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Diffstat (limited to 'lib/spack/docs/basic_usage.rst')
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diff --git a/lib/spack/docs/basic_usage.rst b/lib/spack/docs/basic_usage.rst index ed79790bb9..0578f0c8db 100644 --- a/lib/spack/docs/basic_usage.rst +++ b/lib/spack/docs/basic_usage.rst @@ -3,18 +3,16 @@ Basic usage ===================== -Spack is implemented as a single command (``spack``) with many -*subcommands*. Only a small subset of commands is needed for typical -usage. +The ``spack`` command has many *subcommands*. You'll only need a +small subset of them for typical usage. Listing available packages ------------------------------ -The first thing you likely want to do with spack is to install some -software. Before that, you need to know what's available. You can -see available package names either using the :ref:`package-list`, or -using the commands below. +To install software with Spack, you need to know what software is +available. You can see a list of available package names at the +:ref:`package-list` webpage, or using the ``spack list`` command. .. _spack-list: @@ -43,54 +41,55 @@ To get more information on a particular package from `spack list`, use .. command-output:: spack info mpich -Most of the information is self-explanatory. *Safe versions* are -versions that Spack has a checksum for, and Spack will use the -checksum to ensure they downloaded without any errors or malicious -attacks. :ref:`Dependencies <sec-specs>` and :ref:`virtual -dependencies <sec-virtual-dependencies>`, are described in more detail -later. +Most of the information is self-explanatory. The *safe versions* are +versions that Spack knows the checksum for, and it will use the +checksum to verify that these versions download without errors or +viruses. + +:ref:`Dependencies <sec-specs>` and :ref:`virtual dependencies +<sec-virtual-dependencies>` are described in more detail later. .. _spack-versions: ``spack versions`` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -To see *more* available versions of a package, run ``spack versions``, -for example: +To see *more* available versions of a package, run ``spack versions``. +For example: .. command-output:: spack versions libelf -There are two sections in the output. *Safe versions* are ones that -have already been checksummed. Spack goes a step further, though, and -also shows you what versions are available out on the web---these are -*remote versions*. Spack gets this information by scraping it -directly from web pages. Depending on the package, Spack may or may -not be able to find any remote versions. +There are two sections in the output. *Safe versions* are versions +for which Spack has a checksum on file. It can verify that these +versions are downloaded correctly. + +In many cases, Spack can also show you what versions are available out +on the web---these are *remote versions*. Spack gets this information +by scraping it directly from package web pages. Depending on the +package and how its releases are organized, Spack may or may not be +able to find remote versions. Installing and uninstalling ------------------------------ -Now that you know how to list available packages and versions, you're -ready to start installing things. - .. _spack-install: ``spack install`` ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ``spack install`` will install any package shown by ``spack list``. -To install the latest version of a package, along with all of its -dependencies, simply give it a package name: +For example, To install the latest version of the ``mpileaks`` +package, you might type this: .. code-block:: sh $ spack install mpileaks -If `mpileaks` depends on other packages, Spack will install those -first. It then fetches the tarball for ``mpileaks``, expands it, -verifies that it was downloaded without errors, builds it, and -installs it in its own directory under ``$SPACK_HOME/opt``. You'll see +If `mpileaks` depends on other packages, Spack will install the +dependencies first. It then fetches the ``mpileaks`` tarball, expands +it, verifies that it was downloaded without errors, builds it, and +installs it in its own directory under ``$SPACK_ROOT/opt``. You'll see a number of messages from spack, a lot of build output, and a message that the packages is installed: @@ -139,11 +138,11 @@ an installation. Spack is unique in that it can also configure the configurations of the same version of a package, one built with boost 1.39.0, and the other version built with version 1.43.0, can coexist. -This can all be done on the command line using special syntax. Spack -calls the descriptor used to refer to a particular package -configuration a **spec**. In the command lines above, both -``mpileaks`` and ``mpileaks@3.0.4`` are specs. Specs are described in -detail in :ref:`sec-specs`. +This can all be done on the command line using the *spec* syntax. +Spack calls the descriptor used to refer to a particular package +configuration a **spec**. In the commands above, ``mpileaks`` and +``mpileaks@3.0.4``. We'll talk more about how you can use them to +customize an installation in :ref:`sec-specs`. .. _spack-uninstall: |