# Anki development ## Packaged betas For non-developers who want to try beta versions, the easiest way is to use a packaged version - please see: https://betas.ankiweb.net/ ## Pre-built Python wheels Pre-built Python packages are available on PyPI. They are useful if you wish to: - Run Anki from a local Python installation without building it yourself - Get code completion when developing add-ons - Make command line scripts that modify .anki2 files via Anki's Python libraries You will need the 64 bit version of Python 3.9 or 3.10 installed. 3.9 is recommended, as Anki has only received minimal testing on 3.10 so far, and some dependencies have not been fully updated yet. On Windows, only 3.9 will work. You can install Python from python.org or from your distro. For further instructions, please see https://betas.ankiweb.net/#via-pypipip. Note that in the provided commands, `--pre` tells pip to fetch alpha/beta versions. If you remove `--pre`, it will download the latest stable version instead. ## Building from source Platform-specific instructions: - [Windows](./windows.md) - [Mac](./mac.md) - [Linux](./linux.md) - [Other Platforms](./new-platform.md) Before contributing code, please see [Contributing](./contributing.md). If you'd like to contribute translations, please see . ## Building redistributable wheels The `./run` method described in the platform-specific instructions is a shortcut for starting Anki directly from Bazel. This is useful for quickly running Anki after making source code changes, but requires Bazel to be available, and will not play nicely with the debugging facilities in IDEs. For daily Anki, or using third-party Python tools, you'll want to build Python wheels instead. The Python wheels are standard Python packages that can be installed with pip. You'll typically want to install them into a a dedicated Python virtual environment (venv), so that the dependencies are kept isolated from those of other packages on your system. While you can 'pip install' them directly using the system Python, other packages on your system may depend on different versions of those dependencies, which can cause breakages. Run the following command to create Python packages: On Mac/Linux: ``` ./tools/build ``` On Windows: ``` .\tools\build.bat ``` The generated wheel paths will be printed as the build completes. You can then install them by copying the paths into a pip install command. Follow the steps [on the beta site](https://betas.ankiweb.net/#via-pypipip), but replace the `pip install --upgrade --pre aqt[qt6]` line with something like: ``` pyenv/bin/pip install --upgrade dist/*.whl ``` (On Windows you'll need to list out the filenames manually instead of using a wildcard). You'll also need to install PyQt: ``` $ pyenv/bin/pip install pyqt6 pyqt6-webengine ``` or ``` $ pyenv/bin/pip install pyqt5 pyqtwebengine ``` ## Freeing Space The build process will download about a gigabyte of dependencies, and produce about 6 gigabytes of temporary files. Once you've created the wheels, you can remove the other files to free up space if you wish. - `bazel clean --expunge` will remove the generated Bazel files, freeing up most of the space. The files are usualy stored in a subdir of `~/.cache/bazel` or `\bazel\anki` - `rm -rf ~/.cache/bazel*` or `\bazel\anki` will remove cached downloads as well, requiring them to be redownloaded if you want to build again. - `rm -rf ~/.cache/{yarn,pip}` will remove the shared pip and yarn caches that other apps may be using as well. ## Running tests You can run all tests at once. From the top level project folder: ``` bazel test ... ``` If you're in a subfolder, `...` will run the tests in that folder. To run all tests, use `//...` instead. To run a single Rust unit test with output, eg 'unbury': ``` bazel run rslib:anki_tests -- --nocapture unbury ``` To run a single Python library test, eg test_bury: ``` PYTEST=test_bury bazel run //pylib:pytest ``` On Mac/Linux, after installing 'fswatch', you can run mypy on each file save automatically with: ``` ./tools/mypy-watch ``` ## Fixing formatting For formatting issues with .ts, .svelte and .md files, change to the folder that's causing the problem, and then run ``` bazel run //ts:format ``` If you get complaints from eslint about unordered imports, run the following line first, then run ts:format: ``` bazel run eslint -- --fix ``` For other packages, change to the folder and run ``` bazel run format ``` For the latter cases, you can also invoke the formatter from another folder by using the full path: ``` bazel run //rslib:format bazel run //rslib:sql_format bazel run //proto:format bazel run //pylib:format bazel run //qt:format bazel run //pylib/rsbridge:format ``` ## Development speedups If you're frequently switching between Anki versions, you can create a user.bazelrc file in the top level folder with the following, which will cache build products: ``` build --disk_cache=~/.cache/bazel/disk ``` It will grow with each changed build, and needs to be manually removed when you wish to free up space. ## IDEs Please see [this separate page](./editing.md) for setting up an editor/IDE. ## Audio Audio playing requires `mpv` or `mplayer` to be in your system path. Recording also requires `lame` to be in your system path. ## Build errors and cleaning If you get errors with @npm and node_modules in the message, try deleting the node_modules folder. On Windows, you may run into 'could not write file' messages when TypeScript files are renamed, as the old build products are not being cleaned up correctly. You can either remove the problem folder (eg .bazel/out/x64_windows-fastbuild/bin/ts/projectname), or do a full clean. To do a full clean, use a `bazel clean --expunge`, and then remove the node_modules folder. ## Tracing build problems You can run bazel with '-s' to print the commands that are being executed. ## Environmental Variables If ANKIDEV is set before starting Anki, some extra log messages will be printed on stdout, and automatic backups will be disabled - so please don't use this except on a test profile. If TRACESQL is set, all SQL statements will be printed as they are executed. If LOGTERM is set before starting Anki, warnings and error messages that are normally placed in the collection2.log file will also be printed on stdout. If ANKI_PROFILE_CODE is set, Python profiling data will be written on exit. # Binary Bundles Anki's official binary packages are created with `tools/bundle`. The script was created specifically for the official builds, and is provided as-is; we are unfortunately not able to provide assistance with any issues you may run into when using it. ## Mixing development and study You may wish to create a separate profile with File>Switch Profile for use during development. You can pass the arguments "-p [profile name]" when starting Anki to load a specific profile. If you're using PyCharm: - right click on the "run" file in the root of the PyCharm Anki folder - click "Edit 'run'..." - in Script options and enter: "-p [dev profile name]" without the quotes - click "Ok"