Installing Llama cpp python on Debian with no git installed throws an error

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
65/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
cmake, git, python
Domain
build-system

Research direction

The error occurs during CMake configuration in vendor/llama.cpp/ggml/CMakeLists.txt at line 277, where find_program looks for git. Examine the CMakeLists.txt to understand why git is required in version 0.3.7+. Check if the dependency is mandatory or can be made optional. The fix likely involves modifying the CMake logic to handle systems without git, possibly by providing a fallback or skipping a git-dependent step. Test the build on a Debian system without git installed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Prior to version 0.3.7 I had no issues installing llama cpp python on my embedded single board computer which is running debian. Git is not installed on the image I'm using. When I run pip install llama-cpp-python==0.3.6 --break-system-packages everything works fine, but when I try to install the latest version I get the following error.

  -- Adding CPU backend variant ggml-cpu: -mcpu=cortex-a76.cortex-a55+crypto+dotprod+noi8mm+nosve
  CMake Error at vendor/llama.cpp/ggml/CMakeLists.txt:277 (find_program):
    Could not find GIT_EXE using the following names: git, git.exe
  
  
  -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
  
  *** CMake configuration failed

After installing git the issue is fixed. It's an easy fix so it's not a big deal, but I would rather not install unnecessary dependencies on my lightweight image, and am also wondering why this changed.

Dominant language
Python
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