Where is the FiPy "base directory"?
Question: I have recently installed the FiPy package onto my Macbook, with all the
dependencies, through MacPorts. I have no troubles calling FiPy and NumPy as
packages in Python.

Now that I have it working I want to go through the examples. However, I
cannot find the "base directory" or FiPy Directory in my computer.

How can I find the base directory? Do I even have the base directory if I have
installed all this via Macports?

As a note I am using Python27.

Please, help! Thanks.


Answer: From the FiPy docs (<http://www.ctcms.nist.gov/fipy/README.html>):

> When references are made to file system paths, it is assumed that the
> current working directory is the FiPy distribution directory, refered to as
> the “base directory”, such that:
>
> examples/diffusion/steadyState/mesh1D.py
>
> will correspond to, e.g.:
>
> /some/where/FiPy-X.Y/examples/diffusion/steadyState/mesh1D.py

This just means the working directory if the FiPy repository is cloned or
tarball unpacked and then the directory is changed to `fipy/`. It will have
`setup.py` and `examples/` in there. If you install FiPy without cloning or
using the tarball (e.g. using pip instead) the distribution directory (base
directory) won't be readily available.

It isn't the path returned from `import fipy; print(fipy.__file__)`. That's
the installation path.

