Now that labscript-suite/labscript-utils#38 allows the profile directory to exist when running labscript-profile-create, should we recommend that users create their .venv there if using one? We currently use C:\labscript-suite in the examples for (non-Anaconda) Python, which would only contain the virtual environment in the case of a regular installation. The profile directory seems like a better choice for the virtual environment in this instance. The profile directory isn't a bad choice for a developer installation either, and it would be nice to not have the recommended (or even example) directory for this depend on regular/developer installation.

I'm in favour of using the profile directory for the recommended venv and dev install.

We are mixing unix and Windows quick start command line instructions. Should we stick to one?
Edit: Or put in both rather than commenting on differences of line continuation characters?

How about we recommend users add our anaconda channel rather than adding the channel name to install commands?

conda config --add channels labscript-suite

We are mixing unix and Windows quick start command line instructions. Should we stick to one?
Edit: Or put in both rather than commenting on differences of line continuation characters?

I don't think we should waste the space on both. I suggest windows only - it's the most likely OS to be used due to drivers. Also Linux users should be adept enough to translate the commands to Linux, but I doubt the reverse is necessarily true.

I also have a plan to see if I can add some Javascript to the quickstart section of the developer install to allow people to generate the command for their forks so that they don't have to find/replace the github username. This could potentially also change the line continuation character for a selected OS. It'll be harder to integrate that if we start double up on example code for multiple platforms.

How about we recommend users add our anaconda channel rather than adding the channel name to install commands?

conda config --add channels labscript-suite

How does this play out if people want to take dependencies from other channels that they've also added. Which takes precedence? Does specifying the channel at install time change the channel precedence vs adding it as a channel to the whole environment?

Also, was there a reason for changing the conda env name from labscript_suite_py38 to just py38? I was aiming for something that indicated this env should only be used for the labscript suite. For the PyPI docs, that's established by creating the .venv in a labscript suite folder, but that doesn't apply to conda installs. Happy for it to not be labscript_suite_py38 but I would like it to be more specific than just py38.

We are mixing unix and Windows quick start command line instructions. Should we stick to one?

Yep! I'm all for this per @philipstarkey's comment above about Windows being the lowest common denominator (I'm paraphrasing, and I don't mean this with any disparaing/condescending connotations).

Edit: Or put in both rather than commenting on differences of line continuation characters?

I think that would fit into the documentation category of programmers enumerating all of the permutations to a fault, especially in this instance as the differences are minor.

How about we recommend users add our anaconda channel rather than adding the channel name to install commands?

conda config --add channels labscript-suite

How does this play out if people want to take dependencies from other channels that they've also added. Which takes precedence? Does specifying the channel at install time change the channel precedence vs adding it as a channel to the whole environment?

Isn't this moot, since we strongly recommend users create a dedicated conda environment for the labscripte suite? Why then would they want to take dependencies from other channels?

Also, was there a reason for changing the conda env name from labscript_suite_py38 to just py38? I was aiming for something that indicated this env should only be used for the labscript suite. For the PyPI docs, that's established by creating the .venv in a labscript suite folder, but that doesn't apply to conda installs. Happy for it to not be labscript_suite_py38 but I would like it to be more specific than just py38.

Naming the conda environment labscript_suite_py38:

• Results in verbose shortcut names, e.g. 'runmanager - the labscript suite (labscript_suite_py38)', etc; and
• Is inessential. Novice users could get the impression that the conda environment name must include 'labscript_suite'. In such documentation, I think it's important to only require such conventions where they are necessary or strongly recommended, not least since 'labscript_suite' appears so voluminously throughout. In accord with the lowest-common-demominotor ethos (above), users who don't know better won't require a more specific name; and those that do will know to.

How about we recommend users add our anaconda channel rather than adding the channel name to install commands?

conda config --add channels labscript-suite

How does this play out if people want to take dependencies from other channels that they've also added. Which takes precedence? Does specifying the channel at install time change the channel precedence vs adding it as a channel to the whole environment?

Isn't this moot, since we strongly recommend users create a dedicated conda environment for the labscripte suite? Why then would they want to take dependencies from other channels?

Their labscript/lyse usercode may depend on 3rd party packages (e.g. optimisation routines) and that code currently runs in the same Python environment.

Also, was there a reason for changing the conda env name from labscript_suite_py38 to just py38? I was aiming for something that indicated this env should only be used for the labscript suite. For the PyPI docs, that's established by creating the .venv in a labscript suite folder, but that doesn't apply to conda installs. Happy for it to not be labscript_suite_py38 but I would like it to be more specific than just py38.

Naming the conda environment labscript_suite_py38:

• Results in verbose shortcut names, e.g. 'runmanager - the labscript suite (labscript_suite_py38)', etc; and
• Is inessential. Novice users could get the impression that the conda environment name must include 'labscript_suite'. In such documentation, I think it's important to only require such conventions where they are necessary or strongly recommended, not least since 'labscript_suite' appears so voluminously throughout. In accord with the lowest-common-demominotor ethos (above), users who don't know better won't require a more specific name; and those that do will know to.

Those are good points that I hadn't considered. Probably best to leave it as py38 then. Maybe we can just double check that we're consistently emphasising that the environment should only be used for labscript suite related things?

I suggest windows only - it's the most likely OS to be used due to drivers. Also Linux users should be adept enough to translate the commands to Linux, but I doubt the reverse is necessarily true.

Sounds good. Windows command-line syntax it is then.

conda config --add channels labscript-suite

How does this play out if people want to take dependencies from other channels that they've also added. Which takes precedence? Does specifying the channel at install time change the channel precedence vs adding it as a channel to the whole environment?

Isn't this moot, since we strongly recommend users create a dedicated conda environment for the labscripte suite? Why then would they want to take dependencies from other channels?

Conda's default behaviour is to prefer channels by priority, and then by version number of the package. Channel priority can be controlled by different ways of spelling conda config --add channels , this form prepends the channel list making it highest priority - you can also append. I think this is unlikely to be an issue since our channel either mirrors packages available elsewhere exactly or provides packages not available elsewhere. Priority therefore should not matter.

FWIW though I've discovered that conda config --add channels labscript-suite adds the channel user-wide, not just to the current conda environment. To add only to the current conda environment it should be:

conda config --env --add channels labscript-suite

This should probably be how this line is spelled even if one is using the base conda environment, as I argue in favour of in #45

Let's merge and make further changes on top.