Installing F´
Overview
This installation guide is specifically designed to enable individuals and researchers to get up and running with F´ quickly. Larger projects with specific requirements may need to extend this process.
Note
See the troubleshooting section at the bottom for help resolving common issues found during F´ installs.
Sections:
System Requirements
F´ depends on several items before the user should attempt to install it. These requirements are listed below and the user should ensure they are installed before proceeding with this guide.
Requirements:
- Linux, macOS, or WSL on Windows
- git
- CMake 3.16 or newer. CLI tool must be available on the system path.
- CLang or GNU C and C++ compilers (e.g. gcc and g++)
- Python 3.8+, virtual environments, and PIP
Note
Latest versions of PIP are strongly recommended. See Recommended PIP Versions
For build host architectures other than x86_64 or aarch64, and systems with older PIP versions, Java is required
Ubuntu and Debian users should see notes on Python installation
macOS users must ensure the CMake command line utility is on their path
Other OS-specific notes are in the Troubleshooting section below.
Creating a new F´ Project
The ecosystem of tools supporting F´ is installed as Python packages available via PIP. These packages are installed in a virtual environment by the F´ Bootstrap tool. It is recommended to have one virtual environment per project.
1. Install the F´ Bootstrap tool
The F´ Bootstrap tool is responsible for creating a new F´ project and installing the Python dependencies within the project's virtual environment. Install the fprime-bootstrap tool with:
Tip
Some macOS users see an SSL error. Correct the SSL error and rerun the above command.
2. Create a new project
The entrypoint to developing with F´ is creating a new project. This will clone the F´ repository and install the full tool suite of the specified version for working with the selected version of F´. To create a new project, run:
This command will ask for some input. Sample responses are below:
- This commands perform the following actions:
- Create a new git repository with the standard F´ project structure
- Create a new virtual environment within the project and install dependencies
3. Activate the virtual environment
Once the project is created, activate the virtual environment to use the F´ tool suite.
Warning
Always remember to activate the virtual environment whenever you work with this F´ project.
Next steps: HelloWorld Tutorial
Working With An Existing Project
Sometimes users wish to work with existing F´ projects. Once the project has been acquired, users should install the tools associated with that project. This is done with:
-
Ensure a virtual environment for this project has been created and activated
-
Download the project
Note
When using git and submodules, remember to run git submodule update --init --recursive
- Install the required F´ tools version
pip install -r <project>/fprime/requirements.txt
Note
Some projects ship their own requirements.txt. Install using that file if it exists.
Troubleshooting
This section will add some known hints to trouble-shooting with the installation of F´. This will hopefully help users install things more effectively.
General
- Recommended PIP Versions
- fprime-util: command not found
- Helper script fpp-redirect-helper exited with reason: Permission denied
Linux
macOS
Recommended PIP Versions
Some of the F´ Python packages are built in a way that it is recommended to install them with modern versions of PIP. Systems not recommended or pip versions less than recommended will require Java and run slower versions of FPP tools. The recommended versions are described below:
| System | Recommended pip version |
|---|---|
| macOS (10.9+) | >= 21.0.1 |
| x86_64 | >= 19.3 |
| aarch64 | >= 20.3 |
fprime-util: command not found
If the user is using a virtual environment and receives the ‘command not found’, the problem is likely caused by the environment not being sourced in a new terminal. Make sure to source the environment before running:
If installing without a virtual environment, PIP occasionally uses$HOME/.local/bin as a place to install user tools. Users running without virtual environments should add this directory to the path.
Helper script ‘fpp-redirect-helper’ exited with reason: Permission denied
This error can occur when the helper-script, (fprime/cmake/autocoder/fpp-wrapper/fpp-redirect-helper) loses its execution permission.
To verify that this is the case, change to the directory containing fpp-redirect-helper and verify that it is executable.
chmod 700 fpp-redirect-helper
Ubuntu, Debian, Java and Python PIP
Ubuntu and possibly other Debian variants don’t include the pip packages in the default Python 3 installation. To get fully functional, use these commands on Ubuntu and Debian based systems:
Now you should be able to run the installation without trouble.macOS and CMake Command Not Found
If the user chooses to install CMake directly from the CMake site (not using homebrew nor Mac Ports), then the CMake command-line tools must be added to the user’s PATH or default system libraries. The quickest command to do that is:
See installing cmake command line tools on a mac.SSL Error with Python 3.8+ on macOS
This fix will not work for Python installed via Homebrew. Try installing Python published at python.org. The version of openSSL bundled with Python 3.8+ requires access to macOS’s root certificates. If the following error is encountered while installing fprime:
Failed find expected download: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate
fprime-bootstrap.