Lic is written in Python, so it doesn’t need any kind of installer, which is nice. But it does require a Python interpreter and a handful of Python libraries, which is not so nice. Up to this point, I’ve only tested Lic on win32. Python is supposed to be extremely platform independent, so you should (theoretically) have no problems running it on any OS that has the prerequisite libraries.

Before running Lic, you need the following on your machine:

• A Python 2.5 interpreter (Note: Lic has been developed only on Python 2.5. Use previous versions at your own risk!)
• A GTK+ 2.10 runtime. For those on win32, I suggest this installer.
• PyGTK, PyCairo and PyGObject
• Python Image Library 1.1.6
• PyOpenGL 3.0
• PyGtkGLExt for Python 2.5
• Obviously: LDraw, L3P and POV-Ray

If you’re on Linux, you’ve probably got most of these already. Just check version numbers — no promises if they don’t match the above. If you’re on win32, you most likely need each and every one.

Once you’ve installed all of the above, try a quick test to ensure everything is working. Launch a Python intepreter and copy / paste into it:

import gtk
import gtk.glade
import gtk.gtkgl
import gobject
import cairo
import Image
import OpenGL.GL
import OpenGL.GLU
import OpenGL.GL.EXT.framebuffer_object

If you get no errors, you’re good to go. If you do, email me.

I know that installing half a dozen software packages just to get one application running sounds dumb. But please, please bear with me. Lic is still very young. I’ve focused all my limited time getting the application to this point. A better packaging and installation solution is high up on the TODO list.

If you hit any problems getting the aforementioned libraries installed, or running Lic in general, don’t hesitate to email me. I’ve installed this set of packages on a handful of machines now, so I can (hopefully) keep the process painless for you.