Tips for ABINIT users and developers

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
====== Downloading and installing GNU software for ABINIT (Autotools ...) ======

===== Introduction =====


While most ABINIT developers have access to a [[http://www.linux.org/|GNU/Linux]]-compatible system, some do not. For them, we provide here the software packages they will need to fully participate to the ongoing development efforts, as well as an installer script.

There are two kinds of distributions, depending on the age of your computer. Please install only one.

//Note: if the installer script fails complaining that "bsd-compatible-install-*.sh" does not exist, just rename this file by removing the ".sh" extension.
//
===== Downloading files for old computers (minimal install) =====

If you are developing on an old computer (.i.e more than 4-year old), please download the following 7 files and put them all in a temporary directory. Just right-click on each of the links below and select "Save link as..." in your browser's menu. Pointers to the home pages of the GNU packages are provided for the curious.

  *  {{ :developers:gnu-autotools-install-old.zip |GNU Autotools installer script}}
  *  {{ :developers:bsd-compatible-install-old.zip |BSD-compatible install script}}
  *  [[https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-4.8.tar.gz|GNU Texinfo 4.8]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/|Home page]])
  *  [[https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-1.4.tar.gz|GNU M4 1.4]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/software/m4/m4.html|Home page]])
  *  [[https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.59.tar.gz|GNU Autoconf 2.59]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/autoconf.html|Home page]])
  *  [[https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/automake/automake-1.9.6.tar.gz|GNU Automake 1.9.6]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/|Home page]])
  *  [[http://mirror.koddos.net/gnu/libtool/libtool-1.5.22.tar.gz|GNU Libtool 1.5.22]] ([[https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/|Home page]])

//Note: this combination of versions has been tested on the oldest and least standard machine we could find. Though we cannot guarantee that this package set will work in all situations, we are quite confident that it will perform well in most cases.
//
===== Downloading files for modern computers (recommended install) =====

If you are developing on a modern computer (.i.e less than 4-year old), you will likely be able to benefit from the various bugfixes released publicly over the last years and the many improvements within Fortran support coming along with the development of the GFortran compiler. Please download the following 2 scripts and put them all in a temporary directory. Just right-click on each of the links below and select "Save link as..." in your browser's menu.

  *  {{ :developers:gnu-autotools-install-new.gz |GNU Autotools installer script}}
  *  {{ :developers:bsd-compatible-install-new.gz |BSD-compatible install script}}

The packages which are needed by abinit are the following GNU utilities: Pointers to the home pages of the GNU packages are just provided for the curious.

  *  [[https://www.gnu.org/software/m4/|m4 home page]]
  *  [[https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/|Autoconf home page]]
  *  [[https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/|Automake home page]]
  *  [[https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/|Libtool home page]]
//Note: this combination of versions is known to perform very nicely on modern Linux-based computers. However it has not been tested as extensively as the old distribution. It may not work depending essentially on how strictly your system sticks to the Unix standards.//

===== Installing the files =====

In the following we will suppose that you want to install the Autotools into a //$HOME/gnu// directory, and that you have a modern computer. First, go to the temporary directory where you have just downloaded all the previous files and type:

    <code>/bin/sh gnu-autotools-installer-new $HOME/gnu</code>

The script will download (via wget), build, and install all required packages in the right order. You will need around 150 Mb of free disk space during the build, which may take up to 10 minutes on some machines. The installed packages themselves will only require 25 Mb of disk space. Depending on your configuration, you might get some instructions from the installer script. Please follow them carefully.

Once you are done with the installer, and if everything went fine, you may safely remove the temporary directory. However, you will be able to use these valuable tools only if your //PATH// environment variable contains //$HOME/gnu/bin// **before** all other paths. To be sure that this is always the case, please add the following line in the config file of your login shell:

    <code>PATH="${HOME}/gnu/bin:${PATH}"; export PATH</code>

for a Bourne-like shell, and

    <code>setenv PATH "${HOME}/gnu/bin:${PATH}"</code>

for a C-like shell.

You will then be able to use the GNU Autotools from your next login on. They will serve you well for a while.

===== Conclusion =====

Have fun with the Autotools!

Problems should be reported to Yann Pouillon.