Installation on OS X

Python package

  1. Install a proper Python version (see issue #39 for a discussion regarding the required Python version on OS X):

    sudo port select python python27-apple
    

    Homebrew may be used here:

    brew install python
    

    Note

    In case powerline.sh as a client socat and coreutils need to be installed. coreutils may be installed using brew install coreutils.

  2. Install Powerline using one of the following commands:

    pip install --user powerline-status
    

    will get current release version and

    pip install --user git+git://github.com/powerline/powerline
    

    will get latest development version.

    Warning

    When using brew install to install Python one must not supply --user flag to pip.

    Note

    Due to the naming conflict with an unrelated project powerline is named powerline-status in PyPI.

    Note

    Powerline developers should be aware that pip install --editable does not currently fully work. Installation performed this way are missing powerline executable that needs to be symlinked. It will be located in scripts/powerline.

Vim installation

Any terminal vim version with Python 3.2+ or Python 2.6+ support should work, but MacVim users need to install it using the following command:

brew install macvim --env-std --with-override-system-vim

Fonts installation

To install patched font double-click the font file in Finder, then click Install this font in the preview window.

After installing the patched font MacVim or terminal emulator (whatever application powerline should work with) need to be configured to use the patched font. The correct font usually ends with for Powerline.