
sudo apt install gcc build-essential
sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-icccm4 libxcb-image0 libxcb-keysyms1 libxcb-render-util0 libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-xinput0 libxcb-randr0 libxcb-shape0 libxcb-xfixes0 libxkbcommon-x11-0

We recommend working with the PyCharm IDE development environment (JetBrains Distributions s.r.o., Czech Republic), download community edition at https://www.jetbrains.com/fr-fr/pycharm/, and install it. Instead, use the App Center on the Ubuntu Linux platform. Run PyCharm IDE and create a new project (menu File -> New project) with venv interpreter type and previously installed Python 3.12 version.

  1. Download PySisyphe source.

  2. Unzip archive.

  3. Rename folder to “Sisyphe”.

  4. Copy “Sisyphe” folder in the PyCharm project folder.

  5. Open the Pycharm terminal (ALT-F12), the current folder is by default the root of the project folder (a requirements.txt exists in this folder).

  6. To install the python modules needed to work with PySisyphe, type at the command line: pip install -r requirements.txt

Reinstall numpy package, to force version 1.26.4: pip install numpy==1.26.4. Ignore version conflict warnings. This has no effect on PySisyphe’s operation.

At this stage, all external and PySisyphe modules are installed for your own development. PySisyphe core (Sisyphe.core.<module name>) and widget (Sisyphe.widgets.<module name>) modules can be imported with:

  • from Sisyphe.core.<module name> import * (to import all functions/classes of the Sisyphe.core.<module name>)

  • from Sisyphe.core.<module name> import <function/class name> (to import the function/class <function/class name> of the Sisyphe.core.<module name>)

To run PySisyphe in PyCharm IDE:

  1. Run PyCharm IDE, project will be opened by default.

  2. Load PySisyphe.py if not already open (menu File -> Open…)

  3. Run PySisyphe.py (menu Run -> Run ‘PySisyphe’, or ALT+F10)