From Aaron Sloman Fri Apr 6 00:59:27 BST 2007
To: pop-forum
Subject: Ready for testing: new version of PC/Linux Poplog for testing (V15.6a)
I wrote recently that I was planning to produce a new version of
Poplog, but it has taken me much longer than expected -- because of
other commitments.
I now have a draft version available for testing, with a much
simpler installation mechanism, which takes account of the fact that
some linux systems still use the old XFree86 graphical facilities
whereas newer ones use X.org. For the former the X window libraries
are in
/usr/X11R6/lib/
and for the newer X.org systems they are in
/usr/lib
This change broke the install script included with Poplog v15.6,
though users who understood the problem were able to fix it easily.
I have tried to make the new installation script equally happy with
both locations for the X window libraries, but have not been able to
test it on a version using the older configuration: both my laptop
and my desktop machines have the newer configuration.
The new version of poplog with installation script to overcome that
problem is here
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a
If you wish you can download the tar file and the scripts for
checking the environment and installing poplog separately.
Alternatively you can try the new, simpler installation procedure
available for testing, as described below.
(Even if you have a working version of poplog I'd be grateful if you
could test the new one, especially if you are using Ubuntu or Suse.)
There are now two (very similar) shell scripts, described below,
either of which which can be run to download and install everything
required.
If you wish you can manually run the commands in the script, one
at a time, and decide at the end what sort of installation you wish.
The two scripts provide two cases:
(a) download and install in /usr/local
and
(b) download and install below the directory in which the
script is run.
PRECONDITIONS:
Ubuntu users need to make sure first that they have these
packages installed:
gcc
build-essential
csh
libmotif3
libmotif-dev
e.g. install them with the command:
sudo apt-get install gcc build-essential csh libmotif3 libmotif-dev
(I am not sure that csh is still necessary: I have been trying to
remove the dependency on it, but there may still be some scripts
that use it.)
The motif (or lesstif equivalent) libraries are not absolutely
essential, as poplog can be linked to use only the basic X window
facilities. However the editor provides more functionality if motif
is installed.
People using other versions of linux should check that they have
the gcc libraries, csh/tcsh and both of
either
motif
motif-devel
or
lesstif
lesstif-devel
If you are using a 64 bit version of linux you will need to have a
full complement of 32-bit development libraries in order to install
poplog v15.6a. Failing that there is a slightly older 64 bit version
of poplog here
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6-amd64/
Later I'll produce a v15.6a-amd64 version.
========
FETCHING AND INSTALLING THE NEW VERSION OF POPLOG
Fetch one of these two shell scripts, which can be run to do
everything you need.
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/get-and-install
Download files in a directory v15.6a/ where the script is
invoked and install poplog in /usr/local/poplog
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/get-and-install-here
Run this in a directory dir to download files into
dir/v15.6a and then install poplog in dir/v15.6a/pop
(before running the script you can change the directory
name, if you wish)
If you wish, you can download one of them. make it executable and
run it in an xterm or other console window, without reading any of
the rest of this message, which explains their functioning.
================================
WHAT THE SCRIPTS DO
Both scripts do the following, in addition to printing out what they
are doing:
create subdirectory v15.6a, and cd into it
use wget to fetch these files:
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/AREADME.txt
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/CHECK_LINUX_FACILITIES
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/INSTALL_BHAM_LINUX_POPLOG
make the last two files executable, using 'chmod'.
use wget to fetch the main file (about 18MBytes, so can take
some time):
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/poplog/bham-linux-poplog-v15.6a.tar.gz
After that they do different things. The first script runs:
./INSTALL_BHAM_LINUX_POPLOG motif bham default links > install.log
Install poplog linked to use motif, with 'birmingham'
extensions, in the default directory /usr/local/poplog/
created if necessary, and insert useful symbolic links in
/usr/local/bin and /usr/local/man1/
Save all output, except error output in the file install.log
The second script runs:
./INSTALL_BHAM_LINUX_POPLOG motif bham `pwd`/pop nolinks > install.log
Install poplog linked to use motif, with 'birmingham'
extensions, in the new subdirectory pop/ below the directory
containing the install script. Do not insert links.
Save all output, except error output in the file install.log
=======
RUNNING THE SCRIPTS TO DO THE INSTALLATION
After fetching and saving one of the two scripts described above
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/get-and-install
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/v15.6a/get-and-install-here
You can open an xterm or other console window and make the file
readable and executable:
E.g.
chmod ugo+rx get-and-install-here
Then run the script, e.g.
./get-and-install
OR
./get-and-install-here
NB: before running the script, if you don't have either
motif and motif-devel
or lesstif and lesstif-devel
then you can edit the script by replacing 'motif' with 'nomotif' in
the INSTALL command. near the end.
If you chose 'nomotif' you will get a fully functional poplog minus
a few extra frills, like menu buttons and a slider bar in XVed the
window-based editor.
When you run the get-and-install or get-and-install-here script
you may get some warning messages about creating new directories,
which can be ignored. If there are other error messages please
save them with a mouse, paste them into a file, and report them.
If your installation fails, the v15.6a/install.log file should
contain useful information. So you can post it to either pop-forum
or comp.lang.pop for diagnosis.
====
TESTING THE INSTALLATION
If the installation is successful you can go to the installation
directory, i.e.
/usr/local/poplog/
or
dir/v15.6a/pop/
and then do
cd current-poplog/bin/demos
ls -l will reveal something like this:
-rw-r--r-- 1 axs staff 3638 Jan 18 2005 AREADME-DEMOS.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 axs staff 1887 Jan 18 2005 bash-users-default-dir
-rw-r--r-- 1 axs staff 2618 Jan 18 2005 bash-users-nondefault-dir
lrwxrwxrwx 1 axs staff 9 Apr 3 14:47 poplog -> ../poplog
lrwxrwxrwx 1 axs staff 12 Apr 3 14:47 poplog.sh -> ../poplog.sh
-rwxr-xr-x 1 axs staff 404 Nov 12 2003 run-eliza
-rwxr-xr-x 1 axs staff 601 Nov 12 2003 run-eliza-nonstop
-rwxr-xr-x 1 axs staff 620 May 27 2005 simagent-demo
-rw-r--r-- 1 axs staff 2192 Jan 18 2005 tcsh-users-default-dir
-rw-r--r-- 1 axs staff 2922 Jan 18 2005 tcsh-users-nondefault-dir
You can start testing the installation by running the pop-11 eliza
program:
./run-eliza
A more complicated test, including the 2-D graphical facilities
can be run by giving the command
./simagent-demo
More information is in the file AREADME-DEMOS.txt
Using a 10Mb/sec cable modem connection in the UK I found that on a
fairly new machine the whole process takes two or three minutes
at most. For many users the main delay will probably be downloading
the 18Mbyte tar file.
I would be grateful to hear of successful or unsuccessful attempts
to use this installation mechanism.
My next message will mention some unexplained problems using the
new system on either an Intel Core 2 Duo system running 32 bit linux
or an AMD Athlon64 system running 64 bit linux.
Aaron
===
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~axs/