| Home page: | https://github.com/pierre-rouleau/about-erlang |
|---|---|
| Navigation: | Prev, Top, Next |
| Time-stamp: | <2021-06-05 11:41:26, updated by Pierre Rouleau> |
| Copyright: | Copyright © 2020, 2021, Pierre Rouleau |
| License: | MIT |
This page describes the installation of Erlang on macOS using the asdf-vm tool. You may also be interested by this post by AJ Foster: Installing Elixir and Erlang With ASDF.
Table of Contents
Pros:
- With asdf-vm you can install and build a large number of programming language tools such as Erlang, Elixir and lot more. You can select which version to use and activate the various versions of each tool you want to use.
- The asdf-vm remembers your settings inside a
.tool-versionfile in the directory where it was invoked. - It is possible to set up an environment with several tools and remember
that exact setting inside the
.tool-versionfile. That file could be stored somehow to remember the required setting.
Cons:
For a given tool, by default only one version of that tool can be used at any given time.
Although for production and for most development environments that will be exactly what you want, if you want to compare different versions of Erlang or test running different of Erlang concurrently in a computer to test this type of interaction you wont be able to use two asdf-vm based environments unless you use some sort of container technology.
It is possible to run several version of Erlang concurrently with Erlang installed with all other methods presented in Installing Erlang.
Follow on of the asdf installation methods described in the asdf-vm installation instructions.
On macOS, I have used the method using Homebrew.
With the asdf-vm tool, you can "manage multiple runtime versions with a single CLI tool" (as written on the asdf-vm site). You can build, install and activate multiple versions of Erlang as well as a lot of other things like Elixir and other un-related programming languages and tools.
To asdf-vm, Erlang, like Elixir and Python is a plugin. The concept of plugin here applies to a programming language, or a specific tool. They are considered at the same level.
The asdf tool does everything. With it you can list the various languages that you want to use, their versions, and install them on the system very easily. When installing a version of a tool, it downloads the source code and perform the complete build.
On my system I did not have to setup the version of OpenSSL to use with asdf-vm as I had to do with Kerl. asdf was able to detect the latest version of OpenSSL I have on my system (as of this writing, version 1.1.1g released April 21, 2020).
For asdf-vm I use the same strategy as for the other mechanisms used to install Erlang, I use:
- The envfor-asdf source script to setup the environment.
- The use-asdf alias inside by .bashrc file.
With those I can proceed with the installation.
The envfor-asdf script holds the logic used to set up a shell
for asdf.
The envfor-asdf script is shown here:
# Sourced script: envfor-asdf -*- mode: sh; -*-
#
# Purpose : Install asdf, tool to build/manage Erlang, Elixir, etc...
# Created : Saturday, May 15 2021.
# Author : Pierre Rouleau <prouleau001@gmail.com>
# Time-stamp: <2021-05-18 11:00:12, updated by Pierre Rouleau>
# Copyright © 2021, Pierre Rouleau
# License : MIT
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Description
# -----------
#
# Run with: use-asdf
#
# Note:
# This is asdf-vm, not the Common Lisp ASDF tool!
#
# References:
# - Manage asdf-vm : https://asdf-vm.com/#/core-manage-asdf
# - Adopting Erlanf - Setup : https://adoptingerlang.org/docs/development/setup/
#
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Script
# ------
if [ "$ROUP_ENVFOR_ASDF" == "" ]; then
export ROUP_ENVFOR_ASDF=1
export KERL_BUILD_DOCS=yes
export KERL_INSTALL_MANPAGES=yes
export KERL_INSTALL_HTMLDOCS=yes
. $(brew --prefix asdf)/asdf.sh
. $(brew --prefix asdf)/etc/bash_completion.d/asdf.bash
printf "ASDF (asdf-vm) support now installed in this shell.\n"
printf "ASDF uses "
$(brew --prefix openssl)/bin/openssl version
settitle "Using ASDF (asdf-vm)"
else
printf "Shell is already setup for ASDF!\n"
return 1
fi
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------The alias in my .bashrc file is:
alias use-asdf='source envfor-asdf'To install a new version of Erlang using asdf-vm, the important steps are:
- Set the shell for asdf-vm by executing the
use-asdf. This is an alias to theenvfor-asdfscript it sources. - Get and manage asdf itself. These are the instructions to install and manage asdf-vm. You have to do this the very first time and then only when you want tu upgrade asdf-vm itself.
- List available plugins, get the ones you need, manage them. You can list all available plugins (such as Erlang) and all versions available for this plugin. So you can list all Erlang versions you can build with it.
- Get, compile and install a specific version of the plugin. These are the commands you use to build and install something like a version of Erlang.
