For macOS users, gcc with OpenMP support must be installed first. Refer to `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst#macos>`__ for installing gcc with OpenMP support.
For macOS users, latest versions of LightGBM are built with **g++-8** and cannot be launched on systems with **g++-7** and earlier. You should update your **g++** compiler if you don't want to build from sources or install LightGBM 2.1.1 which is the last version built with **g++-7**.
For macOS users, you need to specify compilers by runnig ``export CXX=g++-7 CC=gcc-7`` (replace 7 with version of gcc installed on your machine) first.
For Windows users, Visual Studio (or `MS Build <https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/>`_) is needed. If you get any errors during installation, you may need to install `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher).
For Windows users, compilation with MinGW-w64 is not supported and `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher) is strongly required in this case.
Note: MPI libraries are needed: details for installation can be found in `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst#build-mpi-version>`__.
Note: Boost and OpenCL are needed: details for installation can be found in `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst#build-gpu-version>`__. You need to add ``OpenCL_INCLUDE_DIR`` to the environmental variable **'PATH'** and export ``BOOST_ROOT`` before installation.
For more details see `FindBoost <https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.8/module/FindBoost.html>`__ and `FindOpenCL <https://cmake.org/cmake/help/v3.8/module/FindOpenCL.html>`__.
For Windows users, Visual Studio (or `MS Build <https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/>`_) is needed. If you get any errors during installation and there is the warning ``WARNING:LightGBM:Compilation with MSBuild from existing solution file failed.`` in the log, you should install `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher).
Run ``python setup.py install --mpi`` to enable MPI support. For Windows users, compilation with MinGW-w64 is not supported and `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher) is strongly required in this case. MPI libraries are needed: details for installation can be found in `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst#build-mpi-version>`__.
Run ``python setup.py install --mingw`` if you want to use MinGW-w64 on Windows instead of Visual Studio. `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ and `MinGW-w64 <https://mingw-w64.org/>`_ should be installed first.
Run ``python setup.py install --gpu`` to enable GPU support. For Windows users, `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher) is strongly required in this case. Boost and OpenCL are needed: details for installation can be found in `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst#build-gpu-version>`__. You can pass additional options to CMake: ``python setup.py install --gpu --opencl-include-dir=/usr/local/cuda/include/``, see `Build GPU Version <#build-gpu-version>`__ for complete list of them.
Run ``python setup.py install --hdfs`` to enable HDFS support. For Windows users, `CMake <https://cmake.org/>`_ (version 3.8 or higher) is strongly required in this case.
If you get any errors during installation or due to any other reason, you may want to build dynamic library from sources by any method you prefer (see `Installation Guide <https://github.com/Microsoft/LightGBM/blob/master/docs/Installation-Guide.rst>`__) and then run ``python setup.py install --precompile``.
In case you are facing any errors during the installation process, you can examine ``$HOME/LightGBM_compilation.log`` file, in which all operations are logged, to get more details about occurred problem. Also, please attach this file to the issue on GitHub to help faster indicate the cause of the error.
The code style of Python-package follows `PEP 8 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/>`_. If you would like to make a contribution and not familiar with PEP 8, please check the PEP 8 style guide first. Otherwise, the check won't pass. You should be careful about:
