Installation#

Sysand is a single command-line program called sysand. The recommended way to install it is with the installation script, which downloads the right build for your computer and makes the sysand command available in your terminal. Sysand runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux (see supported platforms), and needs an internet connection for installation, updates, and normal package index usage.

If the script does not fit your situation, the alternative installation methods further down cover installing from PyPI, downloading a release manually, and building from source.

Installation script#

The script downloads the official release archive for your platform, installs the sysand executable into a per-user directory, and makes sure that directory is on PATH. It never asks for administrator rights. Running the script again replaces the existing installation, so this is also how you upgrade.

Run the script in PowerShell:

PS> irm https://sysand.com/install.ps1 | iex

It installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Sensmetry\Sysand\bin and adds that directory to your user Path setting if needed.

If you prefer to read the script before running it — always a reasonable instinct — download and inspect it first:

PS> irm https://sysand.com/install.ps1 -OutFile install.ps1
PS> notepad install.ps1
PS> Get-Content -Raw .\install.ps1 | iex

By default the script installs the latest stable release. To install a specific version, including prereleases, set the SYSAND_VERSION environment variable. A leading v is optional, and the version must be 0.1.2 or later:

PS> $env:SYSAND_VERSION = "0.1.2"
PS> irm https://sysand.com/install.ps1 | iex

To uninstall, delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Sensmetry\Sysand and remove the install directory from your user Path setting.

Run the script in a terminal:

$ curl -fsSL https://sysand.com/install.sh | sh

It installs into $HOME/.local/bin and adds that directory to PATH in your shell profile if needed.

If you prefer to read the script before running it — always a reasonable instinct — download and inspect it first:

$ curl -fsSLO https://sysand.com/install.sh
$ less install.sh
$ sh install.sh

By default the script installs the latest stable release. To install a specific version, including prereleases, set the SYSAND_VERSION environment variable. A leading v is optional, and the version must be 0.1.2 or later:

$ curl -fsSL https://sysand.com/install.sh | SYSAND_VERSION=0.1.2 sh

To uninstall, delete $HOME/.local/bin/sysand and remove the PATH line the installer added to your shell profile.

Run the script in a terminal:

$ curl -fsSL https://sysand.com/install.sh | sh

It installs into $HOME/.local/bin and adds that directory to PATH in your shell profile if needed.

If you prefer to read the script before running it — always a reasonable instinct — download and inspect it first:

$ curl -fsSLO https://sysand.com/install.sh
$ less install.sh
$ sh install.sh

By default the script installs the latest stable release. To install a specific version, including prereleases, set the SYSAND_VERSION environment variable. A leading v is optional, and the version must be 0.1.2 or later:

$ curl -fsSL https://sysand.com/install.sh | SYSAND_VERSION=0.1.2 sh

To uninstall, delete $HOME/.local/bin/sysand and remove the PATH line the installer added to your shell profile.

Verify the installation#

Open a freshly started terminal and run:

$ sysand --version

You should see output similar to sysand X.Y.Z. If the terminal reports that the command was not found, the most common cause is that the terminal was started before the installation finished: PATH changes only apply to newly started terminals, so close it and open a new one. If you installed from PyPI, instead make sure the virtual environment is active in the terminal you are using.

That’s it — Sysand is installed and ready. Continue with First steps.

Alternative installation methods#

Whichever method you pick, finish by verifying the installation.

Install from PyPI#

This method requires Python 3.10 (64-bit) or newer. Sysand is published to PyPI and includes both the CLI and the Sysand Python library, so this is the natural choice if you want to use Sysand from Python code.

We recommend installing Sysand into an isolated Python virtual environment:

  1. Open a terminal and create a Python virtual environment:

python -m venv .venv

  1. Activate the created virtual environment.

Using Command Prompt:

.\.venv\Scripts\activate

Using PowerShell:

.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

PowerShell may block activation with a “scripts disabled” error. To allow script execution for the current PowerShell process, run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force

Verify that the virtual environment is active:

where.exe python

The printed path should end with .venv\Scripts\python.exe.

source .venv/bin/activate

Verify that the virtual environment is active:

which python

The printed path should end with .venv/bin/python.

source .venv/bin/activate

Verify that the virtual environment is active:

which python

The printed path should end with .venv/bin/python.

