Python Linear Programming on Ubuntu

[Robert Kern]

Fett wrote:
> I am trying to find a wrapper to do linear programming within python.
> I am using an ubuntu machine and I have apt-get'd lp_solve, which
> works just fine. If someone knows of a wrapper that will work with
> that that'd be great.
> 
> I also heard that scipy has a wrapper, however, I can't find any
> documentation on it, nor can I seem to find it with dir(). If anyone
> knows where there is good documentation on this I would love to use
> that (the more native to python the better imo).

No, scipy doesn't have such a wrapper, sorry.

> I have tried many things, including http://lpsolve.sourceforge.net/5.5/Python.htm,
> openopt, and cvxopt. I can't seem to find any with enough
> documentation to get me off the ground. Some I can't compile, some I
> can't even find out how to compile.
> 
> If anyone knows of an LP package (preferably with IP as well, like
> lp_solve has), that interfaces well with python and has enough
> documentation to get a dependency newb like myself off the ground that
> would be great.

PuLP should be fairly easy to build against GLPK or COIN (provided you have them 
installed; I'm pretty sure Ubuntu has a GLPK package but I'm not sure about 
COIN), but you will have to edit the Makefile for your system:

   http://www.jeannot.org/~js/code/index.en.html#PuLP

You can ask on scipy-users about OpenOpt, and hopefully Dmitrey will be able to 
help you. If you want to get cvxopt or the Python wrappers in lp_solve itself 
working, I suggest asking their mailing lists.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
  that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
  an underlying truth."
   -- Umberto Eco