====Major Python Upgrades====

Many ARDI drivers and services use the //Python// language. 

Over time, new versions of Python are released and older versions stop being supported. Because of this, there may be the need to update the major Python version during major releases of ARDI.

While the Windows version of ARDI includes all of the libraries required by the ARDI system itself, the installer may not include any libraries needed by your **drivers** or **back-end tools**. On Linux and Windows systems, you may choose to upgrade your Python versions at any time.

===Upgrading your Python Libraries===

As of ARDI 2026.0.1, an Administrator can get a list of the required Python modules by clicking on the ARDI build number in the lower-right corner of the page and then clicking on **Python Libraries**. From there, you can click 'Download Requirements File'.

The upgrade is done with a tool called 'pip'. On Linux machines, this will usually be called **pip3**. On Windows machines, it's often found at **C:\Python<version>\sciripts\pip**

==With An Internet-Connected ARDI Server==

Open a termain/command-prompt window and run 'pip' to install of the required libraries.

On Linux, this would be...
<code>
pip3 install -r requirements.txt
</code>

==On An Isolated PC==

To do this with an ARDI server that doesn't have access to the Internet, the easiest method is to install the matching version of Python onto a system that //has// an Internet connection and type the following...

<code>
pip3 download - r requirements.txt
</code>

This will download copies of all of the Python modules that you can then transfer onto the ARDI server.

Once copied to the ARDI server, use the following command...

<code>
pip3 install -r requirements.txt --no-index --find-links <path_to_files>
</code>

This tells the system to install the packages //from the directory full of packages that you've previously downloaded//.

===Updating ARDI Configuration===

If you've performed your own Python upgrade, there are three required steps to get your system working properly. Note that these steps are **not required if you've updated your system via the installer**/

==Copy ARDI Library Directory==

Copy the **/ardi** folder from your old Python libraries into the new Python library folder. 

==Copy Twisted Plugins==

Copy the **twisted/plugins** folder from your old Python libraries to the new Python library folder.

==Update Environment Variable==

Set the **ARDIPython** environment variable in either Windows or Linux to point to your new Python executable.

//NOTE: If you are using the reporting addon, please note that the report configuration has its own path to Python. This helps to avoid problems with reporting when upgrading ARDI, although we suggest migrating your reports from the older Python versions as soon as possible.//