Error in installing KIM model

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 6:49pm

Hello,

following OpenKIM · Obtaining KIM Models · Interatomic Potentials and Force Fields I wanted to install model, but it failed:

(kim-env) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/buildup_on_servers/wsl2/wsl2_win10_MiroPhenomII-X6/.kim-api-collections-management install user SW_StillingerWeber_1985_Si__MO_405512056662_005
Downloading.............. SW_StillingerWeber_1985_Si__MO_405512056662_005
/home/miroi/miniconda3/envs/kim-env/bin/kim-api-collections-management: line 487:  7662 Illegal instruction     (core dumped) ${cmake_command} ../ -DKIM_API_INSTALL_COLLECTION="`printf ${install_collection} | tr "[:lower:]" "[:upper:]"`" > ./cmake-log.txt 2>&1
CMake Warning at /home/miroi/miniconda3/envs/kim-env/share/cmake/kim-api/kim-api-pre-2.2-compatibility.cmake:48 (message):


  Pre 2.2.0 KIM-API package behavior is deprecated and will be removed in
  3.0.0.  Please update your CMakeLists.txt file to use a find_package()
  signature similar to one of the following:

     find_package(KIM-API 2.2 REQUIRED CONFIG)
     find_package(KIM-API-ITEMS 2.2 REQUIRED CONFIG)

  See the examples in the KIM API source package for more details.

Call Stack (most recent call first):
  /home/miroi/miniconda3/envs/kim-env/share/cmake/kim-api/kim-api-config.cmake:49 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:36 (find_package)



Aborting!

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 7:08pm

Well, switching to direct installation instead of conda…

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 7:22pm

Hi Miroslav,

Let me know if building from source works from you, otherwise we can try to debug your Conda installation. I’ve never seen that bug before, so I’d be curious to see what’s causing it.

The first thing that jumps out at me is that you are invoking kim-api-collections-management at a path not inside your conda environment. Is ~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/buildup_on_servers/wsl2/wsl2_win10_MiroPhenomII-X6/.kim-api-collections-management a symlink to /home/miroi/miniconda3/envs/kim-env/bin/kim-api-collections-management?

EDIT: I think the terminal output may just look strange to me, are you just invoking kim-api-collections-management normally, e.g. without any prefix path or anything?

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 7:35pm

Hi Miroslav,

Another thing, probably unrelated, but may incidentally solve your problem and/or help in debugging – SW_StillingerWeber_1985_Si__MO_405512056662_005 is an outdated version. You can try installing SW_StillingerWeber_1985_Si__MO_405512056662_006 and see if that makes a difference (I doubt it, but worth a try).

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 7:37pm

And one final comment is that we generally recommend using the system collection when using Conda. Normally the system collection is inaccessible without sudo, but with a Conda installation, the system collection is inside the Conda environment, so it makes sense to use system instead of user, that way everything is contained inside the environment.

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 7:41pm

Thanks for your hints, I switched to build from the source, and all is well. See open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/buildup_on_servers/wsl2/wsl2_win10_MiroPhenomII-X6 at master · miroi/open-collection · GitHub

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 8:05pm

Well, another problem, with from the source installed KIM. I installed kimpy using pip, but got error:

(venv) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/kimpy_example/.python kimpy_example.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/miroi/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/kimpy_example/kimpy_example.py", line 37, in <module>
    units_accepted, kim_model = kimpy.model.create(
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: Unable to create a new KIM-API Model object!
(venv) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/kimpy_example/.

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 8:14pm

Fixed, after installing the potential file:

