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PondraPondraPondra

Install

Pondra is one program. Install it once and you have the SQL shell and the server; with pip or npm you get the Python or JavaScript client as well. It needs no admin rights and nothing else installed: no database, no Java.

You have Run Then
Linux, macOS curl -fsSL https://github.com/alimardon123/pondra/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh pondra
Windows irm https://github.com/alimardon123/pondra/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex pondra
Python pip install pondra pondra, python -m pondra, or import pondra
Node npm install -g pondra (or npm install pondra in a project) pondra, or npx pondra with no install

Linux and macOS

Section titled “Linux and macOS”
Terminal window
curl -fsSL https://github.com/alimardon123/pondra/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

The script downloads the binary for your machine into ~/.local/bin and puts that folder on your PATH, once, in your shell’s startup file (.zshrc, .bashrc, .bash_profile on macOS, or .profile). A piped script can’t change the terminal it runs in, so open a new terminal, or run the export PATH=… line it prints.

Three environment variables change what it does: PONDRA_VERSION (a release such as 0.29.0 instead of the latest), PONDRA_INSTALL (another folder), and PONDRA_ARCHIVE (a file or URL of your own build).

Windows

Section titled “Windows”

In PowerShell:

Terminal window
irm https://github.com/alimardon123/pondra/releases/latest/download/install.ps1 | iex

This puts pondra.exe in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\pondra and adds that folder to your user Path, for this terminal and the ones you open next. $env:PONDRA_VERSION, $env:PONDRA_INSTALL and $env:PONDRA_ARCHIVE work as above.

If you prefer Linux tools on Windows, install WSL2 (wsl --install) and use the Linux line above.

Python

Section titled “Python”
Terminal window
pip install pondra

The package holds two things: the Python client (plain Python, no dependencies) and the pondra program, which pip puts next to Python. import pondra gives you the client, and pondra.local() starts a node for you.

If your terminal says pondra isn’t found, pip put it in a folder that isn’t on your PATH. This happens with user installs into a Python installed for everyone, on Windows and macOS. python -m pondra runs the same program from wherever pip put it, with the same arguments:

Terminal window
python -m pondra --version
pondra 0.29.0

To fix it for good, run python -m pondra --add-to-path once. It does what the installers do: adds the folder to your PATH, and tells you where.

pyarrow is optional

Section titled “pyarrow is optional”

pandas, Polars and Arrow results need pyarrow. Add it when you want them:

Terminal window
pip install "pondra[arrow]"      # the same as: pip install pondra pyarrow

Without pyarrow the client still runs SQL and returns rows as Python dicts:

  • Works: sql(...).rows(), .item(), .show(), and a procedure’s answer. Rows come as JSON, so dates and times are text.
  • Needs pyarrow: .collect(), .to_arrow(), .to_pandas(), .to_polars(). They raise an ImportError that says so.
  • Python functions and procedures run on pyarrow too, so a node that runs them needs it. A node started with --python auto that finds no Python with the pondra package and pyarrow says so: no Python with the pondra package and pyarrow was found (pip install pondra pyarrow; or --python <python>).

Node

Section titled “Node”
Terminal window
npm install -g pondra        # the pondra command
npm install pondra           # or the JavaScript client, in a project
npx pondra                   # or run it once, with no install

The package holds the JavaScript client (Node 18 or newer, no dependencies). The program itself comes from a platform package (pondra-linux-x64, pondra-linux-arm64, pondra-macos-x64, pondra-macos-arm64, pondra-windows-x64); npm installs only the one that fits your machine.

The plain binary

Section titled “The plain binary”

Every release has the program alone for each platform, as pondra-<platform>.tar.gz (Linux, macOS) or .zip (Windows), with <platform> one of linux-x64, linux-arm64, macos-x64, macos-arm64, windows-x64. Unpack it and put pondra anywhere. To build it yourself, install Rust and run cargo build --release.

Check that it runs

Section titled “Check that it runs”
Terminal window
pondra --version
pondra 0.29.0

Then open a SQL shell with pondra (see The shell), or write your first table in Your first lake. Every node also serves a web page for SQL and Python at its address: start one with pondra serve lake and open http://localhost:8080 for the console.

Which systems

Section titled “Which systems”
  • Linux: any distribution with glibc 2.17 or newer, which is anything from 2014 on. Tested on CentOS 7 and Ubuntu 22.04, the base of most cloud notebooks. x86-64 and ARM.
  • macOS: Intel and Apple silicon.
  • Windows: the installer, pip and npm packages, or WSL2.