  1. Install Sysand from PyPI:

pip install sysand

You should see output similar to: Successfully installed sysand-X.Y.Z.

The sysand command is available while the virtual environment is active. Before running it, or Python scripts that use the Sysand library, ensure that the virtual environment is active.

Manual download#

Latest official Sysand CLI release can be downloaded below or from latest GitHub release.

The downloaded .zip archive contains sysand.exe. It can either be installed manually or by running a few PowerShell commands.

Manual installation

  1. Right-click the downloaded .zip file and choose “Extract All…”

  2. Move the extracted sysand.exe to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Sysand\sysand.exe

  3. Add to PATH via Environment Variables:

    1. Open “Environment Variables” (search in Start menu)

    2. Under “User variables”, select “Path” and click “Edit”

    3. Click “New” and add %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Sysand

    4. Click “Ok” to save

PowerShell installation

  1. Open PowerShell

  2. Run these commands:

# For x64 systems

# Create directory and extract the archive into it
mkdir "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Sysand" -Force
Expand-Archive -Path sysand-windows-x86_64.zip `
  -DestinationPath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Sysand" -Force

# For arm64 systems

# Create directory and extract the archive into it
mkdir "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Sysand" -Force
Expand-Archive -Path sysand-windows-arm64.zip `
  -DestinationPath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Sysand" -Force

  1. Add folder to PATH:

# Add to PATH
$currentPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
$newPath = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Sysand"
if ($currentPath -notlike "*$newPath*") {
   [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$currentPath;$newPath", "User")
}

  1. Restart your terminal for PATH changes to take effect.

Latest official Sysand CLI release can be downloaded below or from latest GitHub release.

System installation

  1. Open Terminal

  2. Extract the archive and move the sysand binary to a folder in PATH by running the following commands:

# For Intel Macs
tar -xzf ~/Downloads/sysand-macos-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/Downloads
sudo mv ~/Downloads/sysand /usr/local/bin/sysand

# For Apple Silicon Macs
tar -xzf ~/Downloads/sysand-macos-arm64.tar.gz -C ~/Downloads
sudo mv ~/Downloads/sysand /usr/local/bin/sysand

Alternative: user installation

It is also possible to install without sudo rights, but that requires additional steps.

  1. Run in Terminal:

# Create local bin directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

# Add local bin directory to PATH in your shell profile
# (default ~/.zshrc, but could be ~/.bashrc etc.)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

  1. Move the executable as shown above for the system installation, but instead of /usr/local/bin/sysand move to ~/.local/bin/sysand.

Latest official Sysand CLI release can be downloaded below or from latest GitHub release.

System installation

  1. Open a terminal

  2. Extract the archive and move the sysand binary to a folder in PATH by running the following commands:

# For x64 systems
tar -xzf sysand-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
sudo mv sysand /usr/local/bin/sysand

# For arm64 systems
tar -xzf sysand-linux-arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv sysand /usr/local/bin/sysand

Alternative: user installation

It is also possible to install without sudo rights, but that requires additional steps.

  1. Run in a terminal:

# Create local bin directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

# Add local bin directory to PATH in your shell profile (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

  1. Move the executable as shown above for the system installation, but instead of /usr/local/bin/sysand move to ~/.local/bin/sysand.

Development version#

Latest development version of Sysand can be downloaded from the nightly GitHub release.

Keep in mind that nightly release assets are not signed and so may be prevented from running by antivirus software.

Compiling from source#

Sysand is written in Rust programming language and so can be installed using cargo. Cargo is part of Rust language tooling. If you have it, run the following command in the terminal:

cargo install sysand --git=https://github.com/sensmetry/sysand.git

Supported platforms#

  • Windows 10 or newer, on x64 and arm64

  • macOS Big Sur 11.0 or newer on Apple Silicon (arm64), and macOS 10.12 or newer on Intel (x64)

  • Linux distributions on x64 and arm64

Next steps#

Continue to First steps to run your first sysand commands, or jump straight to Creating your first project.