Setting up your system

In order to follow this workshop, you will need access to compilers, Python and CMake. You can use an HPC cluster if you have access to one, but the instructions here cover how to install the prerequisites on your own computer.

These instructions are based on installing compilers and CMake via the Conda package and environment manager, as it provides a convenient way to install binary packages in an isolated software environment.

For Windows users

We strongly recommend to use (and install if necessary) the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as it is a powerful tool which will likely be useful also after the workshop. Inside WSL you will need Python 3 and the conda environment manager. A useful guide to do this is found at HERE. The installation of the required dependencies in a WSL terminal is documented below.

For MacOS and Linux users

MacOS and Linux users can simply open a terminal and install Miniconda:

  • For MacOS see HERE.

  • For Linux see HERE.

Creating an environment and installing packages

Once you have conda installed (and WSL if you’re using Windows OS) you can use the environment.yml file to install dependencies.

First save it to your hard drive by clicking the link, and then in a terminal navigate to where you saved the file and type:

conda env create -f environment.yml

You then need to activate the new environment by:

conda activate intro-to-cmake

Now you should have CMake, compilers, Python and a few other packages installed!

The CMake modules on the Dardel cluster

If you can assess to the Dardel cluster, you can follow the instructions below to load the CMake module from before running hand-on code examples.

  • Login to the Dardel cluster.

  • In your home directory, you can create a folder to keep all your data (replace XXXXX with a special string for you).

    mkdir cmake_XXXXX
cd cmake_XXXXX/

  • Loading the CMake module using the commands below.

    ml PDC/23.12
ml cmake/3.27.7
cmake --version

  • Cloning the github repository using Git, you can access to the code examples in the content/code subdirectory.

    git clone https://github.com/ENCCS/intro-cmake.git
cd intro-cmake/content/code/

  • Following the steps in hand-on exercises to run the code examples.