Ubuntu/Debian Installation

Installation from source

The following are the basic steps to compile and install NEST from source code:

  • If not already installed on your system, the following packages are recommended (see also the Dependencies section)

sudo apt-get install -y \
cython \
libgsl-dev \
libltdl-dev \
libncurses-dev \
libreadline-dev \
python-all-dev \
python-numpy \
python-scipy \
python-matplotlib \
python-nose \
openmpi-bin \
libopenmpi-dev

  • Unpack the tarball

tar -xzvf nest-simulator-x.y.z.tar.gz

  • Create a build directory:

mkdir nest-simulator-x.y.z-build

  • Change to the build directory:

cd nest-simulator-x.y.z-build

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=</install/path> </path/to/NEST/src>

Note

If you want to use Python 3, add the configuration option cmake -Dwith-python=3 -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=</install/path> </path/to/NEST/src>

Note

/install/path should be an absolute path

  • Compile and install NEST:

make
make install
make installcheck

NEST should now be successfully installed on your system. You should now be able to import nest from a python or ipython shell.

IMPORTANT!

If your operating system does not find the nest executable or if Python does not find the nest module, your path variables may not be set correctly. This may also be the case if Python cannot load the nest module due to missing or incompatible libraries. In this case, please run:

source </path/to/nest_install_dir>/bin/nest_vars.sh

to set the necessary environment variables. You may want to include this line in your .bashrc file, so that the environment variables are set automatically.

See the Getting started pages to find out how to get going with NEST or check out our example networks.

Dependencies

To build NEST, you need a recent version of CMake and libtool; the latter should be available for most systems and is probably already installed.

Note

NEST requires at least version v2.8.12 of cmake, but we recommend v3.4 or later. You can type cmake --version on the commandline to check your current version.

The GNU readline library is recommended if you use NEST interactively without Python. Although most Linux distributions have GNU readline installed, you still need to install its development package if want to use GNU readline with NEST. GNU readline itself depends on libncurses (or libtermcap on older systems). Again, the development packages are needed to compile NEST.

The GNU Scientific Library is needed by several neuron models, in particular those with conductance based synapses. If you want these models, please install the GNU Scientific Library along with its development packages.

If you want to use PyNEST, we recommend to install the following along with their development packages:

See the Configuration Options or the High Performance Computing instructions to further adjust settings for your system.

What gets installed where

By default, everything will be installed to the subdirectories /install/path/{bin,lib,share}, where /install/path is the install path given to cmake:

  • Executables /install/path/bin

  • Dynamic libraries /install/path/lib/

  • SLI libraries /install/path/share/nest/sli

  • Documentation /install/path/share/doc/nest

  • Examples /install/path/share/doc/nest/examples

  • PyNEST /install/path/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/nest

  • PyNEST examples /install/path/share/doc/nest/examples/pynest

  • Extras /install/path/share/nest/extras/

If you want to run the nest executable or use the nest Python module without providing explicit paths, you have to add the installation directory to your search paths. For example, if you are using bash:

export PATH=$PATH:/install/path/bin
export PYTHONPATH=/install/path/lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH

The script /install/path/bin/nest_vars.sh can be sourced in .bashrc and will set these paths for you. This also allows to switch between NEST installations in a convenient manner.