# starman

**Repository Path**: dongli85/starman

## Basic Information

- **Project Name**: starman
- **Description**: Another package manager for HPC warriors.
- **Primary Language**: Ruby
- **License**: Not specified
- **Default Branch**: master
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No

## Statistics

- **Stars**: 13
- **Forks**: 1
- **Created**: 2021-03-31
- **Last Updated**: 2025-09-14

## Categories & Tags

**Categories**: Uncategorized

**Tags**: None

## README

Introduction
============

This is the third time I rewrote this package manager, and hope this will be
the final version. This time I try to simplify the design to make STARMAN
robust and focus on HPC usage. I set down the following goals:

* [X] User can use `load` command to change shell environment for specific packages
  like `modules`.
* [X] Use database to manage information.
* [ ] Support package update which is lacked in previous version.

Prerequisites
=============

STARMAN is implemented by using Ruby programming language which is good at
writing DSL (Domain Specific Language), so the system should have Ruby
installed.

- Ruby >= 2.0
- SQLite

Installation
============

Put STARMAN in any location, and add the following `source` statement in your `.bashrc`:

```
source <STARMAN_directory>/setup/bashrc
```

Relogin. Then run setup command to kickoff:

```
starman setup --install-root <where_you_want_to_put_installed_software> \
--rc-root <where_store_config_and_db_files> \
--cache-root <where_store_packages_and_temporary_files>
```

Where `rc_root` (default is `$USER/.starman`) stores `config` and `history.db`
which should be accessible by anyone who needs to use STARMAN, and `cache_root`
(default is `/tmp/starman`) is used to store package source codes. *You can put
predownloaded packages into `cache_root` to avoid download.*

Usage
=====

When first use, you need to edit the configuration by running:

```
starman config
```

An example is:
```
---
install_root: /nfs/software
cache_root: /tmp/starman
defaults:
  compiler_set: ifort_2013.2.146
compiler_sets:
  ifort_2013.2.146:
    c: /nfs/software/intel/composer_xe_2013.2.146/bin/intel64/icc
    cxx: /nfs/software/intel/composer_xe_2013.2.146/bin/intel64/icpc
    fortran: /nfs/software/intel/composer_xe_2013.2.146/bin/intel64/ifort
```

You are advised to give each compiler set a good name, and NEVER change them
since they will be casted into packages' prefix.

You can list the help message of each command by:

```
$ starman <command> -h/--help
```

```
      _______  _______  _______  ______    __   __  _______  __    _
     |       ||       ||   _   ||    _ |  |  |_|  ||   _   ||  |  | |
     |  _____||_     _||  |_|  ||   | ||  |       ||  |_|  ||   |_| |
     | |_____   |   |  |       ||   |_||_ |       ||       ||       |
     |_____  |  |   |  |       ||    __  ||       ||       ||  _    |
      _____| |  |   |  |   _   ||   |  | || ||_|| ||   _   || | |   |
     |_______|  |___|  |__| |__||___|  |_||_|   |_||__| |__||_|  |__|

STARMAN: Another package manager for Linux/Mac programmer.
Copyright (C) 2015-2018 - All Rights Reserved.

    >>> starman install <package_name> ... [options]

    -r, --rc-root PATH               Set runtime configuration root directory.
    -d, --debug                      Print debug information.
    -v, --verbose                    Print more information including build output.
    -c, --compiler-set NAME          Set the active compiler set by its name set in conf file.
    -k, --skip-test                  Skip possible build test (e.g., make test).
    -j, --make-jobs NUMBER           Set the number of making jobs (currently only works for hdf5 and netcdf).
    -h, --help                       Print this help message.
```

Install package
---------------

```
$ starman install netcdf
```

or

```
$ starman install hdf5 -j 4           # Currently only works for hdf5 and netcdf.
```

to use more threads to build hdf5.

Load package
------------

In your `.bashrc` after STARMAN source statement, add the load commands:

```
starman load netcdf
```

This command will load the environment settings (e.g., `PATH`,
`LD_LIBRARY_PATH`) into current shell (currently only BASH). You can use
`NETCDF_ROOT` environment variable in any place you need to refer to the
location of netcdf.

Uninstall package
-----------------

```
$ starman uninstall netcdf
```

or

```
$ starman rm netcdf
```

Contribution
============

If you are familiar with package installation and system admin, you can
contribute new packages by writing a package `DSL` file in Ruby language as
[netcdf-c.rb](https://github.com/dongli/starman/blob/master/packages/netcdf-c.rb).