Installing AWS Palace on Windows via WSL

Install WSL

Note

You must be on Windows 10 version 2004 or Windows 11. Check your windows version in settings, then system section, scroll down to about.

Using the instructins from [here](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install), first Open powershell in admin mode (i.e. press start, type powershell, right click on it and select “Run as administrator”) and type:

wsl --set-default-version 2
wsl --install Ubuntu-22.04

If this fails (e.g. WslRegisterDistribution failed), then run wsl --update --web-download first. Restart windows if it has pending updates. Note the username/password supplied during installation.

Note that you may also have to enable Windows Subsystem for Linux by checking the corresponding box in Control Panel’s Windows Features. It may also be required to enable Virtualization in the BIOS Setup, which can generally be accessed by using a manufacturer-specific shortcut key during boot.

From now onwards, when we state enter WSL, we mean: - Enter powershell (administrative mode) - Type wsl and hit ENTER

Install spack basic on a new WSL system

Enter WSL and verify that the nameservers are correct by first running:

sudo nano /etc/resolv.conf

Ensure it says nameserver 8.8.8.8 (if not, edit it, hit CTRL-X and Y).

Now install spack (see here for reference) by typing:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install file bzip2 ca-certificates g++ gcc gfortran git gzip lsb-release patch python3 tar unzip xz-utils zstd
sudo apt install libxft-dev libglu1-mesa libxi-dev libxmu-dev libglu1-mesa-dev build-essential

CLOSE THE POWERSHELL NOW AND REOPEN.

Make a new directory where we clone all repositories:

wsl
cd ~
mkdir repo
cd repo

Note that we use ~/repo as the default palace repository directory. Since we will be using virtual environments if it is in a different directory, then make sure to set ‘palace_wsl_spack_repo_directory’ in the user_options dictionary in the palace simulation object later.

Now clone the spack source and enter its environment here:

git clone --depth=2 https://github.com/spack/spack.git
. spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh

Update spack compilers:

spack compiler find

Install Palace

Clone palace and install using spack:

git clone https://github.com/awslabs/palace.git

#Checkout cameron’s branch, which has fixes that lets spack correctly install palace0.13. #But these changes are now in master but need to be tested again. #git checkout cameronrutherford/0.13.0-spack-cmake-constraints ```

Now the idea is that we create a local virtual environment in spack called spack-env, add local palace install as a repo in it and concretize+install. This is done via:

source ./spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh
spack env create -d ./spack-env
spack env activate ./spack-env
spack repo add ./palace/spack_repo/local
spack add local.palace@develop

Now concretize+install via:

spack concretize -f
spack install --only-concrete

There is no need for EXTERNAL MFEM, libCEED or sundial as palace ships with its own versions. Now run:

find -name palace*

The command will find the path of the Palace binary. Basically it’s somewhere like:

./spack/opt/spack/linux-ubuntu24.04-zen2/gcc-13.3.0/palace-develop-36rxmgzatchgymg5tcbfz3qrmkf4jnmj/bin/palace

Executing the above block should show the command-line switches required for Palace.

When running the simulations

When running Palace simulations, the simulation object receives a dictionary via the argument user_options. Make sure to set:

'palace_mode': 'wsl',
'palace_wsl_spack_repo_directory': '~/repo'
'palace_dir':"~/repo/spack/opt/spack/linux-zen2/palace-develop-3ofp7n4fjqj5i6slvei3w6nptzdiwdma/bin/palace"
'palace_wsl_spack_env_name': 'spack-env'

where the second key points to a different directory if the repository directory was chosen to be different during the installation procedure. Note that the final key must be the absolute path. Thus, one adds ~/repo to the path found using find -name palace* earlier. If for some reason the spack venv was under a different name, specify palace_wsl_spack_env_name.