System Requirements Pre-flight Check

[mikejmorgan-ai]

Description:
Validate system meets requirements before installation begins.

Purpose:

• Prevent installation failures
• Check disk space, RAM, OS version
• Validate prerequisites
• Warn about compatibility issues

Requirements:

• Disk space calculation
• RAM requirement checking
• OS version compatibility
• CPU architecture validation
• Prerequisite package detection
• Warning system for edge cases

Example:

cortex install oracle-23-ai

🔍 Checking system requirements...
✅ Disk space: 45GB available (30GB required)
✅ RAM: 16GB (8GB required)
✅ OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (supported)
✅ Architecture: x86_64 (compatible)
⚠️  Warning: NVIDIA GPU not detected
   Oracle 23 AI works best with GPU acceleration
   Continue anyway? (y/N)

Acceptance Criteria:

• Disk space checking (with buffer)
• RAM validation
• OS compatibility matrix
• Architecture detection
• Prerequisite validation
• Warning/error reporting
• Override options for warnings
• Tests included
• Documentation

Skills: Python, system programming

Bounty: $50 upon merge

Priority: High - Prevents failures

[AlexanderLuzDH]

Hi @mikejmorgan-ai! I'd like to work on this issue as well (I just submitted PR #37 for issue #27).

My Approach:

1. System Validation Module

• Create SystemRequirementsChecker class
• Comprehensive validation before any installation
• Clear, user-friendly output with emojis/colors

2. Checks to Implement:

Disk Space:

• Calculate available space per partition
• Add configurable safety buffer (default 20%)
• Support for different units (GB/TB)

RAM:

• Total RAM detection
• Available RAM checking
• Swap space detection
• Minimum requirements per package

OS Compatibility:

• OS detection (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, etc.)
• Version checking against compatibility matrix
• Kernel version validation

Architecture:

• CPU architecture detection (x86_64, ARM, etc.)
• 32-bit vs 64-bit validation
• Package architecture compatibility

Prerequisites:

• Check for required packages (gcc, make, git, etc.)
• Version validation for critical dependencies
• Auto-suggest installation commands

Hardware Detection:

• GPU detection (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel)
• VRAM checking
• CUDA/ROCm availability

3. Warning System:

• Severity levels (INFO/WARNING/ERROR)
• User-friendly messages
• Continue/abort prompts
• --force flag to override warnings

4. Interactive Mode:

# Smart prompts with context
⚠️  Warning: NVIDIA GPU not detected
   Oracle 23 AI works best with GPU acceleration
   
Continue anyway? (y/N)

Tech Stack:

• Python 3.8+ standard library (psutil for cross-platform)
• Integration with existing hwprofiler.py
• Zero external dependencies for core checks
• rich for beautiful output (optional)

Timeline:

Will submit PR within 5-7 days.

Features:

• ✅ Prevents installation failures
• ✅ Clear, actionable error messages
• ✅ JSON output mode for automation
• ✅ Comprehensive test coverage
• ✅ Works on Windows/Linux/macOS

Looking forward to building this!