How to build the code

ALaDyn is built using CMake (minimum version 3.15) and can optionally use vcpkg for dependency management.

Quick Start

1) Clone ALaDyn with submodules:

git clone https://github.com/ALaDyn/ALaDyn.git
cd ALaDyn
git submodule update --init --recursive

2) Follow your system prerequisites (below)

3) Build using one of the supported methods

Supported Platforms

We support running ALaDyn only on x86-64 CPUs with 64-bit operating systems. Supported compilers: GNU (gfortran), Intel (ifort)

Dependencies

MPI (OpenMPI or MPICH)
FFTW3 (or Intel MKL)
CMake (>= 3.15)
PowerShell (for the recommended build script)

Building with vcpkg (Recommended)

The recommended way to build ALaDyn is using the PowerShell build script with vcpkg integration:

./cmake/build.ps1 -UseVCPKG -DisableInteractive -DoNotUpdateVCPKG -DoNotUpdateTOOL -DoNotDeleteBuildFolder

This script handles: - vcpkg setup and dependency installation - CMake configuration - Building and installing the executable

Building with Plain CMake

If you have system-installed dependencies, you can build directly with CMake:

mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --parallel
cmake --install .

Prerequisites

Ubuntu

Open a Bash terminal and install the required dependencies:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y gfortran cmake make git ninja-build openmpi-bin libopenmpi-dev libfftw3-dev libfftw3-mpi-dev pkg-config

For vcpkg build (optional additional packages):

sudo apt-get install -y yasm nasm mono-devel

PowerShell installation (required for the recommended build script):

Follow the official Microsoft guide or use these commands:

# Install pre-requisite packages
sudo apt-get install -y wget apt-transport-https software-properties-common

# Get the version of Ubuntu
source /etc/os-release

# Download the Microsoft repository keys
wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$VERSION_ID/packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# Register the Microsoft repository keys
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# Delete the Microsoft repository keys file
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# Update the list of packages after we added packages.microsoft.com
sudo apt-get update

# Install PowerShell
sudo apt-get install -y powershell

After installation, you can start PowerShell with pwsh.

macOS

1) Install the XCode Command Line Tools (if not already installed):

xcode-select --install

2) Install Homebrew following the official guide.

3) Install dependencies:

brew update
brew upgrade
brew install gcc cmake make git ninja open-mpi fftw pkg-config

For vcpkg build (optional additional packages):

brew install libomp yasm nasm automake autoconf-archive mono

Note: You may need to set up the gfortran symlink for CMake:

# Find gfortran version
GFORTRAN_PATH=$(brew --prefix gcc)/bin/gfortran-$(brew list --versions gcc | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d. -f1)
sudo ln -sf "$GFORTRAN_PATH" /usr/local/bin/gfortran

PowerShell installation (required for the recommended build script):

Follow the official Microsoft guide or install via Homebrew:

brew install --cask powershell

After installation, you can start PowerShell with pwsh.

Windows (via WSL)

Native Windows builds are not supported due to the complexity of Fortran compiler installation on Windows. Instead, we recommend using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which provides a full Linux environment.

1) Install WSL following the official Microsoft guide:

wsl --install

2) After WSL is installed and you have an Ubuntu distribution running, follow the Ubuntu instructions above to install dependencies and build ALaDyn.

3) Your Windows files are accessible from WSL at /mnt/c/ (for the C: drive), and you can run the built executable directly within the WSL environment.

Running ALaDyn

On HPC Systems

Use the unified run script to generate and submit job scripts:

# Generate and submit job script
./scripts/run.sh -n 2 -t 136 -a MyProject

# Dry run (see generated script without submitting)
./scripts/run.sh -p marconi-knl --dry-run

# Specify queue and walltime
./scripts/run.sh -n 4 -t 272 -w 02:00:00 -q <queue_name> -a <account>

Local Execution

# Run directly with mpirun
./scripts/run.sh --local -t 4

Manual Execution

mpirun -np <num_tasks> ./ALaDyn

Build Script Options

The cmake/build.ps1 script supports many options:

Option	Description
`-UseVCPKG`	Use vcpkg for dependencies
`-DisableInteractive`	Disable interactive prompts (for CI)
`-DoNotUpdateVCPKG`	Skip vcpkg update
`-DoNotUpdateTOOL`	Skip tool repository update
`-DoNotDeleteBuildFolder`	Keep build folder after completion
`-BuildDebug`	Build with debug configuration

Run Get-Help ./cmake/build.ps1 for the full list of options.

Troubleshooting

Git Submodules

If the cmake/ directory is empty, initialize the submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

MPI Issues

Some MPI implementations require special handling. Check the FORCE_OLD_MPI CMake option if using legacy mpif.h.

Compiler Not Found

Ensure your Fortran compiler is in the PATH. On macOS, you may need to explicitly set FC:

export FC=/usr/local/bin/gfortran

Deprecated Build Scripts

Legacy build scripts for specific HPC systems are available in scripts/build/deprecated/ for reference but are no longer actively maintained

Guide