Arepo Quickstart

This chapter walks you through compiling AREPO and running the official wave_1d example to verify that your environment is set up correctly — before moving on to larger simulations.

Goal Checklist

Install the Miniforge Conda distribution for your OS.
Create and activate an arepo-lab virtual environment.
Compile the Arepo executable using your local or HPC toolchain.
Run the official wave_1d example to completion.
Pass the included check.py validation.

Installation

1) Install Miniforge by OS

0) Install and verify WSL2 + Ubuntu

Run PowerShell/Windows Terminal as Administrator:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu
wsl --set-default-version 2
wsl -l -v

If wsl --install only prints help text, install Ubuntu explicitly:

wsl --list --online
wsl --install -d Ubuntu

If the installation stalls at 0.0%, try:

wsl --install --web-download -d Ubuntu

Reboot if prompted, open Ubuntu, and create your Linux username/password.

1) Install Miniforge (inside Ubuntu)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl bzip2

curl -L -o ~/miniforge.sh \
  "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-Linux-$(uname -m).sh"
bash ~/miniforge.sh -b -p "$HOME/miniforge3"

source "$HOME/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"
conda init bash

0) Install Miniforge

xcode-select --install

curl -L -o ~/miniforge.sh \
  https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-MacOSX-$(uname -m).sh
bash ~/miniforge.sh -b -p "$HOME/miniforge3"

source "$HOME/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"
conda init zsh

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl bzip2

curl -L -o ~/miniforge.sh \
  "https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge/releases/latest/download/Miniforge3-Linux-$(uname -m).sh"
bash ~/miniforge.sh -b -p "$HOME/miniforge3"

source "$HOME/miniforge3/etc/profile.d/conda.sh"
conda init bash

2) Create `arepo-lab`

conda create -n arepo-lab -c conda-forge \
  python=3.11 compilers make git pkg-config \
  openmpi mpi4py gsl fftw hdf5 hwloc -y

conda activate arepo-lab
which python
which mpicc
echo "$CONDA_PREFIX"

AREPO requires a C11-compliant compiler, GNU Make, Python, MPI (2.0+), and GSL. Optional libraries like FFTW3, HDF5, and hwloc are needed only when the corresponding feature flags are enabled.

3) Obtain source code

git clone https://gitlab.mpcdf.mpg.de/vrs/arepo.git
cd arepo

If the repository requires access credentials, obtain the code through your institution’s approved AREPO distribution channel and continue from the source root.

4) Set system type and compile-time config

cp Template-Makefile.systype Makefile.systype
cp Template-Config.sh Config.sh

Select your SYSTYPE and adjust compiler/library paths to match your machine.

5) Build and run `wave_1d`

mkdir -p ./run/examples/wave_1d
cp -r ./examples/wave_1d/* ./run/examples/wave_1d/
python ./run/examples/wave_1d/create.py ./run/examples/wave_1d/

make CONFIG=./run/examples/wave_1d/Config.sh \
  BUILD_DIR=./run/examples/wave_1d/build \
  EXEC=./run/examples/wave_1d/Arepo

cd ./run/examples/wave_1d/
mpiexec -np 1 ./Arepo param.txt
cd ../../../

python ./run/examples/wave_1d/check.py ./run/examples/wave_1d/

The AREPO documentation specifies that 1D examples must run in serial (-np 1).

6) Quick validation

check.py completes without failure.
Output files appear in the run directory.
No unresolved missing-library errors.