Installing Sheerpower on Linux Step-by-Step

Sheerpower runs on 64-bit Linux: Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint and the other systems built on them, and the Linux that comes with a Chromebook. The install takes less than five minutes after downloading the installer, linux.deb.

What you need

A computer with a 64-bit Intel or AMD processor.
Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Debian 12 or newer, Linux Mint 21 or newer, or a Chromebook with Linux turned on (the Chromebook steps below show how).
About 60 MB of disk space.

Not yet supported: computers with an ARM processor -- a Raspberry Pi, a Chromebook with a MediaTek or Snapdragon processor -- and Red Hat, Fedora, Rocky, AlmaLinux and openSUSE, which do not install .deb files. To check a computer, open a terminal and type this; the answer must be amd64:

dpkg --print-architecture

On a Chromebook

1. Turn on Linux: open Settings, search for Linux, and choose Set up (or Turn on) next to Linux development environment. Follow the prompts; when it is ready, a Terminal window opens.

2. Open the Files app and find linux.deb in Downloads.

3. Right-click it (or tap it with two fingers), choose Install with Linux, then Install. A notification says when the install has finished.

On Ubuntu, Debian or Linux Mint

1. Open a terminal (on Ubuntu and Linux Mint, press Ctrl+Alt+T).

2. Go to the folder the installer was downloaded to, and install it:

cd ~/Downloads
sudo apt install ./linux.deb

Type your password when it is asked for. If a few standard system pieces Sheerpower uses are missing, the same command installs them too. On many desktops, double-clicking linux.deb offers to install it as well.

Check that it works

In a terminal, type sp4gl. The Sheerpower console starts: a banner with the version, then the >>> prompt (the first time, it also lists the five skill levels -- type skill and a number from 1 to 5 to choose yours). Try a line, then leave with exit:

>>> print 6 * 7
 42
>>> exit

The next page, Introduction to the REPL, shows what the console can do.

An editor for your programs

At the console, edit opens the program you are writing in VS Code when it is installed — get its .deb from code.visualstudio.com and install it the same way as linux.deb. Without it, the program opens in the terminal, in nano or vi. The Introduction to the REPL page has the details.

The sample applications

The installer puts the sample programs in /opt/sheerpower/samples. Programs write their results next to themselves, so make your own copy first -- sheerpower-samples copies them to sheerpower_samples in your home folder -- and run one there:

sheerpower-samples
cd ~/sheerpower_samples
sp4gl fizzbuzz.spsrc
cat fizzbuzz_result.txt

fizzbuzz_result.txt starts 1, 2, Fizz, 4, Buzz. The readme.md in that folder says what each sample does.

Updating and removing

To update, download the new linux.deb and install it the same way: it replaces the old version, and your own programs and your copy of the samples are not touched.
To remove Sheerpower, type this in a terminal (on a Chromebook, in its Terminal app):

sudo apt remove sheerpower

Your copy of the samples stays in your home folder.

Where things are

/opt/sheerpower -- sp4gl, the ARS table utilities in ars, the SPINS web server in sphandlers, SPTOOLS, and the samples
On every user's path: sp4gl, the ARS utilities (fdl2ars, arschk and the others), spins_webserver and sheerpower-samples
A Sheerpower 4GL entry in the applications menu, on desktops that have one

If something goes wrong

Show me: apt says "Depends: libc6 (>= 2.35)", or that the package is for the wrong architecture

The system is older than Sheerpower needs, or its processor is not a 64-bit Intel or AMD one. Sheerpower needs Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Debian 12 or newer, or Linux Mint 21 or newer, on a computer where dpkg --print-architecture answers amd64.

Show me: a Chromebook does not offer "Install with Linux"

Linux is not turned on yet: do step 1 of the Chromebook steps, then try again. If the Linux development environment setting is not there at all, the Chromebook may be managed by a school or company that turned it off -- ask its administrator.

Show me: a sample program cannot write its file

The samples in /opt/sheerpower/samples can be read but not changed. Run them from your own copy: type sheerpower-samples, then cd ~/sheerpower_samples.