spm-runtime

Compiled Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) package that can be called from Python.

This package contains the compiled SPM runtime used by spm-python.

Installation

# Version built against the latest available MATLAB runtime
$ pip install spm-runtime
$ pip install spm-runtime==25.01
# Version built against a specific version of the MATLAB runtime
$ pip install spm-runtime-R2024b
$ pip install spm-runtime-R2024b==25.01

Warning

The repository does not contain the compiled CTF file, but wheels released on pypi or as part of our GitHub releases do. It is not advised to install spm-runtime directly from the repository, as it assumes that the matlab compiler is available. Installation from our releases wheels and distributions is preferred.

Supported Python versions

Different versions of the MATLAB runtime are compatible with a different range of python versions. To use the runtime with a python version that is not supported by the latest MATLAB runtime, you can choose to install a package specifically compiled against another MATLAB runtime. The python versions supported by each MATLAB runtime is provided in the table below:

MATLAB	Python
R2024b	3.9 - 3.12
R2024a	3.9 - 3.11
R2023b	3.9 - 3.11
R2023a	3.8 - 3.10
R2022b	3.8 - 3.10
R2022a	3.8 - 3.9
R2021b	3.7 - 3.9
R2021a	3.7 - 3.8
R2020b	3.6 - 3.8
R2020a	3.6 - 3.7

SPM standalone

On installation, spm-runtime exposes the SPM standalone, which can be executed in a terminal by calling spm.

$ spm --help

SPM - Statistical Parametric Mapping
https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/

Usage: spm [ fmri | eeg | pet ]
       spm COMMAND [arg...]
       spm [ -h | --help | -v | --version ]

Commands:
    batch          Run a batch job
    script         Execute a script
    function       Execute a function
    eval           Evaluate a MATLAB expression
    [NODE]         Run a specified batch node

Options:
    -h, --help     Print usage statement
    -v, --version  Print version information

Run 'spm [NODE] help' for more information on a command.

Python runtime

This package ships a compiled version of SPM that can be called from Python:

import spm_runtime

spm_runtime.endpoint("spm_standalone", nargout=0)

All MATLAB functions from the SPM package can be called. However, the inputs and outputs of these bindings are not very user-friendly. For pythonic bindings, use the spm-python package (which uses spm-runtime under the hood).