Linux Desktop Installation: ScienceTools

This section is for downloading and installing the ScienceTools binary distribution packages on a Linux machine. These packages include all files necessary to process and analyze LAT FITS data products independent of the public installations.

Notice: The GLAST code has not been released to the public and is for use by members of the LAT Collaboration only!

Note: If you wish to make any changes to code, please go to the rednavbar section of the workbook and see Installing GLAST S/W: Developers --> Linux Machine.

Assumptions

  • All environment setup examples assume a .cshrc environment. If working in a .bashrc environment, substitute the export command for setenv in all examples shown.

Prerequisites:

  • RedHat 9 (or later), or
    Fedora Core 1 (or later)
  • Java

You need to have Java installed prior to using the installer. If you are a VRVS user you should already have Java installed; if not, you can download Java from
java.com.

Directory Structure

The installer requires two directory paths to be provided so that it knows where to install the ScienceTools distribution and the required external libraries.  These paths may point to any read/write-accessible location, but it is probably a good idea to create a special area for the installed products. Doing so will make it easy to "uninstall" a distribution simply by deleting the appropriate directory tree. 

Install GLAST Software and External Libraries

  1. Refer to the Release Manager pages for the ScienceTools builds and determine what version of ScienceTools you plan to download.

For Service Challenge 2, you must usev8r0p4, or higher.

  1. Click on Launch Installer Now! and follow the instructions on the GUI for installing both the release and the external libraries for the release.
  1. When prompted, select: Open with javaws.

Troubleshooting Tips:

  • If the Installer fails to open, check that you have javaws (typically located in /usr/java/bin/java).
  • If you experience problems when running Linux, SUSE version (e.g., installer download starts, but does not end), try creating a "gtar" symbolic link and see if that fixes the problem.

Not05/22/2008em>gtar be on your path. On redhat, "gtar" is typically a shortcut to tar; however, it may not be on SUSE.

  1. When a GUI similar to the following is displayed, click on the Next button.

  1. From the dropdown menu, select the package, version, and tag you wish to install.

 

Select the tag, then click on the Next button.

Note: Tag selection shown is for Windows. Linux users would have the option to select rh9_gcc32 or rh9_gcc32opt. The tag "rh9_gcc32" indicates an unoptimized build (with debugging symbols) and "rh9_gcc32opt" indicates an optimized build. Based on unit test results of the Release Manager for Windows and Linux (gcc32), computation intensive tasks run 30-50% faster with optimized builds.
  1. Specify your Destination folder and your External packages folder, then click on the Next button.

Note: Paths shown are to Windows directories; Linux directories will be displayed when installing on a Linux machine.

  1. Select or deselect Glast Files as desired, then click on the Next button.

Note: It is recommended that new users select all packages. If you already have the correct external libraries installed, the installer automatically deselects them.

  1. Click on the Install button.

The Installation progress GUI will be displayed.

  1. When the install is complete, click on the Finish button.
  1. Verify that the files have been installed and unpacked in the intended directories.
  1. Once the installer is completed, you will have a number of subdirectories installed in your instDir directory.  One of those subdirectories is called bin.  This directory contains wrapper scripts used to run the applications available within the binary distribution. 
    1. Add this directory to your PATH:

    setenv PATH $HOME/ST/packages/bin:${PATH}

    Note: If you set the PATH from the command line, be sure to enter "rehash" to ensure that the executables in the bin subdirectory will be found.

  1. Create a GLAST_EXT environment variable that points to the directory where the external libraries were placed:

 setenv GLAST_EXT ${HOME}/ST/extlib

Note: If creating an environment variable in a .bashrc environment instead of a .cshrc, substitute the export command for setenv in the example shown above.

  1. You are now ready to run the science tools. Refer to the Science Tools section (blue navigation bar) of the workbook at:

http://glast-ground.slac.stanford.edu/workbook/sciTools_Home.htm

 

Last updated by: Chuck Patterson 05/30/2007