Installation

ClusterShell is distributed in several packages. On RedHat-like OS, we recommend using the RPM package (.rpm) distribution.

As system software for cluster, ClusterShell is primarily made for system-wide installation to be used by system administrators. However, changes have been made so that it's now possible to install it without root access (see Installing ClusterShell as user using pip).

Requirements

ClusterShell should work with any Unix [1] operating systems which provides Python 2.7 or 3.x and OpenSSH or any compatible Secure Shell clients. It is regularly tested with Python 3.7 up to Python 3.14.

Warning

While we are making our best effort to maintain Python 2 compatibility in the ClusterShell 1.10 series, we no longer run tests for Python 2. Therefore, functionality on Python 2 is not guaranteed and may break without notice. The 1.10 series is expected to be the last to support Python 2; ClusterShell 1.11 will require Python 3. For the best experience and continued support, it is strongly recommended to use Python 3.

For instance, ClusterShell is known to work on the following operating systems:

GNU/Linux
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (Python 3.6)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (Python 3.9)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (Python 3.12)
- Fedora 42 and above (Python 3.13+)
- Debian 12 "bookworm" (Python 3.11)
- Debian 13 "trixie" (Python 3.13)
- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Python 3.10)
- Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Python 3.12)
macOS (Python 3)

Distribution

ClusterShell is an open-source project distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 or later (LGPL v2.1+), which means that many possibilities are offered to the end user. Also, as a software library, ClusterShell should remain easily available to everyone. Fortunately, packages are currently available for Fedora Linux, RHEL (through EPEL repositories), Debian, Arch Linux and more.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

ClusterShell packages are maintained on Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux EPEL for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its compatible spinoffs such as Alma Linux and Rocky Linux. ClusterShell is currently available on EPEL 8, 9 and 10.

Install ClusterShell from EPEL

First you have to enable the EPEL repository. We recommend downloading and installing the EPEL repository RPM package. On Alma Linux and Rocky Linux, this can be easily done using the following command:

$ dnf install epel-release

Then, install ClusterShell's library module and tools using the following command:

$ dnf install clustershell

The tools and the Python 3 library module are installed by default with clustershell. If interested in the Python 3 library only, you can install ClusterShell's Python 3 subpackage using the following command:

$ dnf install python3-clustershell

Fedora

ClusterShell is available in all Fedora releases currently maintained by the Fedora Project.

Install ClusterShell from Fedora Updates

ClusterShell is part of Fedora, so it is really easy to install it with dnf, although you have to keep the Fedora updates default repository. The following command checks whether the packages are available on a Fedora system:

$ dnf list \*clustershell
Available Packages
clustershell.noarch                     1.9.3-6.fc43              updates
python3-clustershell.noarch             1.9.3-6.fc43              updates

Then, install ClusterShell's library module and tools using the following command:

$ dnf install clustershell

If interested in the Python 3 library only, you can install ClusterShell's Python 3 subpackage using the following command:

$ dnf install python3-clustershell

Install ClusterShell from Fedora Updates Testing

Recent releases of ClusterShell are first available through the Test Updates repository of Fedora, then it is later pushed to the stable updates repository. The following dnf command will also check for package availability in the updates-testing repository:

$ dnf list \*clustershell --enablerepo=updates-testing

To install, also add the --enablerepo=updates-testing option, for instance:

$ dnf install clustershell --enablerepo=updates-testing

openSUSE

ClusterShell is available in openSUSE Tumbleweed (Factory) and Leap since 2017.

To install ClusterShell on openSUSE, use:

$ zypper install clustershell

If interested in the Python 3 library only, you can install ClusterShell's Python 3 subpackage using the following command:

$ zypper install python3-clustershell

Debian

ClusterShell is available in Debian main repository (since 2011).

To install it on Debian, simply use:

$ apt-get install clustershell

You can get the latest version on:

https://packages.debian.org/sid/clustershell

Ubuntu

Like Debian, it is easy to get and install ClusterShell on Ubuntu (also with apt-get). To do so, please first enable the universe repository:

https://packages.ubuntu.com/clustershell

Installing ClusterShell the Python way

Warning

Installing ClusterShell as root using pip [2] is discouraged and can result in conflicting behavior with the system package manager. Use packages provided by your OS instead to install ClusterShell system-wide.

Installing ClusterShell as user using pip

To install ClusterShell as a standard Python package using pip as a user:

$ pip install --user ClusterShell

Or alternatively, using the source tarball:

$ pip install --user ClusterShell-1.x.tar.gz

Then, you might need to update your PATH to easily use the Tools, and MANPATH for the man pages (the library itself is installed in the user site-packages directory, which Python searches by default):

$ export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
$ export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$HOME/.local/share/man

Note

On macOS, pip install --user places the tools in ~/Library/Python/3.x/bin instead of ~/.local/bin; adjust PATH accordingly.

Configuration files are installed in ~/.local/etc/clustershell and are automatically loaded before system-wide ones (for more info about supported user config files, please see the clush.conf or Node groups config sections).

Isolated environment using virtualenv and pip

It is possible to use virtual env (venv) and pip to install ClusterShell in an isolated environment:

$ python3 -m venv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install ClusterShell

Note

Scripts that import the ClusterShell library must run with the Python interpreter where ClusterShell is installed: use #!/usr/bin/python3 with distribution packages or pip install --user, or your virtual environment's interpreter (e.g. #!/usr/bin/env python3 with the environment activated).

Source

Current source is available through Git, use the following command to retrieve the latest development version from the repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/clustershell/clustershell.git