Install from binaries

After downloading XLiFE++ from the Download XLiFE++ page, you will have to install and run the installer if you are on Windows, or follow the configuration procedure with cmake by setting a C++ compiler, paths to Gmsh and Paraview, and eventually paths to external libraries BLAS, LAPACK, Arpack and UmfPack libraries. In following sections, you will be guided on which options you may use or not as far as sources or binaries are concerned.

Installing files

Unix/Linux

XLiFE++ provides packages for Debian/Ubuntu (.deb) and Fedora (.rpm).

For Debian/Ubuntu/Mint, you just have to run the following command:

$ sudo dpkg -i xlifepp-binaries-...-64bits.deb

For Red Hat/OpenSUSE/Fedora, you just have to run the following command:

$ sudo rpm -i xlifepp-binaries-...-64bits.rpm

Caution

When the installation process is done, you just have to add /usr/local/xlifepp/bin in your PATH.

macOS

XLiFE++ provides a .dmg file, that works like an archive of the XLiFE++ binaries. So you have to open the .dmg file, then you copy the whole content where you want to copy it, let’s say XLDIR. Then, you have to run Cmake on XLDIR and configure every dependency as explained in How to configure installation process.

When the installation process is done, you just have to add XLDIR/bin in your PATH.

Windows

When downloading binaries under Windows, you just have to run the installer. To do so, administrator elevation is required. If a previous distribution of XLiFE++ is installed in the folder you choose, the installer can remove it itself. Furthermore, it is highly recommended installing every component.

Now, in the bin subdirectory of the XLiFE++ install directory, you will find xlifepp_configure.exe. To run it, administrator elevation is required.

1. First, you have to set the folder containing XLiFE++.

   

2. As mentioned in the banner, a C++ compiler, Cmake and Gmsh have to be installed on your computer and defined in the Windows PATH [1] system environnement variable. An EDI such as CodeBlocks and Paraview are not mandatory but highly recommended. Click on the Configure button.

   

3. When everything is OK, message “Configuration complete” is displayed. To compile your own program, you can click on the New project button or run xlifepp_new_project.exe. See The graphical way

[1]

A simple tool to edit the window path is Windows Path Editor if you have a version of Windows less or equal to 8, as PATH environment variable is shown in Windows preference pane as a single string. For recent Windows OS, this was improved and now there is one line for each directory in the PATH.

How XLiFE++ binaries are organized

XLiFE++ binaries are organized in several directories, described as follows for the main ones:

bin

contains the xlifepp_project_setup.exe for Windows and the user scripts xlifepp.sh and xlifepp.bat. This will be explained later.

etc

contains a lot of stuff such as templates for installation, the multilingual files, …

share/examples

contains example files ready to compile and use.

ext

contains source files for external dependencies, such as Arpack, Eigen, Amos libraries

tests

contains all unitary and system tests to check your installation

lib

contains the static libraries of XLiFE++.

You also have a very important file CMakeLists.txt, that is the Cmake compilation script.

How to configure installation process

Caution

In the following, we will consider Cmake used in command-line mode, from a build directory directly inside sources so that the path to CMakeLists.txt file is ..

Installation options that will be explained can be set directly through GUI applications.

Important

cmake options are cache entries, that is to say entries being stored in CMakeCache.txt. As a result, you can re-run cmake without setting the same options again. With GUI applications, you just have to set them.

cmake .. [options]
cmake ..

Binaries are compiled with all extensions, OpenCASCADE and Magma excepted. OpenCASCADE will be integrated soon

So, the first thing to do is to run cmake with the defaut behavior mayeb by telling which compiler you want:

$ cmake .. [-DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=<your-compiler>]

macOS

If you want to use clang++ as a compiler (the default chosen on macOS by CMake), please download specific clang++ binaries, as they are necessarily generated without OpenMP activated.

In the following, we will focus on cache entries you may have to set to configure XLiFE++.

Hint

When Cmake is running, it stores values of cache entries in a cache file CMakeCache.txt in the build directory. As a result, when you run again Cmake, you are not forced to give already given options.

Binaries are always compiled with full dependencies.

For every external dependency, Cmake search files in standard environment paths and in specific paths defined in Cmake configuration script. So if external dependencies are installed by package managers, Cmake will find them.

If it is not the case, or if the library found is not the one you want to use, you can tell Cmake where to find them, as we will see in the following.

Configuring paths to Gmsh and Paraview executables

To set paths to Gmsh and Paraview executables, you may use the following options:

XLIFEPP_GMSH_EXECUTABLE:

to set the full path to Gmsh executable

XLIFEPP_PARAVIEW_EXECUTABLE:

to set the full path to Paraview executable

macOS

You have to set the full path to Gmsh/Paraview executables and not applications (.app files). Executables are inside applications. If application names are Gmsh.app and paraview.app and are located in the Applications directory, Gmsh and Paraview executables will be correctly detected.

So your call to Cmake will look like:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_GMSH_EXECUTABLE=path/to/gmsh/executable -DXLIFEPP_PARAVIEW_EXECUTABLE=path/to/paraview/executable

Configuring dependency on FORTRAN library

IF you want to set dependency on BLAS, LAPACK, Arpack and/or UmfPack, you will have to set the path to FORTRAN library.

If you use g++, you have nothing to do as it is provided by gcc suite. The same goes for Intel compiler.

macOS

First, FORTRAN library is not installed by default. SO you have to install it with your favourite package manager, such as brew, by installing gcc itself.

