Install LISA on Linux

Minimum System Requirements

  1. Your favorite Linux distribution supporting Python 3.8 or above

  2. Dual core processor

  3. 4 GB system memory

We will guide you through the installation of LISA on Linux. The following commands assume Ubuntu is being used.

Install Python on Linux

LISA has been tested to work with Python >=3.8 64-bit. Python 3.11 is recommended. If you find that LISA is not compatible with a supported version, please file an issue.

To check which version of Python is used on your system, run the following:

python3 --version

If you need to install a different Python package, there are likely packaged versions for your distro.

Here is an example to install Python 3.11 on Ubuntu 22.04

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.11 python3.11-dev -y

Install system dependencies

Run the command below to install the dependencies on Ubuntu:

sudo apt install git gcc libgirepository1.0-dev libcairo2-dev qemu-utils libvirt-dev python3-pip python3-venv -y

If you’re using a different distribution or python version, adjust the command as needed

Check PATH

When installing Python packages via pip, they will be installed as a local user unless invoked as root. Some Python packages contain entry point scripts which act as user-facing commands for the Python package. When installed as a user, these scripts are placed in $HOME/.local/bin.

To ensure you’re able to run these commands, make sure $HOME/.local/bin is at the beginning of your $PATH. The following command will highlight this section of the $PATH variable if it exists.

echo $PATH | grep --color=always "$HOME/\.local/bin"

Note

For some distributions, such as Ubuntu, $HOME/\.local/bin will be added to the $PATH at login if it exists. In this case, log out and log back in after installing LISA if your path doesn’t currently include it.

Ideally, this section is at the beginning of your $PATH. If not, you can add the following to the bottom of your ~/.profile or ~.bash_profile files.

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Clone code

git clone https://github.com/microsoft/lisa.git
cd lisa

Development Environment

For making any code changes and running testcases in LISA, you will need to setup a development environment. Instructions for setting up the development environment are present here: Creating a LISA development virtual environment.

Runtime Environment

This installation method is used to run LISA if no change in source code is desired, for example, when setting up automation with LISA in pipelines. Direct installation requires pip 22.2.2 or higher. If the version of pip provided by your installation is older than this, a newer version should be installed.

python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip

The example below will install LISA directly for the invoking user. To install system-wide, preface the command with sudo.

python3 -m pip install --editable .[azure,libvirt] --config-settings editable_mode=compat

Verify installation

Ensure LISA is installed or a virtual environment is activated.

Run LISA with the lisa command

With no argument specified, LISA will run some sample test cases with the default runbook (examples/runbook/hello_world.yml) on your local computer. In the root folder of LISA, you can run this command to verify your local LISA environment setup. This test will not modify your computer.

lisa

FAQ and Troubleshooting

If there’s any problem during the installation, please refer to FAQ and troubleshooting.