Skip to content

How to install

Information

Singularity project is officially moving into the Linux Foundation. As part of this move, and to differentiate from the other like-named projects and commercial products, we will be renaming the project to "Apptainer". source

Disclaimer

During the last 2021 year, the installation instructions changed more frequent than the workshop was given... Always check with the original instructions on how to install Singularity/Apptainer. For the purpose of this workshop, we will try to adapt to the the new free derivative as soon it becomes stable https://github.com/apptainer/apptainer.

Until then the content bellow will remain unchanged, to avoid unnecessary modifications.

If you have already installed Singularity version, newer than 3.7, it should be sufficient for the workshop.

Installation via package manager (if available) : Linux

Currently, for supported Ubuntu and CentOS distributions, it is also possible to install Singuarity via the system package manager link 

# Ubuntu 20.04
wget https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/releases/download/v4.0.0/singularity-ce_4.0.0-focal_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./singularity-ce_4.0.0-focal_amd64.deb

# Ubuntu 22.04
wget https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/releases/download/v4.0.0/singularity-ce_4.0.0-jammy_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./singularity-ce_4.0.0-jammy_amd64.deb

# RHEL/CentOS/AlmaLinux/Rocky 9
wget https://github.com/sylabs/singularity/releases/download/v4.0.0/singularity-ce-4.0.0-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
sudo yum install ./singularity-ce-4.0.0-1.el9.x86_64.rpm

Installation for Windows or Mac

https://sylabs.io/guides/latest/admin-guide/installation.html#installation-on-windows-or-mac

(PM) I have successfully installed Singularity under WSL2, but can't guarantee that it will work in all cases.
Look at this page for tips on the typical Windows installation (MacOS is rather similar).

Installation from source : Linux

Detailed and well explained installation instructions at:
https://sylabs.io/guides/latest/admin-guide/installation.html#installation-on-linux

TL;DR

For Ubuntu (Debian based) Linux distributions.

# Instructions last updated on 2022.09.02
# Install system dependencies
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y \
  build-essential libssl-dev uuid-dev libgpgme11-dev \
  squashfs-tools libseccomp-dev wget pkg-config git cryptsetup

# Install Go
export VERSION=1.18.1 OS=linux ARCH=amd64 && # Replace the values as needed \
  wget https://dl.google.com/go/go$VERSION.$OS-$ARCH.tar.gz && # Downloads the required Go package \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzvf go$VERSION.$OS-$ARCH.tar.gz &&  # Extracts the archive \
  rm go$VERSION.$OS-$ARCH.tar.gz # Deletes the ``tar`` file

echo 'export GOPATH=${HOME}/go' >> ~/.bashrc && \
  echo 'export PATH=/usr/local/go/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc && \
  source ~/.bashrc

# Clone Singularity, checkout from a release, compile end install
export VERSION=v3.10.2 && \
  git clone --recursive https://github.com/sylabs/singularity.git && \
  cd singularity && git checkout $VERSION && \
  ./mconfig && cd ./builddir &&  make -j 4  &&  sudo make install

Note

The code development is very dynamic, please always check with the original instructions if in doubt.

Testing the installation

https://sylabs.io/guides/latest/admin-guide/installation.html#testing-checking-the-build-configuration

TL;DR

 singularity 
Usage:
  singularity [global options...] <command>

Available Commands:
  build       Build a Singularity image
  cache       Manage the local cache
  capability  Manage Linux capabilities for users and groups
  config      Manage various singularity configuration (root user only)
  delete      Deletes requested image from the library
  exec        Run a command within a container
  inspect     Show metadata for an image
  instance    Manage containers running as services
  key         Manage OpenPGP keys
  oci         Manage OCI containers
  plugin      Manage Singularity plugins
  pull        Pull an image from a URI
  push        Upload image to the provided URI
  remote      Manage singularity remote endpoints, keyservers and OCI/Docker registry credentials
  run         Run the user-defined default command within a container
  run-help    Show the user-defined help for an image
  search      Search a Container Library for images
  shell       Run a shell within a container
  sif         siftool is a program for Singularity Image Format (SIF) file manipulation
  sign        Attach digital signature(s) to an image
  test        Run the user-defined tests within a container
  verify      Verify cryptographic signatures attached to an image
  version     Show the version for Singularity

Run 'singularity --help' for more detailed usage information.

Checking the configuration

singularity buildcfg
PACKAGE_NAME=singularity
PACKAGE_VERSION=3.10.2
BUILDDIR=/root/singularity/builddir
PREFIX=/usr/local
EXECPREFIX=/usr/local
BINDIR=/usr/local/bin
SBINDIR=/usr/local/sbin
LIBEXECDIR=/usr/local/libexec
DATAROOTDIR=/usr/local/share
DATADIR=/usr/local/share
SYSCONFDIR=/usr/local/etc
SHAREDSTATEDIR=/usr/local/com
LOCALSTATEDIR=/usr/local/var
RUNSTATEDIR=/usr/local/var/run
INCLUDEDIR=/usr/local/include
DOCDIR=/usr/local/share/doc/singularity
INFODIR=/usr/local/share/info
LIBDIR=/usr/local/lib
LOCALEDIR=/usr/local/share/locale
MANDIR=/usr/local/share/man
SINGULARITY_CONFDIR=/usr/local/etc/singularity
SESSIONDIR=/usr/local/var/singularity/mnt/session
PLUGIN_ROOTDIR=/usr/local/libexec/singularity/plugin
SINGULARITY_CONF_FILE=/usr/local/etc/singularity/singularity.conf
SINGULARITY_SUID_INSTALL=1

Note

There is a possibility to install Singularity as user, providing that the requirements are satisfied. Make sure you have go or install it as user as well.