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Installation Guide

Nicholas Nelson edited this page Sep 14, 2023 · 13 revisions

⚠️ Warning: Synectic requires that a Git client (version 2.5+) be installed and available in order to natively execute git commands such as git checkout. Please verify that you have a Git client installed on your system before proceeding with the installation.

Synectic can be installed from pre-built releases for:

MacOS
  1. Download the dmg release from: https://nomatic.dev/synectic

  2. Locate and open the dmg file.

  1. Drag the synectic application into the Applications folder of your system.
  1. Launch the newly installed Synectic application. For instructions on different methods of launching applications in MacOS, see Open apps on Mac.

⚠️ Warning: By default, MacOS protects users from malware by preventing software from being installed from unknown sources. This generally restricts any software not installed from the Mac App Store or identified developers. This second category refers to software produced by developers using an Apple Developer ID certificate, and requires purchasing an Apple Developer Program membership. Since this is experimental research software, we are not currently able to purchase certificates and sign MacOS builds for Synectic.

Therefore, the following error message is likely to appear when first launching Synectic:

"synectic" cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified

To resolve this issue, you will need to do the following:

  • Open Finder and navigate to the Applications folder

  • Locate the synectic application

Screen Shot 2022-02-16 at 11 52 32 AM

  • Right-click on the synectic application and select Open

Screen Shot 2022-02-16 at 11 55 02 AM

  • Select Open from the dialog that appears indicating macOS cannot verify the developer of "synectic". Are you sure you want to open it?

Screen Shot 2022-02-16 at 11 52 43 AM

  • Synectic should now launch, and all subsequent launches should work without any additional warnings.
Linux
  1. Downloads the deb (Debian-based, e.g. Ubuntu) or rpm (RedHat-based, e.g. Fedora) release from: https://nomatic.dev/synectic

  2. Install the deb or rpm package using your distributions preferred method for installing new applications.

⚠️ Warning: Some Linux distributions default to opening deb or rpm files with compressed archive tools, such as File Roller on GNOME-based desktops. To get around this issue, follow your Linux distributions documentation for installing these types of application files. As an example, on Ubuntu Linux you can right-click on the deb file and select Open with Other Application in order to switch from opening using the Archive Manager to opening using the Software Install application.

  1. Launch the newly installed Synectic application.
Windows
  1. Download the exe or nupkg (Squirrel.Windows target) release from: https://nomatic.dev/synectic
  1. For installing the nupkg package, refer to NuGet documentation.

  2. Launch the Synectic application by double-clicking on the exe file, or launching the application through the NuGet package manager (if using the nupkg package).

⚠️ Warning: Windows 10 and 11 include two technologies for Application Control: Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) and AppLocker. By default, these technologies restrict applications that were not signed with a valid Authenticode key from executing. Since this is experimental research software, we are not currently able to purchase certificates and sign Windows installers for Synectic.

⚠️ Warning: Running Git 2.35.2 and higher with Synectic on Windows can result in fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository errors due to stricter repository ownership checks. This security feature of Git can be bypassed by running git config --global safe.directory '*' once on your Windows system, but be aware that doing so will disable this security feature globally on your system.

Source code

Instructions for compiling and bundling from source are available in the README

  1. Downloads the zip or tar.gz files for the latest release from: EPICLab/synectic, or alternatively clone this repository:
    git clone git@github.com:EPICLab/synectic.git
  2. Install Node.js.
  3. Install Yarn Package Manager.
  4. Move into the project root directory:
    cd synectic
  5. Install project dependencies (npm/npx can also be used, but yarn is preferred):
    yarn install
  6. Build and run Synectic IDE:
    yarn start