
		   Installing Algae on UNIX Systems
		   ================================


Copyright (C) 1994-2003  K. Scott Hunziker.
Copyright (C) 1990-1994  The Boeing Company.

Algae is free software.  See the file "COPYING" for license, warranty,
and permission details.

Here are some instructions for compiling and installing Algae on Unix
systems.  Check the "PROBLEMS" file for any additional information
specific to your system.

If you're impatient, try this:

	./configure
	make check
	make install

Algae is normally distributed in source form, and must be configured
and compiled for your machine before you install it.  "Package"
distributions (such as RedHat rpm's) are available, and are probably
the most convenient form for many users.  There may also be a "binary"
distribution appropriate for your particular machine.  These are in
files whose names (like "algae-3.0.7-alpha-dec-osf3.0.tar.gz" contain
information about the machine for which they were compiled.  If you
are installing a "binary" distribution, please read the "Binary
Distributions" section at the bottom of this file.

System Requirements
===================

Algae has been developed and tested on Unix machines, including the
following:

	* Apollo (DomainOS)
	* Cray Y-MP and T94 (Unicos)
	* HP (DEC) Alpha (OSF)
	* DECstation (Ultrix)
	* HP PA1.1 (hpux)
	* IBM RS/6000 (aix)
	* Intel 386 and up (Linux, FreeBSD, and UnixWare)
	* Intel Itanium (Linux)
	* SGI (Irix)
	* Sun SPARC (SunOS and Solaris)

The Algae source consists of both C and Fortran code; to compile it
you'll need a C compiler and a Fortran compiler or translator.  For
the C compiler, I recommend GNU gcc (http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/).
Instead, you may wish to use the native C compiler on your system; it
might give you a faster Algae interpreter, although it is not uncommon
for Algae to uncover bugs in native compilers.

If you already have a Fortran compiler, it will probably work just
fine.  Otherwise, I recommend the GNU g77 compiler.  It had a few
problems at first, but I've been using it since February 1996 with
few complaints.  Recent versions are excellent.

If you don't have a Fortran compiler, you'll need the f2c translator
(ftp://netlib.org/f2c).  Compiled Fortran will execute faster than
translated Fortran, but don't be shy about using f2c -- it's reliable
and reasonably efficient.  Still, you should definitely use g77
instead of f2c if possible.

Many systems, even new ones, have a deficient `make' utility.  You may
need to install GNU make.

Although we've attempted to make configuration as automatic and
general as possible, we still have much work to do.  Floating point
exception handling is a constant problem due to the lack of standards.
Another problem area is in getting the Fortran libraries linked in
properly.  If Algae does not configure correctly for you, please let
me know.

Optional Libraries and Packages
===============================

Several libraries and packages can be used by Algae if they're
available.  Before starting the installation, you should check to see
which of these are on your system and where they're located.  The
installation instructions below will explain how to tell Algae where to
find them.  (The configure script will try to find them, but you may need
to give it some help.)

    gnuplot	http://www.gnuplot.org/

        Algae's "plot" function is a front end for gnuplot.  This is a
        free plotting package that you can get from ftp.dartmouth.edu.
        This package is optional, but you can't plot without it.

    Readline	http://www.gnu.org/directory/readline.html

        The GNU Readline Library is a command-line editing and history
        utility.  It isn't required, but it's pretty handy.  It's
        available from prep.ai.mit.edu.  In the past, readline tempted
        us with more capabilities (like completion on variable names)
        than it could deliver.  This may have changed -- taking a new
        look at it is on my to-do list.

    BLAS	http://www.netlib.org/blas

        The BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subroutines) library is
        optional in that Algae supplies its own if you don't have it.
        If your system provides a BLAS library, it may be much faster
        than the one that comes with Algae.  Some systems, though,
        have BLAS libraries that are broken or that contain only a
        subset of the routines you'll need.  See the README file in
        the blas directory for more information.

    LAPACK	http://www.netlib.org/lapack

        The LAPACK library is also optional, as Algae supplies its own
        if you don't have it.  It contains routines for many numerical
        linear algebra operations.  The LAPACK source is available
        from netlib.  Algae requires version 3.0 or later.

    BCSLIB

        BCSLIB is a package of high-quality linear algebra routines
        from Boeing.  (BCS was the acronym for "Boeing Computer
        Services".)  If you have BCSLIB, Algae can use its sparse
        matrix capabilities to good advantage.  Actually, it's
        BCSLIB-EXT that we use -- it then calls BCSLIB.  I'm told that
        all Cray machines have this.

        There seems to be no standard names for these libraries.  Algae
        looks for `libbcslib.a' and `libbcsext.a', except on the Cray
        where they're all in `libsci.a'.

	As of July, 2003, we have not yet gone to the new version of
	BCSLIB-EXT, which involves substantial changes in function names
	and arguments.

    Info	ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/

        Algae can use the Info documentation browsing system to provide
        on-line help.  This is done either with Emacs or with one of
        the stand-alone Info programs.  One of these is in the Texinfo
        package, available from prep.ai.mit.edu.  Another one is tkinfo,
        a tcl/tk program available from ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu.

        Originally, Info was the only choice for browsing Algae's
        on-line help.  Now it's more common to use an HTML browser
        like Mozilla.

