Use package manager for installation

[jentjr]

Any plans to use conda, or another packaging tool to distribute and install MODFLOW binaries? I would be willing to give this a shot to make the binaries available through conda-forge.

[langevin-usgs]

@jentjr, how would this work? Would the installer just pull them out of this repo? Or would it actually handle the compiling as well?

[jentjr]

@langevin-usgs, my thought was to create recipes using the conda-build compiler toolchains to compile for each platform from source. I’m not sure, but it may be possible to pull them directly from this repo.

[mwtoews]

Having looked at https://github.com/conda-forge/modflow6-feedstock for a few weeks, I can say that the conda-forge ecosystem is not that great, as it has old and unmaintained Fortran compilers. (Only Linux has modern compilers on conda-forge). Until there are better Fortran compilers, I don't think conda is a suitable platform to build and distribute Fortran-based applications for all platforms.

I'm planning to submit a PR for a simple Python script that could install executables using the Releases API, which would replace the manual "choose download", "click download", "unzip to folder" steps in a command-line fashion.

[wpbonelli]

@jentjr the get-modflow tool contributed by @mwtoews is included with FloPy 3.3.6 released today, there is more info here

[jentjr]

Great. Thank you!