=================== ilastik-build-conda

ilastik depends on 60+ packages. Most of those packages are already provided for us by the Anaconda Python distribution. For 20+ the packages that aren't provided by Anaconda, we use the recipes in this repo.

These recipes are built using the conda-build tool. The resulting binaries are uploaded to the ilastik anaconda channel, and can be installed using the conda package manager.

======== Contents

• Installing ilastik for development
• Generating a release binary
• How to build these packages yourself
• Appendix: Writing a new recipe
• Appendix: Compiler details
• Appendix: Linux VM Details
• Appendix: TODO/TBD

Installing ilastik for development

Preamble: Depending on what you are trying to do, you may not need to follow any of these steps. The ilastik binary is shipped with a complete conda environment, .py files, etc. For many purposes, simply downloading the binary and editing the (python) source code by hand may suffice. However, these instructions can give you a more complete developer setup, suitable e.g. for C++ development.

Here's how to install everything you need to develop ilastik.

0. Prerequisite: Install Miniconda

---

# Install miniconda to the prefix of your choice, e.g. /my/miniconda

# LINUX:
wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh
bash Miniconda-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh

# MAC:
wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh
bash Miniconda-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh

# Activate conda
CONDA_ROOT=`conda info --root`
source ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/activate root

NOTE:

When using conda, make sure you are not using any of python's site-specific or user-specific customization features. In particular, make sure the following environment variables are not defined in your terminal:

• PYTHONPATH
• PYTHONUSERSITE
• PYTHONUSERBASE

Also, make sure there are no python-related directories in ~/.local/.

1. Create a fresh environment, and install ilastik

---

Some ilastik workflows require commercial solvers, for which one must purchase or obtain an academic license. If you don't have CPLEX and Gurobi on your machine, you can install everything else with this command:

conda create -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik ilastik-everything-no-solvers

If you have both CPLEX and Gurobi on your machine, you can install the full ilastik development setup, including full support for tracking and multicut.

First, define these environment variables:

export CPLEX_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/ibm/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio1251
export GUROBI_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/gurobi650/linux64

Now you can install the ilastik-everything package:

conda create -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik ilastik-everything

Note: To be really sure that you're getting the right version of ilastik-everything, you can require a specific version and build of the package with PKGNAME=VERSION=BUILD syntax:

conda create -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik ilastik-everything=1.2.0=6

If you only have one of CPLEX or Gurobi, and you're seeking to develop for a workflow that requires it, you must install some dependencies of that workflow individually. For example, to install tracking with CPLEX, but not Gurobi:

conda create  -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik install ilastik-everything-no-solvers
conda install -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik multi-hypotheses-tracking-with-cplex

For example, to install multicut with Gurobi support:

conda create  -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik install ilastik-everything-no-solvers
conda install -n ilastik-devel -c ilastik nifty-with-gurobi

2. Run ilastik

---

${CONDA_ROOT}/envs/ilastik-devel/run_ilastik.sh --debug

3. (Optional) Clone ilastik git repo

---

So far, our environment contains the ilastik source, but not the git repos. If you need to edit the ilastik python code, replace the ilastik-meta directory with the full git repo.

Note: This will remove both ilastik-meta and ilastik-everything, but all of the other dependencies in your environment will remain.

CONDA_ROOT=`conda info --root`
DEV_PREFIX=${CONDA_ROOT}/envs/ilastik-devel
conda remove -n ilastik-devel ilastik-meta

# Re-install ilastik-meta.pth
cat > ${DEV_PREFIX}/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ilastik-meta.pth << EOF
../../../ilastik-meta/lazyflow
../../../ilastik-meta/volumina
../../../ilastik-meta/ilastik
EOF

# Option 1: clone a fresh copy of ilastik-meta
git clone http://github.com/ilastik/ilastik-meta ${DEV_PREFIX}/ilastik-meta
cd ${DEV_PREFIX}/ilastik-meta
git submodule update --init --recursive
git submodule foreach "git checkout master"

# Option 2: Symlink to a pre-existing working copy, if you have one.
cd ${DEV_PREFIX} && ln -s /path/to/ilastik-meta

Generating a release binary

1. (Prerequisite) Update the version number.

