Build Tensorflow from source on Linux Mint

Install Bazel (a )

Install JDK 8
Install JDK 8 by using:
1
apt install openjdk-8-jdk

Add Bazel distribution URI as a package source (one time setup)

1 2	echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://storage.googleapis.com/bazel-apt stable jdk1.8" \| tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bazel.list curl https://bazel.build/bazel-release.pub.gpg \| sudo apt-key add -

If you want to install the testing version of Bazel, replace stable with testing.

Install and update Bazel
1
2
apt update
apt install bazel

Install CUDA and cuDNN (Details ignored, refer to )
Clone the TensorFlow repository
1
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow
--recurse-submodules is used to clone the dependency library protobuf.

Install other dependency

1	apt-get install python3-numpy swig python3-dev libgrpc-dev

Configuration

You have bazel 0.10.1 installed.
Please specify the location of python. [Default is /usr/bin/python]: /usr/local/anaconda3/bin/python


Found possible Python library paths:
  /usr/local/anaconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages
Please input the desired Python library path to use.  Default is [/usr/local/anaconda3/lib/python3.6/site-packages]

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with jemalloc as malloc support? [Y/n]: y
jemalloc as malloc support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with Google Cloud Platform support? [Y/n]: y
Google Cloud Platform support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with Hadoop File System support? [Y/n]: n
No Hadoop File System support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with Amazon S3 File System support? [Y/n]: n
No Amazon S3 File System support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with Apache Kafka Platform support? [y/N]: n
No Apache Kafka Platform support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with XLA JIT support? [y/N]: y
XLA JIT support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with GDR support? [y/N]: n
No GDR support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with VERBS support? [y/N]: n
No VERBS support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with OpenCL SYCL support? [y/N]: n
No OpenCL SYCL support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Do you wish to build TensorFlow with CUDA support? [y/N]: y
CUDA support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Please specify the CUDA SDK version you want to use, e.g. 7.0. [Leave empty to default to CUDA 9.0]: 9.1


Please specify the location where CUDA 9.1 toolkit is installed. Refer to README.md for more details. [Default is /usr/local/cuda]:


Please specify the cuDNN version you want to use. [Leave empty to default to cuDNN 7.0]: 7.0.5


Please specify the location where cuDNN 7 library is installed. Refer to README.md for more details. [Default is /usr/local/cuda]: /usr


Do you wish to build TensorFlow with TensorRT support? [y/N]: n
No TensorRT support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Please specify a list of comma-separated Cuda compute capabilities you want to build with.
You can find the compute capability of your device at: https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus.
Please note that each additional compute capability significantly increases your build time and binary size. [Default is: 3.5,5.2]6.1


Do you want to use clang as CUDA compiler? [y/N]: n
nvcc will be used as CUDA compiler.

Please specify which gcc should be used by nvcc as the host compiler. [Default is /usr/bin/gcc]:


Do you wish to build TensorFlow with MPI support? [y/N]: y
MPI support will be enabled for TensorFlow.

Please specify the MPI toolkit folder. [Default is ]: /usr


Please specify optimization flags to use during compilation when bazel option "--config=opt" is specified [Default is -march=native]:


Would you like to interactively configure ./WORKSPACE for Android builds? [y/N]: n
Not configuring the WORKSPACE for Android builds.

Preconfigured Bazel build configs. You can use any of the below by adding "--config=<>" to your build command. See tools/bazel.rc for more details.
    --config=mkl         	# Build with MKL support.
    --config=monolithic  	# Config for mostly static monolithic build.
Configuration finished

Build

1	bazel build -c opt --config=cuda //tensorflow/cc:tutorials_example_trainer

Test run

1	bazel-bin/tensorflow/cc/tutorials_example_trainer --use_gpu

Build pip package

Create an env under Anaconda specified for tensorflow (assuming that Anaconda is installed)
1
/usr/local/anaconda3/bin/conda create -n tensorflow pip python=3.6.4 anaconda

Activate the env

1	source /usr/local/anaconda3/bin/activate tensorflow

Build under the env

# To resolve the error caused by location of mpi header files in system is not consistent with tensorflow
rm -rf third_party/mpi/mpi*.h
ln -s /usr/include/mpich/mpi.h third_party/mpi/mpi.h
ln -s /usr/include/mpich/mpicxx.h third_party/mpi/mpicxx.h
ln -s /usr/include/mpich/mpio.h third_party/mpi/mpio.h

# build
bazel build --config=opt --config=cuda //tensorflow/tools/pip_package:build_pip_package

# generate wheel in /tmp/tensorflow_pkg
bazel-bin/tensorflow/tools/pip_package/build_pip_package /tmp/tensorflow_pkg

Install under Anaconda env

1	pip install /tmp/tensorflow_pkg/tensorflow-1.6.0rc1-cp36-cp36m-linux_x86_64.whl

Test installation

# enter tensorflow env
source /usr/local/anaconda3/bin/activate tensorflow

# enter python
python

In python interactive

Python 3.6.4 |Anaconda, Inc.| (default, Jan 16 2018, 18:10:19)
[GCC 7.2.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import tensorflow as tf
>>> tf.__version__
'1.6.0-rc1'
>>>

¶Reference

Bazel installation guide: https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/install-ubuntu.html
Tensorflow: https://tensorflow.google.cn/install/install_sources