[[!meta title="How to install cdist"]]
[[!toc levels=3]]

## Requirements

### Source Host

This is the machine you use to configure the target hosts.

 * /bin/sh: A posix like shell (for instance bash, dash, zsh)
 * Python >= 3.2
 * SSH client
 * Asciidoc and xsltproc (for building the manpages)

### Target Hosts

 * /bin/sh: A posix like shell (for instance bash, dash, zsh)
 * SSH server

## Requirement Installation: Python >= 3.2

Ensure you have at least Python 3.2 or newer installed on 
the **source host**.
You can check this by running **python -V**:

    % python -V
    Python 3.3.0

### Archlinux

Archlinux includes a recent python in the extra repository. 
You can install it using

    pacman -S python

### CentOS

See the "From source" section

### Debian

For Debian **wheezy** or newer:

    aptitude install python3

On **squeeze** you can add following line in **/etc/apt/sources.list**

    deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian wheezy main

And add pinning entry in **/etc/apt/preferences.d/wheezy**:

    Package: *
    Pin: release n=wheezy
    Pin-Priority: 1

Please be aware that both **openssh-server** and **openssh-client** might be
removed on **python3.2** installation. You surely want to reinstall them:

    apt-get install -t wheezy openssh-server openssh-client

For older Debian versions, installing python 3.2 from source is required.

If you want to build the cdist manpages:

    aptitude install --without-recommends asciidoc xsltproc

### Fedora

Fedora 15 and newer includes a recent python.
You can install it using

    yum install python3

### FreeBSD

For the port:

    cd /usr/ports/lang/python32/ && make install clean

For the package:

    pkg_add -r python32

You can also use any newer version, but at least python 3.2 is required.

### Gentoo

Gentoo only provides python 3.2 in testing packages (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=3&chap=3).
If you want to ensure nothing breaks you must set back the python version to what was default before.

    emerge -av =python-3.2.2 --autounmask-write
    emerge -av =python-3.2.2
    eselect python list
    eselect python list set python3.2

### Max OS X

You can choose between Homebrew and Macports, either way works:

[Homebrew](http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/) variant:

    brew install python3

[Macports](http://www.macports.org/install.php) variant:

    port install python32
    ln -s /opt/local/bin/python3.2 /opt/local/bin/python3

### Redhat

See the "From source" section

### From Source

For those operating systems not yet supporting Python 3.2:

    pyversion=3.2.3
    wget http://www.python.org/ftp/python/$pyversion/Python-${pyversion}.tar.bz2
    tar xvfj Python-${pyversion}.tar.bz2
    cd Python-${pyversion}
    ./configure
    make
    sudo make install

This installs python 3.2 to /usr/local/bin. 
Ensure this directory is in your PATH environment variable.

## Install cdist

You can install cdist either from git or as a python package.

### From git

Cloning cdist from git gives you the advantage of having
a version control in place for development of your own stuff
immediately.

To install cdist, execute the following commands:

    git clone git://git.schottelius.org/cdist
    cd cdist
    export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd -P)/bin

If you want to build and use the manpages, run:

    make man
    export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man

#### Available versions in git

 * The active development takes place in the **master** branch
 * The current stable version can be found in the **2.0** branch
 * The upcoming stable version can be found in the **2.1** branch

Other branches may be available for features or bugfixes, but they
may vanish at any point. To select a specific branch use

    # Generic code
    git checkout -b <localbranchname> origin/<branchname>

So for instance if you want to use and stay with version 2.0, you can use

    git checkout -b 2.0 origin/2.0

#### Git Mirrors

If the main site is down, you can acquire cdist from one of the following sites:

 * git://github.com/telmich/cdist.git ([github](https://github.com/telmich/cdist))
 * git://git.code.sf.net/p/cdist/code ([sourceforge](https://sourceforge.net/p/cdist/code))

### Python Package

Cdist is available as a python package at
[PyPi](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/cdist/). You can install it using

    pip install cdist

## Use cdist

[[Dig into the documentation|documentation]] to get started with cdist!

[[!tag cdist unix]]