2. Edit ilastik.__version_info__ (in ilastik/__init__.py) and commit your change.

3. Commit to ilastik-meta and add a matching git tag:

    cd ${DEV_PREFIX}/ilastik-meta
    git commit -m "Alpha Release 1.2.3a4" ilastik lazyflow volumina
    git push origin master
    git tag -m "Alpha Release" -a 1.2.3a4
    git push --tags origin
   

4. Double-check your conda configuration (.condarc). You should allow access to the ilastik channel and defaults, but nothing else:

    $ cat ~/.condarc
    channels:
    - ilastik
    - defaults
   

5. Build ilastik-meta and ilastik-everything packages, and upload to the ilastik anaconda channel.

    WITH_SOLVERS=1 conda build ilastik-meta ilastik-everything
    anaconda upload -u ilastik ${CONDA_ROOT}/conda-bld/linux-64/ilastik-meta*.tar.bz2
    anaconda upload -u ilastik ${CONDA_ROOT}/conda-bld/linux-64/ilastik-everything*.tar.bz2
   

Troubleshooting Tip: If the ilastik-meta tag has been relocated since you last built the ilastik-meta package, you should probably clear conda's git cache for that repo, to ensure you have the new tags: rm -rf $(conda info --root)/conda-bld/git_cache/github.com/ilastik/ilastik-meta

4. (Optional) Install to a local environment and test

    conda create -n test-env -c ilastik ilastik-everything=1.2.3a4
    cd ${CONDA_ROOT}/envs/test-env
    ./run_ilastik.sh
   

5. Create tarball/app

   Linux:

        $ grep Usage ./create-tarball.sh
        ## Usage: create-tarball.sh [--skip-tar] [--git-latest] [--no-tracking] [... extra install-args, e.g. --use-local or -c ilastik ...]
        
        $ ./create-tarball.sh -c ilastik
   

   Mac:

        $ grep Usage ./osx-packages/create-osx-app.sh
        ## Usage: create-osx-app.sh [--compress] [--git-latest] [--no-tracking] [... extra install-args, e.g. --use-local or -c ilastik ...]
        
        $ ./osx-packages/create-osx-app.sh --compress -c ilastik
   

If any options are used, they must be passed in this order:

- `--skip-tar`: (Linux only) Create the `ilastik-release` environment, but don't compress it into a .tar.bz2 file.
- `--compress`: (Mac only) After creating the `.app` bundle, compress it into a `.tar.bz2` file.  
- `--git-latest`: Use the latest `master` branch of `ilastik`, `lazyflow`, and `volumina` instead of the most recent tag. (Don't use for official releases.)
- `--no-tracking`: Omit tracking-specific dependencies
- `--use-local`: Tells conda to use your custom builds of each package, if available.
- `-c ilastik`: Tells conda to use packages from the ilastik channel (in case it's missing from `~/.condarc`).

How to build these packages yourself

All of the recipes in this repo should already be uploaded to the ilastik anaconda channel. The linux packages were built on CentOS 5.11, so they should be compatible with most modern distros. The Mac packages were built with MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.7, so they should theoretically support OSX 10.7+.

But if, for some reason, you need to build your own binary packages from these recipes, it should be easy to do so:

# Prerequisite: Install conda-build
source activate root
conda install conda-build

# Clone the ilastik build recipes
git clone http://github.com/ilastik/ilastik-build-conda
cd ilastik-build-conda

# Build a recipe, e.g:
conda build --numpy=1.11 vigra

# Now install your newly built package, directly from your local build directory:
conda install --use-local -n ilastik-devel vigra

Now run ilastik from with your ilastik-meta repo:

cd /path/to/ilastik-meta

# Run ilastik
PYTHONPATH="ilastik:lazyflow:volumina" python ilastik/ilastik.py

As mentioned above, some packages require CPLEX and Gurobi. To build those packages, you must define some environment variables first:

# Configure environment for building with solvers active
export WITH_SOLVERS=1
export CPLEX_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/ibm/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio1251
export GUROBI_ROOT_DIR=/path/to/gurobi650/linux64

# Build some recipes that depend on solvers
conda build ilastik-deps-tracking ilastik-deps-multicut ilastik-versions ilastik-everything

Appendix: Writing a new recipe

The conda documentation explains in detail how to create a new package, but here's a quick summary:

0. Prerequisite: Install conda-build

---

source activate root
conda install conda-build

1. Create recipe files

---

Add a directory to this repo:

cd ilastik-build-conda
mkdir somepackage
cd somepackage

A complete recipe has at least 3 files:

• meta.yaml
• build.sh (used for both Mac and Linux)
• bld.bat (used for Windows)

...additional files (such as patches) may be needed for some recipes.