Basic Installation
==================

The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package.
It may also create one or more `.h' files containing system-dependent
definitions.  Finally, it creates a shell script `config.status' that
you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a
file `config.cache' that saves the results of its tests to speed up
reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' containing compiler output
(useful mainly for debugging `configure').

If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try to
figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail
diffs or instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can
be considered for the next release.  If at some point `config.cache'
contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
called `autoconf'.  You only need `configure.in' if you want to change
it or regenerate `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.  (Why do people still use csh?)

     The `configure' script accepts a number of optional arguments.
     Type `./configure --help' for a description.  Use the --prefix
     option if you wish to install Algae in a location other than
     /usr/local.  If LAPACK and the other libraries are not in
     /usr/local/lib, you'll probably need to tell Algae where to find
     them; use the --with-PACKAGE options for this, and be sure to use
     absolute path names.

     Running `configure' takes some time.  While running, it prints
     messages telling which features it is checking for.  I encourage
     you to at least skim through its output.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run Algae's self-tests.  Three
     types of tests are performed.  First, a number of Algae files are
     executed.  Some of them print some insignificant output, but none
     should report any warnings or errors and every one should report
     either "passed" or "skipped".

     If all of the Algae files are executed without error, then the
     "error tests" are run.  These check Algae to make sure that it's
     reporting errors correctly.  This should report "passed".

     Finally, the "trap tests" are performed.  These tests check
     Algae's response to math errors like overflow and division by
     zero.  Unlike the previous tests, these simply say "done" when
     finished.  Messages about "sloppy handling" are common and can
     probably be ignored.  Any other failures are serious.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.  By default, these go in directories beginning with
     /usr/local.  You can change this in step #1 above by giving the
     --prefix option to configure.  Don't simply edit the Makefile after
     you've compiled the code, because some of the paths are built into
     the code.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

Compilers and Options
=====================

Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that
the `configure' script does not know about.  You can give `configure'
initial values for variables by setting them in the environment.  Using
a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like
this:
     CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

On systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:
     env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================

You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the
same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their
own directory.  To do this, you must use a version of `make' that
supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'.  `cd' to the
directory where you want the object files and executables to go and
run the `configure' script.  `configure' automatically checks for the
source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.

If you have to use a `make' that does not supports the `VPATH'
variable, you have to compile the package for one architecture at a
time in the source code directory.  After you have installed the
package for one architecture, use `make distclean' before
reconfiguring for another architecture.

Installation Names
==================

By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
`/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc.  You can specify an
installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
option `--prefix=PATH'.

You can specify separate installation prefixes for
architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files.  If
you give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH', the package will
use PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

Specifying the System Type
==========================

There may be some features `configure' can not figure out
automatically, but needs to determine by the type of host the package
will run on.  Usually `configure' can figure that out, but if it
prints a message saying it can not guess the host type, give it the
`--host=TYPE' option.  TYPE can either be a short name for the system
type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name with three fields:
     CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM

See the file `config.sub' for the possible values of each field.  If
`config.sub' isn't included in this package, then this package doesn't
need to know the host type.

If you are building compiler tools for cross-compiling, you can also
use the `--target=TYPE' option to select the type of system they will
produce code for and the `--build=TYPE' option to select the type of
system on which you are compiling the package.

Sharing Defaults
================

If you want to set default values for `configure' scripts to share,
you can create a site shell script called `config.site' that gives
default values for variables like `CC', `cache_file', and `prefix'.
`configure' looks for `PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then
`PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists.  Or, you can set the
`CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script.
A warning: not all `configure' scripts look for a site script.

Operation Controls
==================

`configure' recognizes the following options to control how it
operates.

`--cache-file=FILE'
     Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of
     `./config.cache'.  Set FILE to `/dev/null' to disable caching, for
     debugging `configure'.

`--help'
     Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.

`--quiet'
`--silent'
`-q'
     Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.

`--srcdir=DIR'
     Look for the package's source code in directory DIR.  Usually
     `configure' can determine that directory automatically.

`--version'
     Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
     script, and exit.

`configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.

Binary Distributions
====================

If you are installing a binary distribution, then there are only a few
things that need to be done.  To install it, `cd' to the top-level
directory and do the following:

  1. Run Algae's self-tests by typing `make check'.  This is described
     in the "Basic Installation" section above.

  2. Edit the top-level Makefile.  Hopefully, you won't need to change
     anything.  If you don't want Algae installed under /usr/local
     (maybe you don't have permission), then you'll need to change the
     definition of "prefix".

  3. Type `make algae.A'.

  4. Edit the file "algae.A".  Each of the members of "$programs" (like
     "xhtml", etc.) should be set to appropriate strings.

  5. Type `make install' to install the program and its data files and
     documentation.

  6. If you changed the value of `prefix' in Makefile, then every Algae
     user will need the environment variable ALGAE_RC0 set to the full
     path and file name of the "algae.A" file.  By default, Algae looks
     for something like "/usr/local/lib/algae/3.0.7/algae.A" (but with
     the current version number).

  7. You can remove the files from the distribution.  First, though,
     you should check to see if there's anything you want from the
     `etc' and `examples' directories.
