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ollama_install#

Put Ollama itself on a machine, from a source that can be checked. Ollama's own one-line installer (curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh) runs whatever script the server returns at that moment, as root; this module installs the same program in a way that can be checked instead:

Platform Source
Linux, x86_64 and arm64 the official release archive of the pinned version, compared with the pinned SHA-256 before anything is unpacked
macOS Homebrew (brew install ollama; Homebrew checks its bottles), else the release archive, checked the same way
Windows (PowerShell: ps/lib/ollama_install.ps1; or Git Bash, MSYS, Cygwin: this module) winget (Ollama.Ollama; winget checks the installer against its manifest), else the release zip, checked the same way and unpacked under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Ollama. No setup program is run and nothing needs elevation
anything else nothing is downloaded; the message names the official download page

The version and the SHA-256 of each archive are pinned in lib/ci_defaults.sh (CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_VERSION, CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_LINUX_AMD64, CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_LINUX_ARM64, CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_DARWIN, CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_WINDOWS_AMD64, CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_WINDOWS_ARM64), copied from the release's sha256sum.txt. ps/lib/ci_defaults.ps1 carries the Windows ones again for PowerShell; a test fails when the two differ. Bump them together; an archive that does not match is refused and nothing is unpacked.

Not pinned: what Homebrew and winget install is their current package, checked by them, not necessarily the pinned version.

It installs the program only. Running Ollama as a service (the systemd unit the one-line installer writes, or brew services start ollama) stays with the owner of the machine.

Return codes: 0 installed, or already there at the pinned version or newer; 1 the download failed or does not match the pinned SHA-256; 3 a required tool is missing (curl, zstd for the Linux archive, unzip for the Windows zip, shasum or openssl), or the platform has no checkable source.

Usage#

From a checkout, without writing a script:

scripts/install_ollama.sh --check            # what is installed, what is pinned, what would happen
scripts/install_ollama.sh                    # install or upgrade
scripts/install_ollama.sh --prefix ~/tmp-ollama

.\ps\scripts\install_ollama.ps1 -Check
.\ps\scripts\install_ollama.ps1 -Prefix $env:TEMP\ollama-test

To confirm it on a real machine (downloads the release, works only in a throwaway directory, prints PASS/FAIL per case): bash tests/machine/ollama_install_check.sh, or on Windows pwsh -NoProfile -File ps/tests/machine/ollama_install_check.ps1. See tests/machine.

From a script:

source scripts/script-helpers/helpers.sh
shlib_import logging ollama_install

ollama_install                          # into /usr/local (sudo when not root)
ollama_install --prefix "$HOME/.local"  # no root; $HOME/.local/bin must be on PATH
ollama_install --force                  # reinstall the pinned version

PowerShell (Windows):

. scripts/script-helpers/ps/helpers.ps1
Import-ScriptHelpers ci_defaults ollama_install
ollama_install                          # winget, else the zip into $env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Ollama
ollama_install -Prefix C:\Tools\Ollama  # the zip into that directory; winget is not used

The zip install does not change PATH: add the directory, or start ollama.exe from it. The PowerShell module is tested on Linux PowerShell with the download stubbed; it has not run on a Windows machine yet.

Functions#

  • ollama_install [--prefix DIR] [--force]
  • Purpose: Install the pinned Ollama unless one at that version or newer is on PATH already. An older one is upgraded: Homebrew's own with brew upgrade (one from elsewhere gets the formula installed beside it), winget's with winget upgrade (when winget has nothing newer, the pinned zip goes where Ollama's installer puts it), and an archive install is replaced. After Homebrew or winget the version on PATH is reported, with a warning when their catalog is still behind the pin.
  • Args: --prefix DIR: where bin/ollama (and on Linux lib/ollama/) goes, or on Windows ollama.exe (default %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Ollama; a prefix skips winget); default /usr/local, unpacked through sudo when the shell is not root and the directory is not writable. --force: install even when the pinned version or a newer one is there.
  • Env: OLLAMA_RELEASE_BASE_URL (default https://github.com/ollama/ollama/releases/download), for a mirror; the archive is still checked against the pinned SHA-256. CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_* override the pins.
  • Behavior: On macOS with Homebrew, brew install ollama. Otherwise downloads v<version>/<asset>, checks its SHA-256, and unpacks it. A mismatch deletes the download and unpacks nothing. The Linux archive is bin/ollama and lib/ollama/. The macOS archive is flat (the binary, llama-server and the libraries it loads from beside itself): all of it goes to lib/ollama/, and bin/ollama is a two-line launcher that runs it from there. The archive is unpacked into a staging directory first, so a damaged one fails before anything installed is touched. An upgrade then removes the old lib/ollama/, so no library of the previous version is loaded beside the new one, and replaces bin/ollama rather than writing over it, which a running Ollama (the Linux service) would refuse; nothing else in the prefix is touched. On macOS a --prefix means the archive, not Homebrew. Root is needed when the nearest existing directory of the prefix is not writable. A relative prefix is made absolute (the macOS launcher names it, and must not depend on where it is started), and a prefix with a quote, $, a backquote, a backslash or a line break is refused (3).
  • Note: replacing an Ollama that is running does not restart it; the message says so (sudo systemctl restart ollama for the Linux service).

  • Returns: 0, 1 or 3 as above.

  • ollama_install_asset

  • Purpose: Print the release asset for this machine: ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst, ollama-linux-arm64.tar.zst, ollama-darwin.tgz, or under Git Bash, MSYS or Cygwin ollama-windows-amd64.zip / ollama-windows-arm64.zip.

  • Returns: 3 on a platform with no archive this module installs.

  • ollama_install_expected_sha256 asset

  • Purpose: Print the pinned SHA-256 of that asset, from CI_DEFAULT_OLLAMA_SHA256_*.

  • Returns: 3 for an asset with no pin.

  • ollama_install_sha256 file

  • Purpose: Print the file's SHA-256, with shasum or openssl.

  • Returns: 3 when neither is there.

  • ollama_installed_version [binary]

  • Purpose: Print the version of that ollama binary, or of the one on PATH (0.40.0). ollama --version reports a running server's version first; the binary's own is read instead (asked with OLLAMA_HOST at a port nothing listens on, and its client version line wins).
  • Returns: 1 when there is no ollama, or its version cannot be read.

Used by#

  • install_dependencies_ai_runner (lib/deps.sh) and ollama_install_cli (lib/ollama.sh).
  • The start check of a project (lib/ollama_endpoint.sh) does not install anything; see local models.