# Installing Topola ## Building and installing Topola from source ### Prerequisites Building Topola from source requires [Git](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git) and [Cargo](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/getting-started/installation.html) to be installed on your system. Follow the instructions in the above links to obtain these. ### Obtaining the source Clone the [repository](https://codeberg.org/topola/topola): git clone https://codeberg.org/topola/topola.git ### Preparing to build Change your working directory to your clone of Topola's repository: cd topola ### Command-line application Topola has a command-line application written with the help of the [`clap`](https://docs.rs/clap/latest/clap/) library. #### Installation from source (Topola can be also built and run without installation. If you do not want to install new software on your system, skip now to the [*Debug build*](#debug-build) subsection.) Run the following command to build and install the Topola's command-line application: cargo install --locked --path crates/topola-cli You can then invoke the application from your terminal as `topola`. #### Debug build If you do not want to install new software on your system, or are interested in debugging or developing Topola, you can build a debug executable of the Topola's command-line application inside your working directory by running cargo build -p topola-cli Once built, you can invoke the debug executable by replacing the `topola` command with `cargo run -p topola-cli -- `. #### Autorouting example As an example, running the following commands will autoroute a KiCad project of a simple THT diode bridge rectifier: cd tests/single_layer/tht_diode_bridge_rectifier/ topola tht_diode_bridge_rectifier.dsn (Obviously, to use the debug executable, replace the second command with `cargo run -p topola-cli -- tht_diode_bridge_rectifier.dsn`.) By default, the output filename is the input filename with extension changed to `ses`: `tht_diode_bridge_rectifier.ses`. ##### Viewing the results You can view the results of the autorouting in KiCad if you have it installed. First, open the layout in the KiCad PCB Editor: pcbnew tht_diode_bridge_rectifier.kicad_pcb Then choose *File > Import > Specctra Session...* from the menu bar. In the newly opened file dialog, choose the file named *tht_diode_bridge_rectifier.ses*. This will load the autorouted traces. ### Egui graphical user interface application Topola has a graphical user interface (GUI) application written using the [`egui`](https://github.com/emilk/egui/) library and its paired [`eframe`](https://github.com/emilk/egui/tree/master/crates/eframe) framework. For displaying dialog boxes, Topola's GUI application uses the [Rusty File Dialogs](https://docs.rs/rfd/latest/rfd/) library. Due to technical constraints, these libraries have multiple runtime dependencies that are not managed by Cargo, and as such, it is impossible to determine whether these dependencies have been satisfied during compilation, but only once the application has been launched. Because of that, Topola may crash on startup, or have the file selection dialog not appear. If you encounter any problems, read the [*Troubleshooting unmanaged runtime dependencies*](#troubleshooting-unmanaged-runtime-dependencies) subsection. #### Native installation from source (Topola can be also built and run without installation. If you do not want to install new software on your system, skip now to the [*Native debug build*](#native-debug-build) subsection.) The following command will build and install the Topola's GUI application: cargo install --locked --path crates/topola-egui You can then launch the application from your terminal by running topola-egui #### Native debug build If you do not want to install new software on your system, or are interested in debugging or developing Topola, you can build a debug executable of the Topola's GUI application inside your working directory by running cargo build -p topola-egui Once built, you can launch the application from the debug executable with the following command: cargo run -p topola-egui #### Running Topola in Web browser Topola's GUI application can be built to run in a Web browser using [Trunk](https://trunkrs.dev/). If you have [cargo-binstall](https://github.com/cargo-bins/cargo-binstall) on your system, you can install Trunk from binary with cargo binstall trunk Alternatively, you can build Trunk from source by running cargo install trunk To build and open the Topola's GUI application in your browser, run trunk serve #### Troubleshooting unmanaged runtime dependencies ##### Crash on startup If the Topola's GUI application crashes on startup (no window is shown), necessary libraries for graphics and windowing (such as X11 and Wayland) may be missing. Note that running `ldd` on the `topola-egui` executable does not show these, as they are loaded dynamically (via some `dlopen`-like mechanism) on startup. ##### No file selection dialog appears If no file selection dialog appears when trying to open a file, then this is most likely because you do not have [Zenity](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/zenity) installed on your system. In this case, an error similar to the following should be emitted in your terminal: ``` [2025-01-01T01:16:17Z ERROR rfd::backend::xdg_desktop_portal] pick_file error No such file or directory (os error 2) ``` Zenity is needed because it is used by the default `xdg-portal` backend of Rusty File Dialogs. As an alternative, you can try its other backend, `gtk3`, by building `topola-egui` with the following command: cargo build -p topola-egui --release --no-default-features --features disable_contracts --features gtk3 ### Automated tests Topola has automated tests to make sure its basic functionalities work. To execute these, run cargo test ### Contracts (The feature described in this section is currently used only for debugging and is enabled only when using nightly Rust. If you are not interested in debugging, you can skip this section altogether.) When trying to locate the source of a bug, it may be helpful to enable [contracts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_contract) (yes, this Wikipedia article needs improvement), which are nothing else but somewhat enchanced assertions. Unfortunately, the [contracts](https://docs.rs/contracts/latest/contracts/) library which we have been using enforces post-conditions via closures, which have deal-breaking limitations. To bypass these we have forked and modified it to use `try` blocks instead. The fork is vendored in the [vendored/contracts/](vendored/contracts/) directory. However, `try` blocks are not present in stable Rust yet, so to use these you need to set up your toolchain to use a nightly version of Rust. #### Nightly Rust To use nightly Rust, run the following command: rustup override set nightly You can go back to stable with rustup override unset #### Enabling contracts To enable contracts, simply add a `--no-default-features` switch. This switches off a default feature that prevents contracts from executing. For example, to build tests with contracts, simply run cargo test --no-default-features Of course, you can enable contracts for any build target. For instance, the following command will build the Topola's GUI application with debug profile and contracts enabled: cargo build -p topola-egui --no-default-features