Install Dependencies

AdePT requires the following software stack:

CMake >= 3.25.2
C/C++ compiler with C++20 support
CUDA toolkit (CUDA 12+ recommended)
Geant4 > 11.0
VecCore
VecGeom (with CUDA support)
G4HepEm (with CUDA support)
Optional: HepMC3

Recommended: CVMFS Environment

If CVMFS is available, this is the fastest way to get a compatible stack:

source /cvmfs/sft.cern.ch/lcg/views/devAdePT/latest/x86_64-el9-gcc13-opt/setup.sh

This requires both the /cvmfs/sft.cern.ch and /cvmfs/projects.cern.ch/ to be available. The latter is only exposed within the CERN network, which contains CUDA itself, as it cannot be published for proprietary reasons. Therefore, outside of the CERN network, it is recommended to source the environment above and then build the same CUDA version from the LCG view locally. The current LCG view uses the CUDA version given in this link. Then, one can proceed to build AdePT itself.

Manual Dependency Builds (Developer Path)

Use this when you need full control over versions and build options.

VecCore

cmake -S . -B ./veccore-build \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path_to_veccore_installation>
cmake --build ./veccore-build --target install -- -j6

VecGeom

cmake -S . -B ./vecgeom-build \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path_to_vecgeom_installation> \
  -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path_to_veccore_installation> \
  -DVECGEOM_ENABLE_CUDA=ON \
  -DVECGEOM_GDML=ON \
  -DBACKEND=Scalar \
  -DCMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES=<cuda_architecture> \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build ./vecgeom-build --target install -- -j6

Tip: you can set -DVECGEOM_NAV=<mode> to tune memory/speed trade-offs.

Use -DVECGEOM_NAV=index when geometry is sufficiently small. It uses more memory to build the geometry tree, but is faster at runtime.
Use -DVECGEOM_NAV=tuple for larger geometries or tighter memory budgets. It uses less memory, but is slightly slower.

Geant4

cmake -S . -B ./geant4-build \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path_to_geant4_installation> \
  -DGEANT4_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT=OFF \
  -DGEANT4_USE_GDML=ON \
  -DGEANT4_INSTALL_DATA=ON \
  -DGEANT4_USE_USOLIDS=OFF
cmake --build ./geant4-build --target install -- -j6

G4HepEm

cmake -S . -B ./g4hepem-build \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path_to_g4hepem_installation> \
  -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path_to_geant4_installation> \
  -DG4HepEm_EARLY_TRACKING_EXIT=ON \
  -DG4HepEm_CUDA_BUILD=ON
cmake --build ./g4hepem-build --target install -- -j6

Optional: HepMC3

cmake -S . -B ./hepmc3-build \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path_to_hepmc3_installation> \
  -DHEPMC3_ENABLE_ROOTIO=OFF \
  -DHEPMC3_ENABLE_PYTHON=OFF
cmake --build ./hepmc3-build --target install -- -j6