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Getting started

This guide will walk you through the installation of Silex for a new developer.

This means being able to contribute and implement new features.

info

This guide is assuming that you are working in a Windows environment.

Prerequisites​

Install Scoop​

We will start by installing Scoop, a package manager that can easily install, remove and update software without breaking stuff.

From a PowerShell terminal, run:

$ Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
$ irm get.scoop.sh | iex
$ scoop --version

Install Python and Rez​

If not already, you can install git with Scoop (you will need it for the next steps):

$ scoop install git

Python​

As for the 2021-2022 pipeline, Python 3.7.x is needed. See the VFX Reference Platform for the Windows Python version target.

Install it with Scoop:

$ scoop bucket add versions # Add versions bucket
$ scoop install python37
$ scoop reset python37 # Make sure shims are created
$ python --version

Rez​

Rez is the package environment resolver, to install it clone it from GitHub:

$ git clone https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/rez
$ cd rez
$ python ./install.py -v C:/rez/__install__ # specify the installation directory, -v : verbose

Then add that path to the $PATH environment variable so the executable is recognized:

C:\rez\__install__\Scripts\rez

Launch a new terminal and you should be able to run Rez:

$ rez --version
# Rez 2.111.1 from c:\rez\__install__\lib\site-packages\rez (python 3.7)

Rez needs a configuration file, since we want it to be on the network, tell Rez where to find it by creating a REZ_CONFIG_FILE pointing to: \\prod.silex.artfx.fr/rez/windows/config/rezconfig.py (change it with the real location).

It should change the way packages are searched on the network:

$ rez config packages_path
# - D:\rez\dev_packages
# - C:\rez\packages
# - C:\rez\packages\lib
# - C:\rez\packages\silex
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\lib
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\plugins
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\5rn
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\dcc
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\projects
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\silex
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\softwares
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\tools
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\silex-rez\packages\utils
# - \\192.168.2.112\rez\packages\tools

$ rez config local_packages_path
# C:\rez\packages
caution

The above paths might change depending on the network configuration and the rezconfig.py paths.

Configure Rez​

The rezconfig.py configuration file describes the location where Rez should find packages.

In the current configuration, these are the main locations:

root_packages_path = [
    r"D:\rez\dev_packages", # For your own Silex dev packages
    r"C:\rez\packages", # For local production packages
    r"\\prod.silex.artfx.fr\rez\packages", # Network packages
]
tip

When Rez resolves a package, packages have priority over others depending of the order of the root_packages_path. So dev packages are first.

Basic packages: silex-rez​

First clone the silex-rez repository to get basic packages:

$ mkdir D:\rez\dev_packages
$ cd D:\rez\dev_packages
$ New-Item -ItemType File -Name .rez # Tell Rez to search in this directory
$ git clone --recurse-submodules -j8 git@github.com:ArtFXDev/silex-rez.git # Clone recursively

Now resolving houdini as a package should use the local version:

$ rez env houdini

# resolved packages:
# houdini-18.5.596  d:\rez\dev_packages\silex-rez\packages\dcc\houdini\18.5.596\platform-windows
# platform-windows  c:\rez\packages\lib\platform\windows

Dev setup for silex_client​

In order to develop locally and use your own packages, do the following:

$ cd D:\rez\dev_packages
$ mkdir silex; cd silex
$ New-Item -ItemType File -Name .rez
$ mkdir silex_client; cd silex_client
$ git clone git@github.com:ArtFXDev/silex_client.git dev.1.0.0

This will clone a local version of silex_client in a dev version folder so you should have this structure:

.
├── .rez
├── silex
│   ├── .rez
│   └── silex_client
│       └── dev.1.0.0
│           └── ...
└── silex-rez
    └── ...

And now Rez should resolve your local package:

$ rez env silex_client-dev

# ...
# silex_client-dev.1.0.0      d:\rez\dev_packages\silex\silex_client\dev.1.0.0
# ...

Install silex-desktop​

silex-desktop is the desktop application using Electron. It uses JavaScript.

Install Node.JS using scoop:

$ scoop install nodejs-lts
$ npm install --global yarn # Install the Yarn package manager

Then clone silex-desktop repository:

$ git clone git@github.com:ArtFXDev/silex-desktop.git

Since silex-desktop uses silex-socket-service as a direct dependency and it's hosted on GitHub's NPM registry, you need a personal access token to fetch it.

Create a .npmrc file in the silex-desktop root folder with that content:

silex-desktop/.npmrc
//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=<YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN>
@artfxdev:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com/

Replace <YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN> with your GitHub access token. (See here for instructions.)

Finally install the dependencies with Yarn:

$ yarn install

Run and test​

  1. Launch the desktop application:
$ cd silex-desktop
$ yarn start

  1. Then login with your Silex account.

  2. Launch the tester action from another terminal:

$ rez env silex_client-dev -- silex action tester -c dev

Congratulations you are now ready to contribute to Silex! 🎉🎉