Linux/MacOS: you need a C++ compiler, CMake and GNU make. To run the planner, you also need Python 3.
On Debian/Ubuntu, the following should install all these dependencies:
sudo apt install cmake g++ make python3
Windows: install Visual Studio >= 2017, Python, and CMake. During the installation of Visual Studio, the C++ compiler is not installed by default, but the IDE prompts you to install it when you create a new C++ project.
Some planner configurations depend on an LP or MIP solver. We support CPLEX (commercial, free academic license) and SoPlex (Apache License, no MIP support). You can install one or both solvers without causing conflicts.
Once LP solvers are installed and the environment variables cplex_DIR
and/or soplex_DIR
are set up correctly, Fast Downward automatically includes each solver detected on the system in the build.
Obtain CPLEX and follow the guided installation. See troubleshooting if you have problems accessing the installer. On Windows, install CPLEX into a directory without spaces.
After the installation, set the environment variable cplex_DIR
to the subdirectory /cplex
of the installation.
For example on Ubuntu:
export cplex_DIR=/opt/ibm/ILOG/CPLEX_Studio2211/cplex
Note that on Windows, setting up the environment variable might require using /
instead of the more Windows-common \
.
Important: The GNU Multiple Precision library (GMP) is critical for the performance of SoPlex but the build does not complain if it is not present.
Make sure that the build uses the library (check the output of CMake for Found GMP
).
We require at least SoPlex 7.1.0, which can be built from source as follows (adapt the paths if you install a different version or want to use a different location):
sudo apt install libgmp3-dev
wget https://github.com/scipopt/soplex/archive/refs/tags/release-710.tar.gz -O - | tar -xz
cmake -S soplex-release-710 -B build
cmake --build build
export soplex_DIR=/opt/soplex-7.1.0
cmake --install build --prefix $soplex_DIR
rm -rf soplex-release-710 build
After installation, permanently set the environment variable soplex_DIR
to the value you used during the installation.
You can validate the found plans by passing --validate
(implied by --debug
) to the planner if the VAL plan validation software
is installed on your system and the binary validate
is on the PATH
.
Note: VAL has a bug that prevents it from correctly handling the IPC 18 data network domain. You can install an older version, e.g., under Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install g++ make flex bison
git clone https://github.com/KCL-Planning/VAL.git
cd VAL
git checkout a5565396007eee73ac36527fbf904142b3077c74
make clean # Remove old binaries.
sed -i 's/-Werror //g' Makefile # Ignore warnings.
make
Don't forget to add the resulting validate
binary to your PATH
.
To build the planner, from the top-level directory run:
./build.py
This creates the default build release
in the directory builds
. For information on alternative builds (e.g. debug
) and further options, call
./build.py --help
. Our website has details on how to set up development builds.
Windows does not interpret the shebang in Python files, so you have to call build.py
as python3 build.py
(make sure python3
is on your PATH
). Also note that options are passed without --
, e.g., python3 build.py build=debug
.
Note that compiling from the terminal is only possible with the right environment. The easiest way to get such an environment is to use the Developer PowerShell for VS 2019
or Developer PowerShell
.
Alternatively, you can create a Visual Studio Project, open it in Visual Studio and build from there. Visual Studio creates its binary files in subdirectories of the project that our driver script currently does not recognize. If you build with Visual Studio, you have to run the individual components of the planner yourself.
To test your build use:
./fast-downward.py misc/tests/benchmarks/miconic/s1-0.pddl --search "astar(lmcut())"
To test the LP support use:
./fast-downward.py misc/tests/benchmarks/miconic/s1-0.pddl --search "astar(operatorcounting([lmcut_constraints()]))"
- If you changed the build environment, delete the
builds
directory and rebuild. - Windows: If you cannot execute the Fast Downward binary in a new command line, then it might be unable to find a dynamically linked library.
Use
dumpbin /dependents PATH\TO\DOWNWARD\BINARY
to list all required libraries and ensure that they can be found in yourPATH
variable. - CPLEX: After logging in at the IBM website, you find the Ilog studio software under Technology -> Data Science. Choose the right version and switch to HTTP download unless you have the IBM download manager installed. If you have problems using their website with Firefox, try Chrome instead. Execute the downloaded binary and follow the guided installation.
- CPLEX: If you get warnings about unresolved references with CPLEX, visit their help pages.
- MacOS: If your compiler doesn't find flex or bison when building VAL, your include directories might be in a non-standard location. In this case you probably have to specify where to look for includes and libraries in VAL's
Makefile (probably/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr
).