Setting Up a Development Environment

Before you start developing your UDx, you need to configure your development environment. You can choose to develop your UDx on a node in a development Vertica database (not in a production environment) or on another machine.

To test, you need access to a (non-production) Vertica database. You can install a single-node Vertica database on your development machine for easier development.

You should develop your UDx code on the same Linux platform that you use on your Vertica database cluster. This will ensure that your UDx library is compatible with the Vertica version deployed on your cluster.

The following sections describe language-specific requirements.

C++ Requirements

At a minimum, you need to install the following on your development machine:

• g++ and its associated tool chain such as ld. (Note: some Linux distributions package g++ separately from gcc.)
• A copy of the Vertica SDK. See Setting Up the C++ SDK for details.

You must compile with the flag -std=c++11. The Vertica SDK uses features of C++ 11.

While not required, the following additional software packages can ease development:

• make, or some other build-management tool.
• gdb, or some other debugger.
• Valgrind, or similar tools that detect memory leaks.

If you want to use any third-party libraries (for example, statistical analysis libraries), you need to install them on your development machine. If you do not statically link these libraries into your UDx library, you also have to install them on every node in the cluster. See Compiling Your C++ Library for details.

CentOS-Based Operating Systems

Installations on the following CentOS-based operating systems require the devtoolset-7 package:

• CentOS
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Oracle Enterprise Linux

Consult the documentation for your operating system for the specific installation command.

Debian-Based Operating Systems

Installations on the following Debian-based operating systems require the GCC-7 package:

• Debian
• Ubuntu
• SUSE
• OpenSUSE
• Amazon Linux (The GCC package is pre-installed on Amazon Linux)

Consult the documentation for your operating system for the specific installation command.

Java Requirements

At a minimum, you need to install the following on your development machine:

• The Java Development Kit (JDK) version that matches the Java version you have installed on your database hosts (see Installing Java on Vertica Hosts).
• A copy of the Vertica SDK. See Setting Up the Java SDK for details.

While not required, make or some other build-management tool can ease development.

Python Requirements

Vertica does not require any additional files or packages. You can develop your Python UDx on any system with a text editor.

When Vertica calls your UDx, it starts a side process that manages the interaction between the server and the Python interpreter.

R Requirements

Vertica requires a version of the libgfortran4 library later than 7.1 to create R extensions. Libgfortran is included by default with the required devtool and GCC packages.