1.. _INSTALL-win:
2
3Installing Modules on Windows
4=============================
5
6This document is an overview of building and installing Modules on a Windows
7platform.
8
9
10Requirements
11------------
12
13Modules consists of one Tcl script so to run it from a user shell the only
14requirement is to have a working version of ``tclsh`` (version 8.4 or later)
15available on your system. ``tclsh`` is a part of `Tcl`_.
16
17.. _Tcl: http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/
18
19A specific distribution zipball is provided to install Modules on a Windows
20platform. Content of this distribution zipball is ready for use and does not
21require a specific build step. All scripts and documentation found in this
22zipball are pre-built so there is no specific tools are required to install
23Modules from the Windows-specific distribution zipball.
24
25
26Installation instructions
27-------------------------
28
291. Install a Tcl binary distribution for Windows like `ActiveTcl`_ or
30   `Magicsplat Tcl/Tk for Windows`_. Follow instructions provided with the
31   chosen distribution to install it.
32
33.. _ActiveTcl: https://www.activestate.com/products/tcl/
34.. _Magicsplat Tcl/Tk for Windows: https://www.magicsplat.com/tcl-installer/
35
362. Once installed, verify that the ``tclsh`` command is correctly found in
37   defined ``PATH`` by typing the following command from a Windows ``cmd``
38   shell (``windows`` string should be obtained as result)::
39
40        > echo puts $tcl_platform(platform) | tclsh
41        windows
42
433. Download Modules specific distribution zipball for Windows from
44   `SourceForge`_ or `GitHub`_. Such distribution archives are available
45   for Modules release starting version ``4.5.0`` and can be distinguished
46   from the source tarball by the ``-win`` suffix in their name.
47
48.. _SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/modules/files/Modules/
49.. _GitHub: https://github.com/cea-hpc/modules/releases
50
514. Unpack downloaded zip file then enter deflated directory and execute the
52   ``INSTALL.bat`` script file found in it. This script installs files by
53   default in ``C:\Program Files\Environment Modules\`` directory and adds the
54   ``bin`` directory in this installation location to the system-wide ``PATH``
55   environment variable.
56
57.. note:: ``INSTALL.bat`` script may require to be run with administrator
58   rights to perform installation correctly.
59
605. Once installed, verify that the ``module`` command is correctly found in
61   defined ``PATH`` by typing the following command from a Windows ``cmd``
62   shell::
63
64        > module -V
65        Modules Release 4.4.1 (2020-01-03)
66
67Installation location can be adapted by running the ``INSTALL.bat`` script
68from a ``cmd`` console shell and passing desired installation target as
69argument. For instance to install Modules in ``C:\EnvironmentModules``
70directory::
71
72        > INSTALL.bat C:\EnvironmentModules
73
74Modules installation is now operational and you can setup your modulefiles. By
75default, the ``modulefiles`` directory in installation directory is defined as
76a modulepath and contains few modulefile examples::
77
78        > module avail
79        ------- C:/Program Files/Environment Modules/modulefiles --------
80        module-git  module-info  null
81
82Documentation of the :ref:`module(1)` and :ref:`ml(1)` commands and
83:ref:`modulefile(4)` syntax can be found in the ``doc`` directory in
84installation directory.
85