Installation Guide

This guide covers the different ways to install and set up Slurm Factory for building optimized Slurm packages.

Prerequisites

Before installing Slurm Factory, you need to have LXD installed and configured:

# Install LXD
sudo snap install lxd

# Initialize LXD (follow the prompts)
sudo lxd init

Installation Methods

Option 1: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

The easiest way to install Slurm Factory is from PyPI using pip:

# Install slurm-factory from PyPI
pip install slurm-factory

# Verify installation
slurm-factory --help

Option 2: Install with pipx (Isolated Environment)

For an isolated installation that doesn’t interfere with your system Python:

# Install pipx if you don't have it
pip install pipx

# Install slurm-factory with pipx
pipx install slurm-factory

# Verify installation
slurm-factory --help

Option 3: Install from Source

For development or to get the latest features:

# Install UV (modern Python package manager)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/vantagecompute/slurm-factory.git
cd slurm-factory

# Install dependencies and activate environment
uv sync

# Run slurm-factory
uv run slurm-factory --help

Quick Start

Once installed, you can immediately start building Slurm packages:

# Build latest Slurm (CPU-optimized)
slurm-factory build

# Build with GPU support
slurm-factory build --gpu

# Build specific version
slurm-factory build --slurm-version 24.11

Next Steps

See the Architecture Overview to understand how Slurm Factory works
Check out Examples for common usage patterns
Review Deployment Guide for installing built packages

Slurm Factory