Windows (Powershell) Quickstart Guide

Table of Contents

• System Requirements

• Method 1: conda Environment Setup (Preferred)

• Method 2: vcpkg Package Manager

• Method 3: Manual Dependency Management (Advanced Users)

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System Requirements

• C++ Compiler: C++20 compatible

  • Visual Studio 2019 16.8+ or Visual Studio 2022

• Version Control: Git (recent version)

• Build System: CMake 3.16+

Installing Base Dependencies

For systems lacking these tools, you can install using the Visual Studio Installer:

• Download and install Visual Studio Community (free)

• While installing, select Desktop development with C++ workload

• You can optionally select C++ Clang Compiler for Windows

Method 1: conda Environment Setup (Preferred)

This approach leverages conda for streamlined dependency management and is our top recommendation. Ensure your system requirements are met first.

Step 1: conda Installation

If conda isn’t already available:

• Go to: https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest

• Download the Miniforge3-Windows-x86_64.exe installer

• Run the installer and follow the prompts

• Launch “Miniforge Prompt” and run conda init powershell so that the conda environment can be accessed from powershell.

Step 2: Environment Creation

conda env create -f packaging/environment.yml
conda activate huira_env

Step 3: Compilation Process

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="../cmake/conda-toolchain.cmake" ../
cmake --build . --config Release -j

NOTE: If you are using bash shell, you may not need the space between -D and CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE.

Step 4: Environment Installation (Optional)

After successful compilation, integrate Huira into your conda environment:

cmake --install . --config Release

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Method 2: vcpkg Package Manager

vcpkg provides cross-platform package management through source compilation. Initial builds may take considerable time due to source-based dependency building. Verify system requirements before proceeding.

vcpkg Configuration:

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git C:\vcpkg
cd C:\vcpkg
.\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
.\vcpkg integrate install

Compilation Steps:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -D CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="C:/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" ../
cmake --build . --config Release -j

NOTE: If you are using bash shell, you may not need the space between -D and CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE.

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Method 3: Manual Dependency Management (Advanced Users)

This approach requires manual installation of all dependencies through system package managers or source compilation. Warning: This method is unsupported and may encounter compatibility issues with system-available library versions.

Required Dependencies

Package	Version Requirement	Purpose
assimp	>=5.2,<6.0	3D asset importing
catch2	>=3.8.0	Unit testing suite (when HUIRA_TESTS=ON)
cfitsio	>=3.49	FITS file handling
cspice	=67	NASA SPICE toolkit
embree3	>=3.13,<4.0	Ray intersection kernels
fftw	>=3.3.10,<4.0	Fourier transform operations
gdal	>=3.10,<4.0	Geographic data processing
glm	>=1.0.1	Mathematical operations
libtiff	>=4.7.0	TIFF image processing
tbb-devel	>=2021.0	Threading Building Blocks

Build Process

Once dependencies are satisfied, execute from the repository root:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ../
cmake --build . --config Release -j