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
- Be part of the ArtFXDev Github organization
- The backend services are running either on a shared server or locally (
zou,silex-front) - Have an account on the pipeline database (Zou) by going to http://kitsu.prod.silex.artfx.fr
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:
//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
- Launch the desktop application:
$ cd silex-desktop
$ yarn start
Then login with your Silex account.
Launch the
testeraction from another terminal:
$ rez env silex_client-dev -- silex action tester -c dev
Congratulations you are now ready to contribute to Silex! 🎉🎉