Thanks Lawrence. Here goes... ** Test 1 ** FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin/python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.path" /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin/python ['', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/site-packages/h5py-2.5.0-py2.7-macosx-10.10-x86_64.egg', '/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2', '/Users/fpoulin/software/SPINSpy', '/Users/fpoulin/software', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python27.zip', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-old', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/site-packages'] FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ clear FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin/python -c "import sys; print sys.executable; print sys.path" /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin/python ['', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/site-packages/h5py-2.5.0-py2.7-macosx-10.10-x86_64.egg', '/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2', '/Users/fpoulin/software/SPINSpy', '/Users/fpoulin/software', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python27.zip', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-old', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/lib-dynload', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-darwin', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/lib-tk', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac', '/usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.11/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/plat-mac/lib-scriptpackages', '/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/lib/python2.7/site-packages'] ** Test 2 ** FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ python -c "import sys; print sys.version" 2.7.11 (default, Jan 22 2016, 08:28:37) [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.2 (clang-700.1.81)] FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ source firedrake/bin/activate (firedrake)FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ python -c "import sys; print sys.version" 2.7.11 (default, Jan 22 2016, 08:28:37) [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 7.0.2 (clang-700.1.81)] ** Test 3 ** FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ env TERM_PROGRAM=Apple_Terminal MATLABPATH=/Users/fpoulin/Research/claw/matlab SHELL=/bin/bash TERM=xterm-256color TMPDIR=/var/folders/nl/wfwj3nps2wx8m6jx9bh_gslc0000gn/T/ Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.JC9FzxGCzb/Render TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION=343.7 cxx=/usr/local/bin/c++-4.9 OLDPWD=/Users/fpoulin TERM_SESSION_ID=472C6396-7536-49E1-BFF5-D36BDAA77C76 PYRO_HOME=/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2 gcc=/usr/local/bin/gcc-4.9 USER=fpoulin SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.3FmaQgwRmL/Listeners __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING=0x1F5:0x0:0x0 mpirun=/usr/local/bin/mpirun PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/texbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/Library/TeX/texbin gxx=/usr/local/bin/g++-4.9 PWD=/Users/fpoulin/software NCARG_ROOT=/usr/local LANG=en_CA.UTF-8 XPC_FLAGS=0x0 XPC_SERVICE_NAME=0 SHLVL=1 HOME=/Users/fpoulin mpifort=/usr/local/bin/mpifort mpig90=/usr/local/bin/mpif90 PYTHONPATH=/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2:/Users/fpoulin/software/SPINSpy:: LOGNAME=fpoulin DISPLAY=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.sp7NtBmLwn/org.macosforge.xquartz:0 cpp=/usr/local/bin/cpp-4.9 mpig77=/usr/local/bin/mpif77 mpicxx=/usr/local/bin/mpic++ _=/usr/bin/env FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ source firedrake/bin/activate (firedrake)FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ env TERM_PROGRAM=Apple_Terminal MATLABPATH=/Users/fpoulin/Research/claw/matlab SHELL=/bin/bash TERM=xterm-256color TMPDIR=/var/folders/nl/wfwj3nps2wx8m6jx9bh_gslc0000gn/T/ Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.JC9FzxGCzb/Render TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION=343.7 cxx=/usr/local/bin/c++-4.9 OLDPWD=/Users/fpoulin TERM_SESSION_ID=472C6396-7536-49E1-BFF5-D36BDAA77C76 PYRO_HOME=/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2 gcc=/usr/local/bin/gcc-4.9 USER=fpoulin SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.3FmaQgwRmL/Listeners __CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING=0x1F5:0x0:0x0 VIRTUAL_ENV=/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake mpirun=/usr/local/bin/mpirun PATH=/Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/texbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/opt/X11/bin:/Library/TeX/texbin gxx=/usr/local/bin/g++-4.9 PWD=/Users/fpoulin/software NCARG_ROOT=/usr/local LANG=en_CA.UTF-8 XPC_FLAGS=0x0 PS1=(firedrake)\h:\W \u\$ XPC_SERVICE_NAME=0 SHLVL=1 HOME=/Users/fpoulin mpifort=/usr/local/bin/mpifort mpig90=/usr/local/bin/mpif90 PYTHONPATH=/Users/fpoulin/software/pyro2:/Users/fpoulin/software/SPINSpy:: LOGNAME=fpoulin DISPLAY=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.sp7NtBmLwn/org.macosforge.xquartz:0 cpp=/usr/local/bin/cpp-4.9 mpig77=/usr/local/bin/mpif77 mpicxx=/usr/local/bin/mpic++ _=/usr/bin/env (firedrake)FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ ** Test 4 ** Below you'll see that when I type the path of python, as you suggested, an example works. Even though this is what I think is aliased, it seems to be using the wrong version. (firedrake)FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/bin/python firedrake/src/firedrake/tests/test_0init.py ============================================================= test session starts ============================================================== platform darwin -- Python 2.7.11, pytest-2.8.7, py-1.4.31, pluggy-0.3.1 rootdir: /Users/fpoulin/software/firedrake/src/firedrake, inifile: collected 2 items firedrake/src/firedrake/tests/test_0init.py .. =========================================================== 2 passed in 0.03 seconds =========================================================== (firedrake)FrancisulinsMBP:software fpoulin$ python firedrake/src/firedrake/tests/test_0init.py Traceback (most recent call last): File "firedrake/src/firedrake/tests/test_0init.py", line 3, in <module> from firedrake import * ImportError: No module named firedrake