Once this is all done and you have compiled and installed one or several versions of a given plugin (such as Erlang) it's possible to identify a current version of a given plugin to be used globally (it persists). You can also use a command to activate that version just for the current shell.
On my system I use the mechanism that activates a specific version of Erlang
for the shell using the same mechanism as I do for the other 3 ways of dealing
with Erlang: a use-erlang-xx-a alias defined in the .bashrc file to a
shell script it sources. The shell script has a name like
envfor-erlang-xx-a. The xx is Erlang version number and the -a
suffix identifies thet asdf-vm toolchain.
The asdf commands must be installed in the shell. For that I execute my
use-asdf (the alias to source my envfor-asdf script).
Once that is done, I can use all asdf commands to:
- update asdf-vm
- manage asdf plugins
- manage asdf plugins versions (eg. build and install new versions of Erlang).
More information is available on the asdf-vm site.
Here I build 2 different versions of Erlang with asdf-vm: Erlang 23.0.2 and 22.3.4.2 with the following commands.
First I set the environment:
use-asdf
Then I check what is available:
asdf plugin listasdf plugin update --allasdf list all erlang
I perform the 2 builds:
asdf install erlang 23.0.2asdf install erlang 22.3.4.2
And list the Erlang versions I have built with asdf-vm so far.
asdf list erlang
The asdf-vm can identify a version of each plugin as being the global current version. I list them with the following command and see that I did not set any since I use a shell script to do that . However, to have the version used automatically on system startup you would probably want to identify a global current version.
asdf current
Here's the session:
Last login: Fri Jul 3 14:36:46 on ttys004
> use-asdf
ASDF support now installed in this shell.
asdf uses OpenSSL 1.1.1g 21 Apr 2020
> asdf plugin list
elixir
erlang
> asdf plugin update --all
Updating elixir...
Already on 'master'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
Updating erlang...
remote: Enumerating objects: 27, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (27/27), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (17/17), done.
remote: Total 23 (delta 12), reused 12 (delta 6), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (23/23), 8.44 KiB | 664.00 KiB/s, done.
From https://github.com/asdf-vm/asdf-erlang
13422da..4164f2b master -> master
13422da..4164f2b master -> origin/master
Already on 'master'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
> asdf list all erlang
R13B03
R13B04
R14A
...
...
...
22.3.4.2
23.0-rc1
23.0-rc2
23.0-rc3
23.0
23.0.1
23.0.2
> asdf list erlang
21.3
22.3.3
22.3.4
23.0
> asdf install erlang 23.0.2
asdf_23.0.2 is not a kerl-managed Erlang/OTP installation
No build named asdf_23.0.2
Downloading OTP-23.0.2.tar.gz to /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/archives
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 122 100 122 0 0 416 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 417
100 53.7M 0 53.7M 0 0 6988k 0 --:--:-- 0:00:07 --:--:-- 8222k
Extracting source code
Building Erlang/OTP 23.0.2 (asdf_23.0.2), please wait...
APPLICATIONS DISABLED (See: /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_23.0.2/otp_build_23.0.2.log)
* jinterface : No Java compiler found
Building docs...
Erlang/OTP 23.0.2 (asdf_23.0.2) has been successfully built
Installing Erlang/OTP 23.0.2 (asdf_23.0.2) in /Users/roup/.asdf/installs/erlang/23.0.2...
You can activate this installation running the following command:
. /Users/roup/.asdf/installs/erlang/23.0.2/activate
Later on, you can leave the installation typing:
kerl_deactivate
Cleaning up compilation products for
Cleaned up compilation products for under /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds
ln: ./erl_call: File exists
Erlang 23.0.2 has been installed. Activate globally with:
asdf global erlang 23.0.2
Activate locally in the current folder with:
asdf local erlang 23.0.2
> asdf install erlang 22.3.4.2
asdf_22.3.4.2 is not a kerl-managed Erlang/OTP installation
No build named asdf_22.3.4.2
Downloading OTP-22.3.4.2.tar.gz to /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/archives
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 124 100 124 0 0 443 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 442
100 53.2M 0 53.2M 0 0 7249k 0 --:--:-- 0:00:07 --:--:-- 8223k
Extracting source code
Building Erlang/OTP 22.3.4.2 (asdf_22.3.4.2), please wait...
APPLICATIONS DISABLED (See: /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds/asdf_22.3.4.2/otp_build_22.3.4.2.log)
* jinterface : No Java compiler found
Building docs...
Erlang/OTP 22.3.4.2 (asdf_22.3.4.2) has been successfully built
Installing Erlang/OTP 22.3.4.2 (asdf_22.3.4.2) in /Users/roup/.asdf/installs/erlang/22.3.4.2...
