Once you have either unpacked a binary distribution, or built Csound from sources, you will need to configure Csound so that it will run properly on your system.
On all platforms, make sure the directory or directories containing Csound's plugin libraries are in an OPCODEDIR or OPCODEDIR64 environment variable depending on the precision of the compiled binary.
The Python opcodes, currently require Python 2.4 which can be downloaded from www.python.org if it is not already on your system. You can check if it is available by typing 'python' on a command prompt or DOS window.
On Windows, make sure the directory or directories (normally the csound5 directory) containing the Csound executables directory are in your PATH variable, or else copy all the executable files to your Windows system32 directory. Depending on your installation method, you might also need to set the OPCODEDIR and OPCODEDIR64 environment variables. Assuming that the binaries archive is unpacked in C:\ you can use (otherwise set the paths accordingly):
set OPCODEDIR=C:\csound5\plugins set OPCODEDIR64=C:\csound5\plugins64 set PATH=%PATH%;C:\csound5\bin
If you get a pop-up about the missing Python library (python24.dll) and don't need the python opcodes, just delete csound5\plugins\py.dll and csound5\plugins64\py.dll, and the pop-up about the missing Python library should be gone.
On Unix and Linux, either install the Csound program in one of the system bin directories, typically /usr/local/bin, and the Csound and plugin shared libraries in places like /usr/local/lib/csound/plugins or /usr/local/lib/csound/plugins64 and make sure that OPCODEDIR and OPCODEDIR64 environment variable are set correctly.