Lazy initialization of the Julia environment on dynare() call

src/dynare/__init__.py

 import logging
-import os  # Added import
+import os
+import functools
 from juliacall import Main as jl
 from .dynare import dynare
 
@@ -42,6 +43,16 @@ def setup_logging(
 
 
 def check_julia_and_dynare():
+    """
+    Check Julia installation and report on Dynare package status.
+
+    If you wish to use an existing conda environment with Julia and Dynare,
+    please set the environment variables appropriate for your setup as described at:
+    https://juliapy.github.io/PythonCall.jl/stable/pythoncall/#pythoncall-config
+
+    Julia configuration can be customized as described at:
+    https://juliapy.github.io/PythonCall.jl/stable/juliacall/#julia-config
+    """
     # Check Julia
     julia_path = jl.seval("Sys.BINDIR")
     _ = jl.seval("Base.active_project()")
@@ -55,14 +66,33 @@ def check_julia_and_dynare():
 _has_run = False
 
 
-def _run_once():
+def ensure_initialized():
+    """
+    Ensure Julia and Dynare packages are initialized.
+    This can be called explicitly by users who want to control when initialization happens.
+    """
     global _has_run
     if not _has_run:
         check_julia_and_dynare()
         jl.seval("using Pkg")
         _has_run = True
+        logger.debug("Julia environment initialized")
+
+
+def lazy_init(func):
+    """
+    Decorator to ensure initialization before calling a function.
+    """
+
+    @functools.wraps(func)
+    def wrapper(*args, **kwargs):
+        ensure_initialized()
+        return func(*args, **kwargs)
+
+    return wrapper
 
 
-_run_once()
+# Make dynare function lazy-initialized
+dynare = lazy_init(dynare)
 
-__all__ = ["dynare", "setup_logging"]
+__all__ = ["dynare", "setup_logging", "ensure_initialized"]