Choose the install location and release

Set the install location before running an action in an EPICS-env clone. Actions try to create it; query-only invocations inspect settings without creating directories or generated files. The default is ${HOME}/epics.

Prerequisites

• A clone of EPICS-env. Run every command from the repository top.
• An absolute directory path that your user can create or write to.
• python3 on PATH; make stops while reading its configuration when it is missing.

1. In configure/CONFIG_SITE.local, set the install location:

   echo "INSTALL_LOCATION=<install_location>" > configure/CONFIG_SITE.local
   

   <install_location> is the absolute path of the directory that holds every installed tree, such as /opt/epics.

   The file is untracked, so the setting survives a git pull. A CONFIG_SITE.local in the directory that contains the repository applies to every clone in that directory; configure/CONFIG_SITE.local is read after it and wins.

2. Optional: to install under a release number other than the default 1.4.0, add ENV_RELEASE_VERS to the same file:

   echo "ENV_RELEASE_VERS=<release>" >> configure/CONFIG_SITE.local
   

   <release> names the first directory level below <install_location>. Trees with different release numbers sit side by side under <install_location>.

3. To see where the installed tree goes, print its path:

   make print-INSTALL_LOCATION_EPICS
   

   With the default release, the output is:

   <install_location>/1.4.0/debian-13/7.0.10
   

   With <release> set to 1.4.0-site, the output is:

   <install_location>/1.4.0-site/debian-13/7.0.10
   

   The path is <install_location>/<release>/<os_id>-<os_version>/<base_version>. <os_id> and <os_version> are the ID and VERSION_ID values from /etc/os-release, and <base_version> is the version of Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) base pinned in configure/RELEASE. The output above is from a Debian 13 host.

4. To check whether the build uses sudo, print SUDO_INFO:

   make print-SUDO_INFO
   

   For a location your user can create, the output is:

   0
   

   A query reports 0 when <install_location> is an existing directory whose parent path you can traverse, even if you cannot access the final directory. For an absent path, it checks search and create access at the nearest existing ancestor. It reports 1 for a non-directory or blocked path. This inspection cannot predict quota, read-only mount, or concurrent changes.

   Actions run the actual directory-creation probe. When that probe returns 1, make runs the module build and install steps, the module links, and the commonIocsh install through sudo. The EPICS base build and install and the .versions install never use sudo, so a complete install needs a <install_location> that your user can write. To use a system directory such as /opt/epics, create it and give your user ownership of it before you build. A query result of 0 does not guarantee permission to install into an existing directory.

Verification

• Print the value in effect and where it comes from:

  make PRINT.INSTALL_LOCATION
  

  The output names your path and the origin file:

  INSTALL_LOCATION = <install_location>
  INSTALL_LOCATION's origin is file
  

Configuration variables and override files lists the defaults and the read order of the override files. To build into the chosen location, see Build and install the environment.