Install ScanCode from releases archives

Get the ScanCode-Toolkit tarball archive of a specific version and your operating system by going to the project releases page

Install ScanCode on Linux

Download the archive for your operating system and extract the archive from command line:

tar -xvf scancode-toolkit-30.0.1_py38-linux.tar.gz

Or, on Linux, right click and select “Extract Here”.

Check whether the Required packages are installed. Open a terminal in the extracted directory and run:

./scancode --help

This will configure ScanCode and display the command line Help options.

If the command doesn’t throw an error, congratulations! You are good to go to Running a scan.

Note

ScanCode archives come with packaged with all required dependencies except for Python that has to be downloaded and installed separately. On more recent versions of Ubuntu, you will have to install Python 3.9 manually. One possibility is to use the Deadsnakes PPA (Personal Package Archive) which is a project that provides older Python version builds for Debian and Ubuntu and is available at https://github.com/deadsnakes/ and https://launchpad.net/~deadsnakes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa --yes
sudo apt-get install python3.9 python3.9-distutils

Install ScanCode on Mac

Note

If you encounter a “No matching distribution” error while running the ./configure command on a Mac M1, it may indicate compatibility issues with the current architecture. Here’s a step-by-step guide to address this:

  • Change Mac M1 Architecture to x86_64: Switch the architecture from amd64 to x86_64 using the command:

    env /usr/bin/arch -x86_64 /bin/zsh --login

  • Use Rosetta Translation: Enable Rosetta translation in Terminal by executing:

    softwareupdate --install-rosetta

  • Transition Homebrew from arm64 to Intel: Change Homebrew from the arm64 architecture to the Intel (x86) architecture by running:

    /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

  • Install Intel-Specific Python: Use Homebrew to install Python specifically optimized for Intel architecture with:

    /usr/local/Homebrew/bin/brew install python3

Then rerun the ./configure command. This sets up the project according to the new architecture and ensures proper configuration. Following these steps should help resolve compatibility issues and allow smooth operation of the project on Mac M1 devices.

Install ScanCode on Windows 10/11

  • Download the latest ScanCode release zip file for Windows from the latest version at https://github.com/aboutcode-org/scancode-toolkit/releases/

  • In the File Explorer, select the downloaded ScanCode zip and right-click.

  • In the pop-up menu select ‘Extract All…’

  • In the pop-up window ‘Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders’ use the default options to extract.

  • Once the extraction is complete, a new File Explorer window will pop up.

  • In this Explorer window, select the new folder that was created and right-click.

Note

On Windows, double-click the new folder, select one of the files inside the folder (e.g., ‘setup.py’), and right-click.

  • In the pop-up menu select ‘Properties’.

  • In the pop-up window ‘Properties’, select the Location value. Copy this to the clipboard and close the ‘Properties’ window.

  • Press the start menu button, click the search box or search icon in the taskbar.

  • In the search box type:

    cmd

  • Select ‘cmd.exe’ or ‘Command Prompt’ listed in the search results.

  • A new ‘Command Prompt’pops up.

  • In this window (aka a ‘command prompt’), type ‘cd’ followed by a space and then Right-click in this window and select Paste. This will paste the path you copied before and is where you extracted ScanCode:

    cd path\to\extracted\ScanCode

  • Press Enter.

  • This will change the current location of your command prompt to the root directory where ScanCode is installed.

  • Then type:

    scancode -h

  • Press enter. This first command will configure your ScanCode installation. Several messages are displayed followed by the ScanCode command help.

  • The installation is complete. Congratulations!, you are good to go to Running a scan.

Uninstall ScanCode

  1. Delete the directory in which you extracted ScanCode.

  2. Delete any temporary files created in your system temp and user temp directory under a ScanCode-prefixed directory such as .scancode-tk or .cache/scancode-tk.

Note

The above installation process can be used with Command Prompt cmd, and PowerShell. Git Bash is not tested and using it may introduce unexpected behavior. If you’re using Windows Subsystem for Linux WSL2, please refer to Install ScanCode on Linux section above.