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CosmoSim Primer

Ramses Quickstart

This chapter walks first-time users through a full Conda-based RAMSES setup, ending with a successful 1D hydro test.

Goal Checklist

Section titled “Goal Checklist”
  • Install Conda for your OS (Miniforge).
  • Create and activate a ramses-lab environment.
  • Build ramses1d and run tube1d.nml successfully.

Installation

Section titled “Installation”

0) Install and verify WSL2 + Ubuntu

Section titled “0) Install and verify WSL2 + Ubuntu”

Run PowerShell/Windows Terminal as Administrator first.

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

If wsl --install only prints help text:

Terminal window
wsl --list --online
wsl --install -d Ubuntu

If installation stalls at 0.0%:

Terminal window
wsl --install --web-download -d Ubuntu

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

1) Install Miniforge (inside Ubuntu)

Section titled “1) Install Miniforge (inside Ubuntu)”
Terminal window
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

1) Create ramses-lab

Section titled “1) Create ramses-lab”
Terminal window
conda create -n ramses-lab -c conda-forge \
  python=3.11 compilers make cmake git -y


conda activate ramses-lab
which gfortran
echo "$CONDA_PREFIX"

If you later need MPI/HDF5-enabled builds, add:

Terminal window
conda install -c conda-forge openmpi mpi4py hdf5 -y
which mpif90

2) Get source code

Section titled “2) Get source code”
Terminal window
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/ramses-organisation/ramses.git
cd ramses

3) Set minimal bin/Makefile options

Section titled “3) Set minimal bin/Makefile options”
Terminal window
cd bin

In Makefile, set/check:

  • For the first 1D test, keep the default serial setting (-DWITHOUTMPI in FFLAGS is fine)
  • 1D hydro startup setup: NDIM=1, SOLVER=hydro, NVAR=3

For later MPI-parallel runs, switch to F90 = mpif90 and remove -DWITHOUTMPI from FFLAGS.

4) Build

Section titled “4) Build”
Terminal window
make clean
make

This should create bin/ramses1d.

5) Run the documented startup test

Section titled “5) Run the documented startup test”
Terminal window
cd ..
bin/ramses1d namelist/tube1d.nml

Optional log capture:

Terminal window
bin/ramses1d namelist/tube1d.nml > tube.log

6) Quick validation

Section titled “6) Quick validation”
  • Run output progresses without fatal errors.
  • Final line includes Run completed.
  • Output files are generated as expected.

Official Build References

Section titled “Official Build References”