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Installing mcdonald

For someone who has not installed a Python program before. It takes about ten minutes, and a terminal is needed only for this: after it, the program is a window like any other.

What gets installed: Python (the language mcdonald is written in), ffmpeg (which reads video), and mcdonald itself. At the end, mcdonald setup checks all three and says what to do next.

On a Mac and on Windows these steps have so far been run only by automatic tests on GitHub's machines, not by a person. If a step here does not match what you see, say which step and what you saw.

macOS

  1. Open Terminal: Applications → Utilities → Terminal.
  2. Homebrew, which installs the other two. If brew --version prints a version, skip this. Otherwise paste the line from brew.sh and follow what it prints (it may ask for your password, and to run two more lines at the end: run them).

  3. Python and ffmpeg: 

       brew install python ffmpeg

  4. mcdonald: 

       python3 -m pip install mcdonald

If pip says externally-managed-environment, install it in a place of its own instead: 

   python3 -m venv ~/mcdonald-env
   ~/mcdonald-env/bin/pip install mcdonald
   ~/mcdonald-env/bin/mcdonald setup

and start it as ~/mcdonald-env/bin/mcdonald-gui. 5. Check: mcdonald setup. If downloads says the certificate is not trusted and your Python came from python.org rather than Homebrew, open Applications → Python 3.x and double-click Install Certificates.command, then run mcdonald setup again. 6. Start it: mcdonald-gui.

Windows

  1. Open PowerShell: Start menu → type PowerShell → open it.
  2. Python and ffmpeg: 
       winget install Python.Python.3.12
   winget install Gyan.FFmpeg

Then close PowerShell and open it again, so that it finds what was just installed. 3. mcdonald: 

   py -m pip install mcdonald

If pip warns that its Scripts folder "is not on PATH", the commands below will not be found: run them as py -m mcdonald.cli setup and py -m mcdonald.gui instead. 4. Check: mcdonald setup. 5. Start it: mcdonald-gui.

Linux

  1. Python and ffmpeg: Python 3.10 or newer is usually there already (python3 --version). ffmpeg: sudo dnf install ffmpeg (Fedora, with RPM Fusion enabled) or sudo apt install ffmpeg (Debian, Ubuntu).
  2. mcdonald: 
       python3 -m pip install --user mcdonald

(externally-managed-environment: use a venv, as under macOS step 4.) 3. Check: mcdonald setup. On a Linux desktop it also puts mcdonald in the applications menu. 4. Start it: from the applications menu, or mcdonald-gui.

What mcdonald setup checks

line what it means when it says NO
Python the version running mcdonald install Python 3.10 or newer
ffmpeg ffmpeg and ffprobe are found install ffmpeg (above), then open a new terminal
the window PySide6 is installed, and there is a screen install mcdonald again, as above; the command line works without it
storage the folder where videos and their frames are saved, and the room there set MCDONALD_HOME, or change it on the window's first screen
catalog the PURSUE list is there —
downloads the DVIDS website answers the internet connection, or (Mac) the certificates

Updating

When a newer version is out, the window offers to update itself when it starts: press Update now, and it closes, updates, and opens again. To do it by hand, run the same pip line again with --upgrade. Each update has a new version number (mcdonald setup prints the one you have, and so does Help → About mcdonald): 

python3 -m pip install --upgrade mcdonald

Where things go

Downloaded videos, and each video's frames saved as pictures, go in one folder, Documents/mcdonald unless you choose another on the window's first screen (or set MCDONALD_HOME). A whole video's frames can be several GB; a short segment much less.