Installation

This section describes how to install the HMB Helpers Package and its dependencies.

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.8 or higher

  • pip package manager

  • Optional: CUDA-compatible GPU for GPU acceleration

Installation Methods

Editable Install (For Development)

If you plan to modify the package source code:

git clone https://github.com/HossamBalaha/HMB-Helpers-Package.git
cd HMB-Helpers-Package
pip install -e .

Installing Dependencies

Core dependencies are listed in requirements.txt. Install them with:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Optional Dependencies

Install optional feature groups via extras:

# Scientific computing stack
pip install "hmb-helpers[scientific]"

# Computer vision & image processing
pip install "hmb-helpers[cv]"

# PyTorch deep learning (CPU wheels)
pip install "hmb-helpers[pytorch]"

# TensorFlow deep learning
pip install "hmb-helpers[tensorflow]"

# NLP & text processing (includes Arabic support)
pip install "hmb-helpers[nlp]"

# PDF handling with table extraction
pip install "hmb-helpers[pdf]"

# Audio processing & feature extraction
pip install "hmb-helpers[audio]"

# Medical imaging & whole slide images
pip install "hmb-helpers[medical]"

# Classical ML models & optimization
pip install "hmb-helpers[ml]"

# Visualization & plotting
pip install "hmb-helpers[plotting]"

# All optional dependencies (large install)
pip install "hmb-helpers[all]"

Download required NLTK data after installing the nlp extra:

python -c "import nltk; nltk.download('punkt'); nltk.download('stopwords'); nltk.download('wordnet')"

For spaCy models:

python -m spacy download en_core_web_sm
# For Arabic: python -m spacy download xx_ent_wiki_sm

CUDA/PyTorch GPU Support

The pytorch extra installs CPU-compatible PyTorch wheels by default. For GPU acceleration:

  1. Install the package with PyTorch support:

    pip install "hmb-helpers[pytorch]"
    
  2. Replace with CUDA-specific wheels matching your system:

    pip uninstall torch torchvision torchaudio -y
    pip install torch==2.7.1+cu128 torchvision==0.22.1+cu128 torchaudio==2.7.1+cu128 \
      --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128
    

Tip

For step-by-step guidance tailored to your operating system, package manager, and CUDA version, visit the official PyTorch installation selector: https://pytorch.org/get-started/locally/

Note

TensorFlow GPU support requires separate installation. See https://www.tensorflow.org/install for platform-specific instructions.Verifying Installation

Verifying Installation

After installation, verify the package and optional features:

import HMB
print(f"Package version: {HMB.__version__}")  # Should print: 0.1.0

# Test core functionality.
from HMB.ImagesHelper import GetEmptyPercentage
print("✓ Core images module loaded")

# Test optional feature (will raise ImportError if not installed).
try:
  from HMB.PDFHelper import ReadFullPDF
  print("✓ PDF module available")
except ImportError:
  print("⚠ PDF module: install with pip install 'hmb-helpers[pdf]'")

Troubleshooting

  • Import errors: Ensure you installed in the same virtual environment you are using.

  • Missing native libraries: For openslide or tabula-py, install system-level dependencies first (see upstream docs).

  • Dependency conflicts: Use a fresh virtualenv or conda environment.

  • NLTK/spaCy models: After installing the nlp extra, download required models as shown above.

Tip

For step-by-step guidance tailored to your operating system and CUDA version, visit the official PyTorch installation selector: https://pytorch.org/get-started/locally/