detect #

Detect a locally installed LabVIEW and its vi.lib/user.lib directories.

Synopsis #

lvkit detect [options]

Options #

Option	Description
`--json`	Output the detection result as JSON.

detect takes no arguments and no SubVI resolution flags.

Example #

lvkit detect

When nothing is found:

No local LabVIEW detected. Pass --vilib <path-to-vi.lib> explicitly to resolve <vilib> dependency refs.

When an install is found, detect prints a header line and four labeled fields:

Detected LabVIEW 2021
  install dir : /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64
  vi.lib      : /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/vi.lib
  user.lib    : /usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/user.lib
  source      : linux-glob

The header reads Detected LabVIEW (unknown version) if no version string was recorded. user.lib reads (not found) if that directory doesn't exist.

detect always exits 0, whether or not an install was found — check stdout (or --json) for status, not the exit code.

`--json` output #

--json prints one of two shapes. Nothing found:

{
  "detected": false
}

An install found:

{
  "detected": true,
  "version": "2021",
  "install_dir": "/usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64",
  "vilib_root": "/usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/vi.lib",
  "userlib_root": "/usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-2021-64/user.lib",
  "source": "linux-glob"
}

version and userlib_root are null when unknown or absent. source identifies how the install was located:

`source`	Meaning
`windows-registry:CurrentVersion`	Windows, from the registered default install (`HKLM\SOFTWARE\National Instruments\LabVIEW\CurrentVersion`).
`windows-registry:highest`	Windows, no default registered — the highest version found under the registry.
`macos-glob`	macOS, found under a fixed `/Applications/.../LabVIEW */` path.
`linux-glob`	Linux, found under `/usr/local/natinst/LabVIEW-*/`.

Notes #

Other commands use this same detection automatically to resolve <vilib>/<userlib> references when --vilib/--userlib aren't given, unless --no-auto-vilib is passed — see SubVI & vi.lib resolution.
Detection only checks the current platform's fixed locations — the Windows registry, or on macOS/Linux the glob paths listed above. It never scans the filesystem, so an install outside those locations reports as not detected even if LabVIEW is present.
When multiple versions are installed side by side, detect prefers the registered default (windows-registry:CurrentVersion); otherwise it takes the highest version found. A candidate whose vi.lib doesn't exist on disk is dropped, so a stale registry entry for an uninstalled version is skipped automatically.
Auto-detection makes results depend on what's installed on the machine running lvkit. For reproducible runs (CI, code review), pass --no-auto-vilib to the other commands instead of relying on detect.