Installation

Linux/Mac

Prerequisites

We assume you have: git, make, cmake installed on your system.

Clone acados

Clone acados and its submodules by running:

git clone https://github.com/acados/acados.git
cd acados
git submodule update --recursive --init

Build and install acados

A CMake and a Makefile based build system is available in acados. Note that only the CMake build system is tested using CI and is thus recommended. Please choose one and proceed with the corresponding paragraph.

CMake (recommended)

Install acados as follows:

mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake -DACADOS_WITH_QPOASES=ON ..
# add more optional arguments e.g. -DACADOS_WITH_OSQP=OFF/ON -DACADOS_INSTALL_DIR=<path_to_acados_installation_folder> above
make install -j4

NOTE: you can set the BLASFEO_TARGET in <acados_root_folder>/CMakeLists.txt. For a list of supported targets, we refer to https://github.com/giaf/blasfeo/blob/master/README.md . The default is X64_AUTOMATIC, which attempts to determine the best available target for your machine.

Make (not recommended)

NOTE: This build system is not actively tested and might be removed in the future! It is strongly recommended to use the CMake build system.

Set the BLASFEO_TARGET in <acados_root_folder>/Makefile.rule. Since some of the C examples use qpOASES, also set ACADOS_WITH_QPOASES = 1 in <acados_root_folder>/Makefile.rule. For a list of supported targets, we refer to https://github.com/giaf/blasfeo/blob/master/README.md . Install acados as follows:

make shared_library
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:<path_to_acados_folder>/lib
make examples_c
make run_examples_c

NOTE: On MacOS DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH should be used instead of LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

Interfaces installation

For the installation of Python/MATLAB/Octave interfaces, please refer to the Interfaces page.

Windows 10+ (WSL)

Prerequisites

• Install Ubuntu on WSL using the Microsoft Store.

• Start Ubuntu, the shell should pop up.

• Update apt

apt-get update

• Install cmake, build-essentials, pip, virtualenv

apt-get install cmake build-essential python3-pip python3-virtualenv

Clone, Build and Install acados

• Navigate to the directory where you would like to install acados. For example

cd /mnt/c/Users/Documents/

• Follow the Linux/Mac workflow above and install acados using cmake.

Interfaces installation

For the installation of Python/MATLAB/Octave interfaces, please refer to the Interfaces page.

Windows (for use with Matlab)

Disclaimer: The high-level interfaces on Windows are not tested on Github Actions.

Prerequisites

You should have the following software installed on your machine.

• Recent Matlab version

• CMake for Windows

• Windows Git Client

Clone acados

Clone acados and its submodules by running the following from your Git shell:

git clone https://github.com/acados/acados.git
cd acados
git submodule update --recursive --init

Prepare acados build (minGW)

• Install mingw from MATLAB add-ons manager.

• Add the following paths to your environment variable PATH, using the Windows GUI. To open the GUI press Windows key and type “env”.

1. The path to the cmake.exe file. The default location is C:\Program Files\CMake\bin.

2. The path to the MATLAB installation of mingw32-make.exe file. The default location is C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2018a\3P.instrset\mingw_w64.instrset\bin.

• You can check whether the modification to PATH variable is in effect by executing in cmd echo %PATH% or in PowerShell echo $env:path.

Automatic build of acados (minGW)

Run the following in Matlab in the folder <acados_root_folder>/interfaces/acados_matlab_octave:

acados_install_windows()

This will build acados with the standard options and install the external dependencies; casadi and terra renderer

The acados_install_windows(CMakeConfigString) script can take an optional argument:

• CMake configuration string: Configuration options for CMake. The default is -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DACADOS_WITH_OSQP=OFF

Build acados manually (minGW)

If the automated install procedure does not work acados can be built manually using these steps.

Run the following from a powershell in the <acados_root_folder>:

$ACADOS_INSTALL_DIR=$(pwd)
mkdir -p build
cd build

Configure the cmake command if you want to use other external QP solvers or change the HPIPM and BLASFEO targets.

cmake.exe -G "MinGW Makefiles" -DACADOS_INSTALL_DIR="$ACADOS_INSTALL_DIR" -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF -DACADOS_WITH_OSQP=ON ..
# useful options to add above:
# -DACADOS_WITH_QPOASES=ON/OFF -DACADOS_WITH_OSQP=ON/OFF -DACADOS_WITH_QPDUNES=ON/OFF ..
# -DBLASFEO_TARGET=GENERIC -DHPIPM_TARGET=GENERIC
# NOTE: check the output of cmake: -- Installation directory: should be <acados_root_folder>,
#     if this is not the case, set -DACADOS_INSTALL_DIR=<acados_root_folder> explicitly above.

In a powershell, navigate to the folder <acados_root_folder>/build and execute

mingw32-make.exe -j4
mingw32-make.exe install

Try a Matlab example

• Open Matlab

• select MinGW compiler using mex

• go to <acados_root_folder>/examples/acados_matlab_octave

• run acados_env_variables_windows

• go to the getting_started subfolder

• run minimal_example_ocp

Workflow with Microsoft Visual C Compiler (MSVC)

Note: this workflow is preliminary and not thoroughly tested. (Tested once with MSVC 2017 and MSVC 2019 on May 2021)

• clone acados (see above)

• use the Developer Command Prompt for VS, navigate to <acados_root_folder>/build and run

cmake -G "Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64" -DBLASFEO_TARGET=GENERIC -DACADOS_INSTALL_DIR=.. -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF ..
# respectively for MVSC 2019
# cmake -G "Visual Studio 16 2019" -DBLASFEO_TARGET=GENERIC -DACADOS_INSTALL_DIR=.. -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF ..
cmake --build . -j10 --target INSTALL --config Release

• In Matlab, run mex -setup C and select the same MSVC version.

• Try a Matlab example (see above).