I would like to help make it easier and faster for Chapel newbies like myself to get up and running with the Chapel compiler.
I think I could help other newbies to Chapel who are experienced at least with VirtualBox -- and, as a stretch, maybe also those who are experienced with other similar-enough virtualization software, e.g. VMware [non-server]. Sharing/uploading my existing Chapel VM would, however, result in at least one very large file.
Is there any approved/established place/space/technology with which Chapel users can share large files with other Chapel users?
By "large" in this case I mean at least a few hundred megabytes, and quite possibly over a gigabyte. Even after compressing them, VM images with a complete OS and a compiler and its dependencies can be quite large.
I understand that if the sharing platform in question were to be e.g. a company FTP server, then the uploaded file/files would probably need to be in "quarantine" until a moderator could review it/them for possible promotion to public status.
Thanks for your interest in making Chapel more accessible to prospective users.
I'm not aware of an existing place we have that would be appropriate for hosting these files. We distribute our source releases through GitHub which tends to have file size limitations for open-source projects like ours. Our binary releases are distributed through DockerHub, Homebrew, and HPE's user portal respectively, none of which seem like a good fit for this. I'm not familiar with VirtualBox, but I take it it doesn't have a community VirtualBoxHub type of site that would be appropriate for such hosting?
I don't know what it takes to get something listed there but maybe Discover Vagrant Boxes - Vagrant Cloud would be a place you might be able to list a Vagrant VirtualBox image?
Thanks for that reply. You are welcome for my interest <etc.>.
I do not know of anything fitting the description "a community VirtualBoxHub type of site" — or at least I didn't until I saw (mppf's / Michael Ferguson's) reply!
I probably won`t be able to try out the "Vagrant Cloud" option within the next few hours, but I will endeavor to try it out this week.
Can somebody who has "Vagrant" already set up please try this out? The login instructions should show up automatically on the login screen once bootup is complete.
Minimum requirements include: 64-bit CPU virtualization, 2GB/RAM available for the VM, 2 cores available for the VM, and at least a 1024x768 screen size [usually a bit more than that, in both dimensions, for window "decoration" when not in full-screen mode].
I can't test this myself at this moment b/c "Vagrant Cloud" is not giving me a way I can see to just download the file I uploaded [after their documented alterations to make it more "Vagrant-ey"], and I don`t think I have Vagrant set up on any of my machines.
Hi @Abe - thanks for giving it a try. You should definitely figure out how to try it out yourself with Vagrant. I don't think it makes sense for me to try it until you've done so.
Unfortunately, at this time the only machine which I think is [almost-] suitable for installing Vagrant is the same one where I created this VM, so it seems like a poor choice for "target practice"... unless I: take the cover off the PC, temporarily detach the currently-installed drives, set up a temporary drive so it is effectively a whole "other" PC...
... I might do that within a few days, but I think not today. In the meantime, I am working on a more-straightforward solution which should work for the majority of users, i.e. those using recent-enough versions of VirtualBox or VMware {Desktop/Fusion} on a suitably-equipped PC/Mactel host: a simple download [from SourceForge] of the OVF-compliant export file.
Besides having already successfully done the import-my-own-export "dance" with an earlier version of the VM, I am now downloading my own upload so I can confirm it hasn't been corrupted or otherwise modified without my permission. Once that is confirmed, I will post a relevant URL or two on this discussion page.
I have downloaded my SourceForge upload and confirmed it is unaltered.
The file is in "OVF" format*, with an ".ova" filename extension. English Wikipedia article on OVF for something readable about this, for the curious. '*': echoes of "PIN number".
Minimum requirements include: 64-bit CPU virtualization, 2GB/RAM available for the VM, 2 cores available for the VM, and at least a 1024x768 screen size [usually a bit more than that, in both dimensions, for window "decoration" when not in full-screen mode].
Filename: "Debian 10 for 64-bit x86, no GUI, for Chapel, VM release v0.2 -- exported from VirtualBox 6.1.22 to OVF version 1.0 .ova"
NOTE: VirtualBox 5.x should work, given that all the requirements of the VM are satisfied; VirtualBox 4.x and older probably would not work. The ability to import OVF version 1.0 is required.
Step 1: download the ".ova" file. Note: do not extract the file, even though technically it is a "tar" file.
Step 2: from the "File" menu, select "Import Appliance...".
Step 4: (usually optional): in the next dialog box, change the name of the new (local) VM you will be creating on your host. This is optional when you don`t already have a VM of the same name on the same host.
Step 5: select "Import" when the settings (including VM name) are acceptable to you.
Step 6: boot up the VM!
Step 7: log in (instructions, e.g. username and password, will appear on-screen if all went well).
Step 8: enjoy Chapel!
Step 9: please reply on this Discourse page to let us know how it went! -- what worked, what didn`t, etc.
Known issue as of this writing: the GRUB bootloader in the VM takes a long time to load the kernel+initRD pair. Please be patient during the earliest part of the boot-up process.
