First install the Nix package manager. Some distributions provide a package for it; otherwise, it can be installed via the script on the `Nix website <http://nixos.org/nix/>`_. Make sure you get Nix version 2.4 or higher. Prefer a single-user installation for simplicity.
Answer "Yes" to the questions about setting Nix configuration options (for more details see 'Troubleshooting' below.) You should now have a minimal installation of ARTIQ, where the usual front-end commands (``artiq_run``, ``artiq_master``, ``artiq_dashboard``, etc.) are all available to you.
This installation is however quite limited, as Nix creates a dedicated Python environment for the ARTIQ commands alone. This means that other useful Python packages, which ARTIQ is not dependent on but which you may want to use in your experiments (pandas, matplotlib...), are not available.
Installing multiple packages and making them visible to the ARTIQ commands requires using the Nix language. Create an empty directory with a file ``flake.nix`` with the following contents:
You can now spawn a shell containing these packages by running ``$ nix shell`` in the directory containing the ``flake.nix``. This should make both the ARTIQ commands and all the additional packages available to you. You can exit the shell with Control+D or with the command ``exit``. A first execution of ``$ nix shell`` may take some time, but for any future repetitions Nix will use cached packages and startup should be much faster.
You might be interested in creating multiple directories containing different ``flake.nix`` files which represent different sets of packages for different purposes. If you are familiar with Conda, using Nix in this way is similar to having multiple Conda environments.
To find more packages you can browse the `Nix package search <https://search.nixos.org/packages>`_ website. If your favorite package is not available with Nix, contact M-Labs using the helpdesk@ email.
When installing and initializing ARTIQ using commands like ``nix shell``, ``nix develop``, or ``nix profile install``, you may encounter prompts to modify certain configuration settings. These settings correspond to the ``nixConfig`` flag within the ARTIQ flake: ::
do you want to allow configuration setting 'extra-sandbox-paths' to be set to '/opt' (y/N)?
do you want to allow configuration setting 'extra-substituters' to be set to 'https://nixbld.m-labs.hk' (y/N)?
do you want to allow configuration setting 'extra-trusted-public-keys' to be set to 'nixbld.m-labs.hk-1:5aSRVA5b320xbNvu30tqxVPXpld73bhtOeH6uAjRyHc=' (y/N)?
We recommend accepting these settings by responding with ``y``. If asked to permanently mark these values as trusted, choose ``y`` again. This action saves the configuration to ``~/.local/share/nix/trusted-settings.json``, allowing future prompts to be bypassed.
Alternatively, you can also use the option `accept-flake-config <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/conf-file#conf-accept-flake-config>`_ by appending ``--accept-flake-config`` to your nix command, for example: ::
and Nix proceeds to build some packages from source, this means that you are using `multi-user mode <https://nix.dev/manual/nix/stable/installation/multi-user>`_ in Nix, which may be the case for example when Nix is installed via ``pacman`` in Arch Linux. By default, users accessing Nix in multi-user mode are "unprivileged" and cannot use untrusted substituters. To change this, edit ``/etc/nix/nix.conf`` and add the following line (or append to the key if the key already exists): ::
trusted-users = <username> # Replace <username> with the user invoking `nix`
This will set your user as a trusted user, allowing the use of any untrusted substituters.
..warning::
Setting users as trusted users will effectively grant root access to those users. See the `Nix documentation <https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/conf-file#conf-trusted-users>`_ for more information.
We recommend using our `offline installer <https://nixbld.m-labs.hk/job/artiq/extra-beta/msys2-offline-installer/latest>`_, which contains all the necessary packages and requires no additional configuration. After installation, simply launch ``MSYS2 with ARTIQ`` from the Windows Start menu.
As above in the Nix section, you may find yourself wanting to add other useful packages (pandas, matplotlib, etc.). MSYS2 uses a port of ArchLinux's ``pacman`` to manage (add, remove, and update) packages. To add a specific package, you can simply use a command of the form: ::
For more see the `MSYS2 documentation <https://www.msys2.org/docs/package-management/>`_ on package management. If your favorite package is not available with MSYS2, contact M-Labs using the helpdesk@ email.
When you upgrade ARTIQ, as well as updating the software on your host machine, it may also be necessary to reflash the gateware and firmware of your core device to keep them compatible. New numbered release versions in particular incorporate breaking changes and are not generally compatible. See :doc:`flashing` for instructions.
Run ``$ nix profile upgrade`` if you installed ARTIQ into your user profile. If you used a ``flake.nix`` shell environment, make a back-up copy of the ``flake.lock`` file to enable rollback, then run ``$ nix flake update`` and re-enter the environment with ``$ nix shell``.
Run ``pacman -Syu`` to update all MSYS2 packages, including ARTIQ. If you get a message telling you that the shell session must be restarted after a partial update, open the shell again after the partial update and repeat the command. See the `MSYS2 <https://www.msys2.org/docs/updating/>`__ and `Pacman <https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman>`_ manuals for more information, including how to update individual packages if required.