You can activate this installation running the following command:
. /Users/roup/.asdf/installs/erlang/22.3.4.2/activate
Later on, you can leave the installation typing:
kerl_deactivate
Cleaning up compilation products for
Cleaned up compilation products for under /Users/roup/.asdf/plugins/erlang/kerl-home/builds
Erlang 22.3.4.2 has been installed. Activate globally with:
asdf global erlang 22.3.4.2
Activate locally in the current folder with:
asdf local erlang 22.3.4.2
> asdf list erlang
21.3
22.3.3
22.3.4.2
22.3.4
23.0.2
23.0
> asdf current
elixir No version set for elixir; please run `asdf <global | local> elixir <version>`
erlang No version set for erlang; please run `asdf <global | local> erlang <version>`
>At the end of asdf build, asdf removes the build log file. There might be an option to keep it, but I have been too lazy to look for it. Instead, if I want to look into the log I use Emacs and open the log file in auto-revert mode. I can then watch the build and save a copy somewhere.
Note
You may be interested by my PEL project which describes lots of Emacs commands in extensive PDF table files and provide an Emacs system that minimizes the need to know Emacs Lisp. See the PEL File Management PDF table for info on the auto-revert mode command.
I use the same strategy as for the others.
In my .bashrc vile I have aliases to source the shell scripts I need:
# Erlang, Elixir, Ruby, NodeJs : ASDF shell
# -----------------------------------------
alias use-asdf='source envfor-asdf'
alias use-erlang-21-a='source envfor-erlang-21-a'
alias use-erlang-22-a='source envfor-erlang-22-a'
alias use-erlang-23-a='source envfor-erlang-23-a'The script envfor-erlang-23-a installs Erlang 23.0.2 built with asdf-vm.
Here's the script:
# Sourced script: envfor-erlang-23-a -*- mode: sh; -*-
#
# Purpose : Install Erlang 23.0.2 (built with asdf/native Clang)
# Created : Tuesday, May 18 2021.
# Author : Pierre Rouleau <prouleau001@gmail.com>
# Time-stamp: <2021-06-04 16:00:01, updated by Pierre Rouleau>
# Copyright © 2021, Pierre Rouleau
# License : MIT
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Description
# -----------
#
# Run with: use-erlang-23-a
#
# This script uses:
# - `use-asdf` alias to source the `envfor-asdf` script, to setup asdf-vm
# - `asdf` command (asdf-vm) to activate Erlang 23.0.2 locally.
# - settitle script to set the terminal title.
#
# This script:
# - Set PATH to get the specified Erlang version (via asdf-vm)
# - Ensure that the Erlang man pages are available via the man command:
# - Set MANPATH to provide access the Erlang man pages
# - If MAN_ONLY_ERLANG environment variable is set, MANPATH
# is set to that directory only, otherwise the Erlang man directory
# is added in front of the current value of MANPATH.
# - Set following environment variables:
# - DIR_ERLANG_DEV : where Erlang projects are stored.
# Also acts as a flag protecting against
# multiple execution of scripts that
# set Erlang environment.
# - PEL_ERLANG_VERSION : version of the active Erlang
# - PEL_ERLANG_MAN_PARENT_DIR : Absolute path of directory that holds
# Erlang man/man1 directory.
#
# The PEL environment variables are used by Emacs PEL
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Script
# ------
#
if [ "$DIR_ERLANG_DEV" == "" ]; then
export DIR_ERLANG_DEV="$HOME/dev/erlang"
export PEL_ERLANG_MAN_PARENT_DIR="$HOME/docs/Erlang/otp-23.0"
if [ "$MAN_ONLY_ERLANG" == "" ]; then
MANPATH=$PEL_ERLANG_MAN_PARENT_DIR/man:`manpath`
else
MANPATH=$PEL_ERLANG_MAN_PARENT_DIR/man
fi
if [ -f "$PEL_ERLANG_MAN_PARENT_DIR/man/whatis" ]; then
export PEL_ERLANG_VERSION=23.0.2
export MANPATH
echo "+ Erlang 23.0.2 (built with asdf-vm/native Clang) environment set."
echo "+ Using OTP-23.0 Man pages."
echo "Note: asdf is leaving a .tool-version in the current directory!"
use-asdf
asdf local erlang 23.0.2
settitle "Erlang 23.0.2 asdf/Native"
else
echo "Error: missing: $HOME/docs/Erlang/otp-23.0/man/whatis"
echo "Execute make-local-whatis $HOME/docs/Erlang/otp-23.0/man"
echo " then try again."
echo "Reason: The whatis file is needed to use whatis on Erlang man files."
echo " Also Emacs uses it for man auto-completion."
return 1
fi
else
echo "! Erlang environment was already set for this shell."
fi
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------------And here's a session using it to install Erlang 23.0.2:
> use-erlang-23-
use-erlang-23-a use-erlang-23-ei use-erlang-23-kn
> use-erlang-23-a
+ Erlang 23.0.2 (built with asdf-vm/native Clang) environment set.
