[SOLVED] NEST troubleshooting

#1

Hello everyone,
I must update the NEST simulator on the NRP to use a custom module for my experiment.
In order to do so, I downloaded NEST 2.18.0 and proceeded with the following steps:

  • Unpacked the tarball (creating the ~/NEST/nest-simulator-2.18.0 folder)
  • Went into the nest-simulator folder insider the NRP
  • Created a new build folder (replacing the original build folder) and moved into it via Terminal
  • Run the commands
    cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=$HBP/nest-simulator ~/NEST/nest-simulator-2.18.0
    make
    make install

Everything seemed to proceed smoothly, however when I run make installcheck I got an error:
symbol lookup error: /home/nrp/Documents/NRP/nest-simulator/bin/nest: undefined symbol _ZN4nest4Node15send_test_eventERS0_ljb

And if I now try to import NEST in Python I get:
python: /home/nrp/Documents/NRP/nest-simulator/sli/slistartup.cpp:266: SLIStartup::SLIStartup(int, char**): Assertion 'std::strlen( argv [ 0 ]) > 0' failed.

Since NEST now fails to startup and cannot be loaded, the NRP broke down too: I can reach and navigate the localhost site of the platform but cannot launch any simulation, as the time-out expires due to CLE errors.

Is there a way to upgrade the NEST version used by the platform?
Can I return to the original NEST module without reinstalling the NRP to continue working on my experiment’s transfer functions and state machine in the meanwhile?

[SOLVED] Custom NEST simulator
#2

Dear Frances,

Sorry for the response time, where many developers were on vacation. You can always downgrade to the officially supported Nest by uninstalling (completely) your Nest 2.18, re-cloning the official NRP-Nest repo (should be in $HBP. To be sure, delete it and run $HBP/user-scripts/clone-all-repos), and rerunning the NRP build.

Axel

#3

Hi Frances,

in NRP nest is installed by default at $HOME/.local. So after your make install you should have a duplicated NEST installation.

If you haven’t solved this yet you can:

  1. delete your $HBP/nest-simulator folder
  2. clone it back into the same location with git clone git@bitbucket.org:hbpneurorobotics/nest-simulator.git --branch=NRRPLT-6948-update-nest--to-2.18
  3. source $HBP/user-scripts/nrp_functions
  4. build_nest

This will get you an 2.18 installation. Don’t clone NEST from its github repository. NRP needs the fork in the command I posted above to work properly.

Cheers,
Eloy