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Installing the binaries

1. Download this zip file.
2. Drag and drop the downloaded and unzipped folder to the location of your choice, and rename it "Open Ephys."
3. Double-click the "open-ephys" executable to run the application.

Building from source

1. Create a GitHub account if you haven't already.
2. While logged into your account, go to https://github.com/open-ephys/plugin-GUI and click the "Fork" button in the upper right. You now have your own copy of the GUI repository. Any changes you make will only affect this copy. (More info on forking here.)
3. Make sure you have GitHub for Mac installed.
4. Install Xcode if you haven't already.
5. (Optional, for plugins that require these external libraries) Use MacPorts to install the HDF5 library (sudo port install hdf5-18, see below) and the ZeroMQ library (sudo port install zmq). Make sure you've run "sudo port selfupdate" recently, so you install the latest versions. (Of the plugins shipped by default, KWIKFormat requires the HDF5 library (version 1.8.12 or higher but below 1.10, see below), and NetworkEvents and EventBroadcaster require ZeroMQ.)
6. Direct your browser to https://github.com/yourusername/plugin-GUI, where "yourusername" is replaced by your actual GitHub user name.
7. Click the "Clone in Desktop" button.
8. In Xcode, select the "OpenEphys.xcworkspace" file from the plugin-GUI/Builds/MacOSX folder.
9. Select the "All" scheme.
10. Hit the "Run" button to build the GUI and plugins from source.

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• If some plugins won't compile, it's probably related to issues with the HDF5 or ZeroMQ libraries.  If you used MacPorts, the libraries will be installed in /opt/local/lib, and the headers will be found in /opt/local/include. Make sure Xcode knows how to find these files. In the "Build Settings" for the Target (not the Project), add /opt/local/lib to the "Library Search Paths" and /opt/local/include to the "Header Search Paths."
• If you get error like "libsz.a file not found", then it's because of some missing dependencies for HDF5 library (HDF5 needs SZIP library). Run sudo port install szip  to fix it.
• Make sure the architecture (32- vs. 64-bit) and base SDK (OS X 10.8, 10.9, or 10.10) are appropriate for your particular machine

HDF5 versions

HDF5 versions 1.10 and higher are not compatible with our code. If your MacPorts repositories are up to date, chances are that the hdf5 package includes a newer version. Fortunately there is a package called hdf5-18 which provides with the adequate libraries. Unless needed for other projects, we recommend not installing the hdf5 package.

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git clone --single-branch https://github.com/macports/macports-ports.git
cd macports-ports
git checkout 461781b947cdc9f942d2e963e8d25e58cc7b93ca

cd science/hdf5-18
sudo port install

Notes on different hardware and software

Works on a late 2013 Mac Pro with OS X El Capitan (10.11.4) and Xcode 7.3.

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