Then, clang++ is not able to find FORTRAN library. To do so, you just have to use the option XLIFEPP_FORTRAN_LIB_DIR:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_FORTRAN_LIB_DIR=path/to/gfortran/library/directory

Attention

Setting the directory is sufficient only if the FORTRAN library name is standard, such as libgfortran.a, libgfortran.so, libgfortran.dylib, libgfortran.dll, gfortran.lib, … If ever it is not the case, prefer using option XLIFEPP_FORTRAN_LIB instead, to set the full path to FORTRAN library

Configuring dependency on BLAS and LAPACK libraries

Normally, BLAS and LAPACK are automatically detected if they are installed. But if they are not found, in order to tell to Cmake where to find BLAS library, you just have to set the directories containing BLAS and LAPACK libraries, with the options XLIFEPP_BLAS_LIB_DIR and XLIFEPP_LAPACK_LIB_DIR

So your call to Cmake will look like:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_BLAS_LIB_DIR=path/to/blas/library/directory -DXLIFEPP_LAPACK_LIB_DIR=path/to/lapack/library/directory

Attention

Setting the directory is sufficient only if the BLAS library name is standard, such as libblas.a, libblas.so, libblas.dylib, libblas.dll, blas.lib, … (the same goes for LAPACK) If ever it is not the case (meaning that BLAS and/or LAPACK are not installed properly, for instance with a version number as a suffix), prefer using options XLIFEPP_BLAS_LIB and XLIFEPP_LAPACK_LIB instead, to set the full path to BLAS and LAPACK libraries

Windows

If you downloaded binary libraries of BLAS and LAPACK provided by the XLiFE++ website, as recommended in Third-party extensions, it will be something like (if you downloaded 64bits binaries):

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_BLAS_LIB_DIR="C:/.../lapack-3.5.0_64" -DXLIFEPP_LAPACK_LIB_DIR="C:/.../lapack-3.5.0_64"

Configuring dependency on Arpack library

First, you have to choose if you want to use the internal Arpack distribution of XLiFE++, or an external one. Of course, the one provided by XLiFE++ is detected automatically. To select the rightful mode, you have to set the option:

XLIFEPP_SYSTEM_ARPACK

To choose an external distribution of Arpack or the one provided by XLiFE++. Possible values are ON or OFF. Default is OFF, to use the distribution provided by XLiFE++

If you choose to use an external distribution of Arpack, you now have to tell Cmake where to find Arpack library. To do so, you just have to set the directory containing the Arpack library, with the option XLIFEPP_ARPACK_LIB_DIR:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_BLAS_LIB_DIR=path/to/blas/library/directory

Attention

Setting the directory is sufficient only if the Arpack library name is standard, such as libarpack.a, libarpack.so, libarpack.dylib, libarpack.dll, arpack.lib, … If ever it is not the case (meaning that Arpack is not installed properly, for instance with a version number as a suffix), prefer using option XLIFEPP_ARPACK_LIB instead, to set the full path to Arpack library

Windows

If you downloaded binary libraries of Arpack provided by the XLiFE++ website, as recommended in Third-party extensions, it will be something like (if you downloaded 64bits binaries):

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_ARPACK_LIB_DIR="C:/.../ARPACK_64/lib_mingw64"

Configuring dependency on UmfPack libraries

UmfPack is a part of SuiteSparse distribution (that also contains amd, colamd, camd, ccolamd, cholmod, metis, and suitesparseconfig, …).

To tell to Cmake where to find UmfPack library/SuiteSparse distribution, you just have to set the home directory containing the SuiteSparse distribution, with the option XLIFEPP_SUITESPARSE_HOME_DIR:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_SUITESPARSE_HOME_DIR=path/to/suitesparse/home/directory

windows

If you downloaded binary libraries provided by the XLiFE++ website, as recommended in Third-party extensions, it will be something like (if you downloaded 64bits binaries):

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_SUITESPARSE_HOME_DIR="C:/.../SuiteSparse_64"

Hint

Metis is not always installed when installing SuiteSparse, so this dependency is not necessary when setting UmfPack. In this case, XLiFE++ installation process will tell you Metis is not found by this has no consequence.

Hint

If setting XLIFEPP_SUITESPARSE_HOME_DIR is not enough to find every library of SuiteSparse distribution, you can use specific options of the form:

XLIFEPP_XXX_INCLUDE_DIR

to specify the XXX header, where XXX can be AMD, COLAMD, CAMD, CCOLAMD, CHOLMOD, METIS, SUITESPARSECONFIG or UMFPACK.

XLIFEPP_XXX_LIB_DIR

to specify the XXX library, where XXX can be AMD, COLAMD, CAMD, CCOLAMD, CHOLMOD, METIS, SUITESPARSE (only on macOS), SUITESPARSECONFIG or UMFPACK.

Setting the directories is sufficient only if the SuiteSparse library names are standard, such as libamd.a, libamd.so, libamd.dylib, libamd.dll, amd.lib, … (the same goes for the other libraries) If ever it is not the case (meaning that SuiteSparse is not installed properly, for instance with a version number as a suffix), prefer using option XLIFEPP_XXX_LIB instead, to set the full path to SuiteSparse libraries, where XXX can be AMD, COLAMD, CAMD, CCOLAMD, CHOLMOD, METIS, SUITESPARSE (only on macOS), SUITESPARSECONFIG or UMFPACK.

Configuring dependency on Magma library

To tell to Cmake where to find Magma library, you just have to set the directory containing the Magma library, with the option XLIFEPP_MAGMA_LIB_DIR and the directory containing the Magma header files, with the option XLIFEPP_MAGMA_INCLUDE_DIR:

$ cmake .. [other_options] -DXLIFEPP_MAGMA_LIB_DIR=path/to/magma/library/directory -DXLIFEPP_MAGMA_INCLUDE_DIR=path/to/magma/include/directory