Install prerequisites

Installing the prerequisites for RDMO differs on the different operating systems and is therefore covered in different sections. Here, you need to use the superuser.

Linux

We recommend to install the prerequisites using the packaging system of your distribution. Use the following commands for Debian/Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS.

sudo apt install \
   build-essential \
   libxml2-dev \
   libxslt-dev \
   python3-dev \
   python3-pip \
   python3-venv \
   zlib1g-dev \
   git \
   pandoc

# optional, for pdf output
sudo apt install \
   texlive \
   texlive-xetex \
   lmodern \
   librsvg2-bin

# from Debian 13 on
sudo apt install \
   texlive-luatex

On RHEL/CentOS SELinux is enabled by default. This can result in unexpected errors, depending on where you store the RDMO source code on the system. Some guidance on how to configure SELinux is given at here.

If the Python version on your system is no longer supported by RDMO, we strongly recommend that you upgrade your Linux distribution, as it is likely to be out of date. If you decide otherwise, it is relatively easy to install a different Python version using uv. Instructions can be found here.

macOS

We recommend to install the prerequisites using brew:

brew install python3
brew install git
brew install pandoc

# optional, for pdf export
brew install basictex

Windows

On Windows, we strongly recommend to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to run RDMO. Once WSL is activated you can install Debian or Ubuntu using the Windows App Store and use the corresponding commands given throughout this documentation.

Otherwise, and if you the adventurous type, the software prerequisites can be downloaded and installed from their particular web sites.

VS Code (we recommend this as editor and also to use the included terminal):

  • download and install from https://code.visualstudio.com/

Python 3.12:

NVM for Windows (only needed with the development setup):

  • download and install from https://github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows

  • NVM for Windows is not able to parse the .nvmrc file, therefore nvm install 22.16 (initially) and nvm use 22.16 (in every new session) need to be called manually.

Git:

  • download and install from https://gitforwindows.org

  • use the default options during installation, except:

    • use VS Code as default editor

    • use Override default branch name for new repositories and set it to “main”

    • use Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software

    • use Only ever fast-forward

For Pandoc:

For pdflatex (optional, for pdf export):

All further steps can then be performed in the Git-Bash shell either stand-alone or integrated into VS code, the windows shell cmd.exe, or the PowerShell. Since the commands differ slightly for the different options, please check the corresponding code examples labeled bash or powershell.