Configuring and Installing LinBox

 

How to install LinBox (from a distribution)

See also INSTALL.  Once the LinBox distribution has been downloaded from the LinBox download section,

1. Unpack the distribution using tar command:

tar -xvzf linbox-X.X.X.tar.gz

2. Go to the newly-created linbox directory and run the script configure.

> cd linbox

There are many options for configuring LinBox. If you are not sure, just run

> ./configure --help

You will find a very comprehensible list of all possible features you may enable/disable.

Required packages are the following:

Givaro	--with-givaro= <givaro_directory>	used for finite fields, integer, rational and polynomial arithmetic.
Fflas-Ffpack	--with-fflas-ffpack= <fflasffpack_directory>	used for small field dense linear algebra.

Basically, minimal LinBox only requires a working Givaro and Fflas-Ffpack installation. If they are not under the standard /usr or /usr/local paths, you may enable them with --with-givaro=<path/to/givaro> and --with-fflas-ffpack=<path/to/fflas-ffpack> options.

NOTE : other requirements
Givaro requires GMP for big integer operations, see Givaro page for more information.
Fflas-Ffpack requires some BLAS for floating point dense matrix multiplication, see Fflas-Ffpack page for more information.

For Givaro install	GMP
For Fflas-Ffpack install	Goto BLAS 2	ATLAS	or ...

NOTE : There is a script in alpha version that tries to automate the installation of required packages:

> sh auto-install.sh

this will download the appropriate dependencies, compile and install them. Use --help for help on how to use this script.

3. Optional configurations
Available packages are the following:

NTL	--with-ntl= <ntl_directory>	used for finite field, polynomial arithmetic.
Lidia	--with-lidia= <lidia_directory>	used for finite field arithmetic.
Saclib	--with-saclib= <saclib_directory>	not yet used
Maple (> v9)	--enable-shared --with-maple= <maple-directory>	used to create an interface with Maple.
Doxygen	--enable-doc	used to create the html reference manual (nothing will be created otherwise).
IML	--with-iml= <IML-path>	used for fast integer/rational linear algebra.
gnuplot	-enable-benchmark	used for creating plots in benchmarks.

Note:

the use of --with-default= <default_directory> can add a special directory to the default location of library

the use of --with-all specifies that all packages will be used

4.  Install the library:

>  make

>  make install

5.  Optional make targets:

>  make examples

will compile the examples.

>  make check

will check LinBox is up and running.

>  make fullcheck

will perform additionnal checks to ensure LinBox is completely sane.

>  make benchmarks

will benchmarks some LinBox functionnalities.

6.  Enjoy ! (and report bugs, supply patches, ask for more functionnalities,... on the linbox mailing lists)

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Copyright 1999-2011 The Linbox Group.