Installing SIERRA#

This page covers everything you need before running sierra for the first time.

OS Requirements#

One of the following:

  • Recent linux. SIERRA is tested with Ubuntu 22.04+, though it will probably work on less recent versions/other distros as well.

  • Recent OSX. SIERRA is tested with OSX 12+, though it might work on less recent versions.

Note

Windows is not supported currently. Not because it can't be supported, but because there are not current any engine plugins that which work on windows. SIERRA is written in pure python, and could be made to work on windows with minimal work.

Python Requirements#

Python 3.9+. Tested with 3.9-3.12. It may work for newer versions, probably won't for older; as older versions become EOL support for them is dropped and no effort is made at compatibility, in order to take advantage of newer language features.

For all external plugins (e.g., those which don't come with SIERRA) which you would want to define/use, they will have to be packaged according to the guidance in Using External Plugins, specifically how module imports must be structured w.r.t. dynamic modifications to sys.path to support arbitrary plugin loading at runtime.

Prerequisites#

SIERRA depends on a small set of OS-level utilities. Install them before running pip install.

sudo apt install parallel psmisc

sudo dnf install parallel psmisc

brew install parallel

Important

SIERRA will not work correctly if these packages are missing. It may start and appear to run, but certain features will fail silently or with cryptic errors. Install them before proceeding.

If you are on a different Linux distribution, install the equivalents of parallel and psmisc from your package manager.

Note

The prerequisites above cover the SIERRA core only. Many plugins have additional OS-level requirements, documented on their respective pages.

Installing SIERRA#

pip3 install sierra-research

This installs the sierra executable and all Python dependencies. After installation, verify it works:

sierra --help

Man pages are also installed and can be browsed offline via man sierra, man sierra-usage, man sierra-plugins, man sierra-examples, and man sierra-glossary. See Core Command Line Reference for the full CLI reference in these docs.

ROS users: additional setup required

When using a ROS1-based Engine, SIERRA requires a companion ROS package that provides run-time simulation management and project support.

Source and full setup instructions: jharwell/sierra_rosbridge

The package provides the following ROS node:

  • sierra_timekeeper — Tracks elapsed time for an Experimental Run and terminates it once the duration specified by --exp-setup has elapsed. ROS has no built-in time-bounded execution mechanism; this node fills that gap. SIERRA automatically inserts the corresponding XML tag into each .launch file it generates.

Next Steps#

With SIERRA installed, the fastest way to see it in action is the Trying Out SIERRA, which runs a complete experiment using a pre-built sample project with no additional setup.

If you are ready to connect SIERRA to your own code, go to Setting Up Your Own Project.