(venv) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/kimpy_example/.kim-api-collections-management install user    EAM_Dynamo_ErcolessiAdams_1994
_Al__MO_123629422045_005
Downloading.............. EAM_Dynamo_ErcolessiAdams_1994_Al__MO_123629422045_005
This item needs its driver 'EAM_Dynamo__MD_120291908751_005', but it is not currently installed.
Trying to find it at openkim.org.
Downloading.............. EAM_Dynamo__MD_120291908751_005
[100%] Built target EAM_Dynamo__MD_120291908751_005
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: /home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/model-drivers-dir/EAM_Dynamo__MD_120291908751_005/libkim-api-model-driver.so
-- Set non-toolchain portion of runtime path of "/home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/model-drivers-dir/EAM_Dynamo__MD_120291908751_005/libkim-api-model-driver.so" to ""
[100%] Built target EAM_Dynamo_ErcolessiAdams_1994_Al__MO_123629422045_005
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: /home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/portable-models-dir/EAM_Dynamo_ErcolessiAdams_1994_Al__MO_123629422045_005/libkim-api-portable-model.so
-- Set non-toolchain portion of runtime path of "/home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/portable-models-dir/EAM_Dynamo_ErcolessiAdams_1994_Al__MO_123629422045_005/libkim-api-portable-model.so" to ""

Success!
(venv) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/kimpy_example/.python kimpy_example.py
  Distance           Energy
  1.0000000000e+00   8.3309698035e+00
  1.5000000000e+00   4.0612306870e+00
  2.0000000000e+00   1.8021700693e-02
  2.5000000000e+00  -1.9353325249e+00
  3.0000000000e+00  -1.7714986219e+00
  3.5000000000e+00  -1.1478765871e+00
  4.0000000000e+00  -4.9042072724e-01
  4.5000000000e+00  -2.0418576357e-01
  5.0000000000e+00  -1.1762679400e-01
  5.5000000000e+00  -5.0038462875e-03
  6.0000000000e+00   0.0000000000e+00

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 8:17pm

Great! You may already know this, but when you get a generic kimpy error, kim.log will often have more detailed information.

Miroslav_Ilias · January 2, 2026, 8:37pm

Well, this download is currently not working …

(venv) miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/rare_gas_tests/Og_solid/melting/.kim-api-collections-management install user LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003
Downloading.............. LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003
                Unable to download LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003 from https://openkim.org.  Check the KIM Item ID for errors.
                'wget' returned error code 8.

Aborting!

2026-01-02:21:25:57CET * 0 * information * 0x25f836f0 * KIM_LogImplementation.cpp:107 * Log object created.  Default verbosity level is 'information'.
2026-01-02:21:25:57CET * 1 * error * 0x25f836f0 * KIM_CollectionsImplementation.cpp:725 * Unable to find item.
2026-01-02:21:25:57CET * 2 * information * 0x25f836f0 * KIM_LogImplementation.cpp:119 * Log object destroyed.

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 9:00pm

Yes, looks like some issues with our website.

https://openkim.org/id/LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003

is very slow to load for me. I will inform our webmaster and let you know if there are any updates, but it’s likely we are simply being spammed by bots and it will come back up on its own. The new expansion of our testing framework to 30,000+ multi-species crystals, and the corresponding upgrade to our website, has seemingly attracted a swarm of bots.

ilia_nikiforov · January 2, 2026, 10:02pm

Should be working now

Miroslav_Ilias · January 3, 2026, 8:19pm

works,

all is fine, this thread can be considered as solved

miroi@MiroPhenomII-X6:~/work/git-projects/open-collection/theoretical_chemistry/software/openkim-ase/runs/rare_gas_tests/Og_solid/melting/.kim-api-collections-management install user LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003
Downloading.............. LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003
This item needs its driver 'LJ__MD_414112407348_003', but it is not currently installed.
Trying to find it at openkim.org.
Downloading.............. LJ__MD_414112407348_003
[100%] Built target LJ__MD_414112407348_003
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: /home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/model-drivers-dir/LJ__MD_414112407348_003/libkim-api-model-driver.so
-- Set non-toolchain portion of runtime path of "/home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/model-drivers-dir/LJ__MD_414112407348_003/libkim-api-model-driver.so" to ""
[100%] Built target LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: /home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/portable-models-dir/LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003/libkim-api-portable-model.so
-- Set non-toolchain portion of runtime path of "/home/miroi/.kim-api/2.4.1+GNU.GNU.GNU.2026-01-02-19-24-56/portable-models-dir/LJ_ElliottAkerson_2015_Universal__MO_959249795837_003/libkim-api-portable-model.so" to ""

Success!