Write meta.yaml:

$ cat > meta.yaml
package:
  name: somepackage
  version: 1.2.3

source:
  fn: somepackage-1.2.3.tar.bz2
  url: http://www.randompackages.org/somepackage/somepackage-1.2.3.tar.bz2
  md5: b060bb137d6bd8accf8f0c4c59d2746d

requirements:
  build:
    - zlib
    - python
  run:
    - zlib
    - python

about:
  home: http://www.somepackage.com
  license: WYSIWYG v3

Write build.sh:

$ cat > build.sh
# configure, make, and install
configure --prefix=$PREFIX --with-zlib=$PREFIX
make -j${CPU_COUNT}
make install

Write bld.bat:

$ cat > bld.bat
mkdir build
cd build

REM Configure step
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=%LIBRARY_PREFIX% -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%LIBRARY_PREFIX% -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release %SRC_DIR%

REM Build step
devenv SomePackage.sln /Build "%RELEASE_TARGET%"
if errorlevel 1 exit 1

REM Install step
devenv SomePackage.sln /Build "%RELEASE_TARGET%" /Project INSTALL
if errorlevel 1 exit 1

2. Build the package

---

# Switch back to the `ilastik-build-conda` directory
$ cd ../

# Build the package
$ conda build somepackage

3. Upload the package to your anaconda channel.

---

conda install anaconda-client

# Upload to your personal channel:
anaconda upload /my/miniconda/conda-bld/osx-64/somepackage-1.2.3-0.tar.bz2

# Or to ilastik's anaconda channel:
anaconda upload -u ilastik /my/miniconda/conda-bld/osx-64/somepackage-1.2.3-0.tar.bz2

Appendix: Compiler details

When writing your own recipes, use gcc provided by conda.

Instead of using your system compiler, all of our C++ packages use the gcc package provided by conda itself (or our own variation of it). On Mac, using gcc is critical because some packages require a modern (C++11) version of libstdc++. On Linux, using conda's gcc-4.8 is an easy way to get C++11 support on old OSes, such as our CentOS 5.11 build VM.

To use the gcc package, add these requirements to your meta.yaml file:

requirements:
  build:
    - gcc 4.8.5 # [linux]
    - gcc 4.8.5 # [osx]
  run:
    - libgcc

And in build.sh, make sure you use the right gcc executable. For example:

export CC=${PREFIX}/bin/gcc
export CXX=${PREFIX}/bin/g++

# conda provides default values of these on Mac OS X,
# but we don't want them when building with gcc
export CFLAGS=""
export CXXFLAGS=""
export LDFLAGS=""

./configure --prefix=${PREFIX} ...etc...
make
make install

# Or, for cmake-based packages:
mkdir build
cd build
cmake .. \
    -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=${PREFIX}/bin/gcc \
    -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=${PREFIX}/bin/g++ \
    -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PREFIX} \
    ...etc...

make
make install

Appendix: Linux VM Details

The Anaconda distribution is built on a CentOS 5.11 VM. To build the ilastik stack on that OS, you'll need to install the following:

• cmake, git, conda, gcc
• VTK dependencies:
  • OpenGL: yum install mesa-libGL-devel
  • X11: yum groupinstall "X Software Development"
• CPLEX (optional)
• Recommended: VirtualBox Guest additions
  1. Register external package repository "rpmforge"
  • http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/RPMForge#head-5aabf02717d5b6b12d47edbc5811404998926a1b
  2. Install package dkms
  3. In VBox menu, select Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD
  4. From disk image, install Guest Additions from command line

Appendix: TODO/TBD

• General

• In cases where we provide an alternative build of a package that Continuum already provides, we need to make sure our special channel takes priority over the defaults channel used by conda. (Edit: Ideally, we could just use a custom "build string", but due to conda/conda#918, that doesn't work. Instead, we just use a deliberately strange version number in our custom packages, e.g. version: 5.10.1.99.)

• It would be nice if we built "debug" versions of important packages (e.g. Python, vigra, Qt) and attached them to the [debug] conda-build "feature".

• The final binaries produced via create-Linux-tarball.sh and create-osx-app.sh are quite large. They could be reduced by excluding unecessary dylibs and stripping the remaining dylibs. Also, directories like include, etc. should be excluded.

• Mac

• For unknown reasons, the py2app module does not work "out-of-the-box" for this conda build. (The resulting app crashes frequently.) It probably has something to do with our new dependency on gcc-4.8 and libgcc. The current version of create-osx-app.sh uses a hacky workaround for this issue. It would be nice if we could figure out what the real issue is.

• Windows

• So far, this repo includes no package build scripts for Windows.

• Generate a final binary package from the built dependencies

• Should we attempt to track different versions of the MSVC++ std library via a conda "feature"?