SLiM Support in Windows

[daikitag]

This is a Duplicate of #1426.

It seems that stdpopsim works totally fine on Windows with msprime engine, but the SLiM engine is only supported in non-Windows platform as indicated in this code,

stdpopsim/stdpopsim/slim_engine.py

Line 2006 in a93b211

if sys.platform != "win32":

, and we get
ValueError: Simulation engine 'slim' not registered
when we run stdpopsim.get_engine("slim") in a Windows platform.

Would it be possible for you to document this in stdpopsim documentation?
I would be happy to create a pull request to modify the documentation as well.

Also, when I manually added slim engine by running stdpopsim.register_engine(stdpopsim.slim_engine._SLiMEngine()) and ran the simulation by using the slim engine, I got an error in this line,

stdpopsim/stdpopsim/slim_engine.py

Line 1523 in a93b211

s = subprocess.check_output([slim_path, "-v"])

, with a FileNotFound error, and it seems that
subprocess.check_output([slim_path, "-v"])
does not work in the Windows platform.

I imagine that running SLiM through stdpopsim in Windows is an issue of subprocess and not an issue of SLiM, as I can comfortably run SLiM in windows by using the command line, but am I correct about it?
If so, I would be happy to try fixing this issue, such that Windows users can also get access to SLiM engine as default.

[petrelharp]

It would be great to get your help on this, @daikitag - you're right, this should now work, now that SLiM is installable on Windows. If you're up for this (probably painful) task, I think the first steps would be to

1. make a new branch
2. remove the if sys.platform != "win32": check you mention above
3. see where it breaks
4. open a PR to report/troubleshoot

[daikitag]

Thank you @petrelharp . I am now digging deep into the SLiM code of stdpopsim for my research project, so it might take some time, but I will try fixing it.

[petrelharp]

To answer your question above:

stdpopsim.register_engine(stdpopsim.slim_engine._SLiMEngine())

And, getting this working is a Can of Worms. But we'll do it soon (before 0.2.1, in a couple of weeks).