+ Using OTP-23 Man pages.
Note: asdf is leaving a .tool-version in the current directory!
ASDF support now installed in this shell.
> asdf current
elixir No version set for elixir; please run `asdf <global | local> elixir <version>`
erlang 23.0.2 (set by /Users/roup/.tool-versions)
> which erl
/Users/roup/.asdf/shims/erl
> version-erl
23.0.2
> man -w erl
/Users/roup/docs/Erlang/otp-23.0/man/man/man1/erl.1
> man -w lists
/Users/roup/docs/Erlang/otp-23.0/man/man/man3/lists.3
>A word of caution
The asdf software stores the version of the tools used inside a file
called .tool-version inside the current directory where the asdf commands
were executed. This can be quite useful: if you use several versions of
several tools you can create a directory that will be the current directory
where you will use all of these tool at the version specified inside the
file .tool-version. Once set up, open a shell, execute use-asdf and
then the version of the tool will be identified by the .tool-version file
stored in the current directory.
⚠️ asdf is sensitive to the current directory where the erl command is issued.
Unlike the other tools (Erlang Solutions' Erlang Installer, Kerl-built versions), you cannot use the same directory in 2 different shells and launch 2 different versions of Erlang, one in each shell.
- It's possible to run multiple versions of Erlang at the same time, but they must each be instantiated from a shell that has a different current directory.
- With asdf if you open 2 shells and execute
use-erlang-23-ain the first shell and then inside another shell executeuse-erlang22-ain that other shells, from the same directory both shells will now use the Erlang set up byuse-erlang-22-abecause they both use the same shim file identified by the same.tool-versionfile.
The directory used by asdf-vm is ~/.asdf. The top directory contains no
files, it holds only sub-directories. This is teh layout of this directory
tree shown with a depth of 3:
> tree -L 4 -d -A .asdf
.asdf
├── installs
│ ├── elixir
│ │ ├── 1.10.0
│ │ │ ├── bin
│ │ │ ├── lib
│ │ │ └── man
│ │ ├── 1.10.1
│ │ │ ├── bin
│ │ │ ├── lib
│ │ │ └── man
│ │ ├── 1.10.2
│ │ │ ├── bin
│ │ │ ├── lib
│ │ │ └── man
│ │ └── 1.10.3
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ └── man
│ └── erlang
│ ├── 21.3
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── erts-10.3
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ ├── misc
│ │ ├── releases
│ │ └── usr
│ ├── 22.3.3
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ ├── erts-10.7.1
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ ├── man
│ │ ├── misc
│ │ ├── releases
│ │ └── usr
│ ├── 22.3.4
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ ├── erts-10.7.2
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ ├── man
│ │ ├── misc
│ │ ├── releases
│ │ └── usr
│ ├── 22.3.4.2
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ ├── erts-10.7.2.1
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ ├── man
│ │ ├── misc
│ │ ├── releases
│ │ └── usr
│ ├── 23.0
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ ├── doc
│ │ ├── erts-11.0
│ │ ├── lib
│ │ ├── misc
│ │ ├── releases
│ │ └── usr
│ └── 23.0.2
│ ├── bin
│ ├── doc
│ ├── erts-11.0.2
│ ├── lib
│ ├── misc
│ ├── releases
│ └── usr
├── plugins
│ ├── elixir
│ │ ├── bin
│ │ └── shims
│ └── erlang
│ ├── bin
│ └── kerl-home
│ └── archives
├── repository
│ └── plugins
├── shims
└── tmp
81 directories
>The ~/.asdf/shims directory holds a set of script files that invoke the
real Erlang commands via an asdf command.
On my system I have installed some versions of Erlang and Elixir with asdf, and the shims I see are shown here:
> ls -F .asdf/shims
cdv* elixirc* etop* snmpc*
codeline_preprocessing.escript* emem* iex* start*
cpu_sup* epmd* memsup* start_erl*
ct_run* erl* mix* to_erl*
dialyzer* erl_call* odbcserver* typer*
diameterc* erlc* run_erl* xml_from_edoc.escript*
elixir* escript* runcgi.sh*
>The content of ~/.asdf/shims/erl which is used to invoke the Erlang shell
is:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# asdf-plugin: erlang 21.3
# asdf-plugin: erlang 23.0
# asdf-plugin: erlang 22.3.3
# asdf-plugin: erlang 22.3.4
# asdf-plugin: erlang 23.0.2
# asdf-plugin: erlang 22.3.4.2
exec /usr/local/opt/asdf/bin/asdf exec "erl" "$@"It uses asdf to execute the erl for the Erlang version identified by the file .tool-versions stored in the current directory.