Installation instructions

You can install the latest version of BiGSTARS.jl using Julia’s built-in package manager. Just press ] in the Julia REPL to enter package mode, then add the package and run instantiate to build all required dependencies.

julia> ]
(v1.11) pkg> add BiGSTARS
(v1.11) pkg> instantiate

We recommend installing BiGSTARS.jl using Julia’s built-in package manager, as this installs a stable, tagged release. Later on, you can update BiGSTARS.jl to the latest tagged version again by using the package manager:

(v1.11) pkg> update BiGSTARS

Note: Some releases may introduce breaking changes to certain modules. If something stops working or your code behaves unexpectedly after an update, feel free to open an issue. We're more than happy to help you get your model up and running again.

Julia 1.10 or newer required

BiGSTARS.jl is continuously tested on Julia v1.10 (the current long-term support), v1.11 and v1.12. For optimal stability and reproducibility, we strongly recommend using one of these tested Julia versions.

Solving requires PETSc/SLEPc

]add BiGSTARS installs and loads everywhere — the discretization / DSL pipeline is pure Julia. Solving eigenproblems, however, goes through SLEPc over PETSc (the only eigensolver), which needs:

A complex-scalar system build of PETSc and SLEPc (./configure --with-scalar-type=complex), with PETSC_DIR, PETSC_ARCH, and SLEPC_DIR exported.
The Julia packages MPI, PetscWrap, SlepcWrap, with MPI.jl bound to the same MPI used to build PETSc. Importing all three activates the solver.

Without this backend, solve raises an install hint. See Distributed (MPI) for the full environment setup, and run with mpiexec -n P julia --project=. script.jl.