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 enviroment manager, as it provides a convenient way to install binary packages in an isolated software environment, without affecting the rest of your operating system.

If you have a recent CMake (at least 3.14) and recent compilers and Python 3 on your system already, you can also most probably use these directly.

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 doing this is found at https://github.com/kapsakcj/win10-linux-conda-how-to. The installation of the required dependencies in a WSL terminal is documented below.

For MacOS and Linux users

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

For MacOS see https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html#macosx-installers
For Linux see https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/miniconda.html#linux-installers

Creating an environment and installing packages

Once you have conda installed (and WSL if you’re on Windows) you can use the environment.yml file to install the dependencies. First save it to your hard drive by clicking the link. On your hard-drive move the file to a folder where you would like to work in during the workshop, and then in a terminal navigate to the folder and type:

conda env create -f environment.yml

You then need to activate the new environment by:

conda activate cmake-workshop

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