Dependencies

SurfATT is built from source and requires a C++/Fortran toolchain, MPI, HDF5, Eigen, and CMake. Conda, Homebrew, and the Linux system package managers below are alternative ways to install these dependencies.

Required software

Dependency	Minimum version	Recommended version	Purpose
CMake	3.18	3.25 or newer	Configure the build
C++ compiler	GCC 13 / Clang 14	GCC 14 / Clang 17	Compile the C++17 source
Fortran compiler	GFortran 10	GFortran 12 or newer	Compile Fortran routines
MPI	3.0	Open MPI 4 or newer	Parallel execution
HDF5	1.10	1.14 or newer	Model and data I/O
Eigen3	3.4	3.4 or newer	Linear algebra
Git	Current stable release	Current stable release	Clone SurfATT and its submodules

SurfATT can use system installations of yaml-cpp and spdlog. If CMake cannot find them, the copies included with the source tree are used instead.

Install the dependencies

Choose one method below. Avoid mixing compilers, MPI, and HDF5 libraries from different package managers in the same build directory.

Conda / Mamba

Conda is useful when you want an isolated and reproducible toolchain.


conda create -n surfatt -c conda-forge -y \
  cxx-compiler fortran-compiler \
  cmake make git \
  openmpi hdf5 eigen \
  yaml-cpp spdlog
conda activate surfatt

This installs SurfATT’s dependencies only. You will compile SurfATT in the next step. On an HPC system, prefer the MPI implementation provided by the cluster.

macOS (Homebrew)

On macOS, first install the Xcode command-line tools and Homebrew if they are not already available.


xcode-select --install
brew update
brew install cmake gcc open-mpi hdf5 eigen yaml-cpp spdlog

Homebrew’s gcc formula provides the required gfortran compiler. Set the compiler explicitly before configuring SurfATT:


export FC="$(brew --prefix gcc)/bin/gfortran"

If CMake cannot locate a Homebrew library, expose the package prefixes:


export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix open-mpi):$(brew --prefix hdf5):$(brew --prefix eigen):$(brew --prefix yaml-cpp):$(brew --prefix spdlog)"

brew --prefix works on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, so the commands do not depend on a hard-coded Homebrew installation path.

Ubuntu / Debian


sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential gfortran cmake pkg-config git \
  openmpi-bin libopenmpi-dev \
  libhdf5-dev libeigen3-dev \
  libyaml-cpp-dev libspdlog-dev

RHEL / Fedora


sudo dnf install -y \
  gcc gcc-c++ gcc-gfortran make cmake pkgconf-pkg-config git \
  openmpi openmpi-devel \
  hdf5 hdf5-devel eigen3-devel \
  yaml-cpp-devel spdlog-devel

Some distributions require you to load the installed MPI environment:


module load mpi

Verify the toolchain

Check that the build tools and MPI compiler wrapper are visible:


cmake --version
mpicxx --version
gfortran --version

Continue with Build on a Local Machine, or use Build on an HPC System on a managed cluster.