How can I compile/install additional software on a linux tardis workstation?

Regular (non-root) users cannot use the commands apt-get, aptitude or dpkg in order to install precompiled .deb-packages on a tardis machine. However, you may download the source code, compile it and install the desired software in your home-directory. The following description may vary as the case arises (the README and INSTALL files in the source code directory usually give detailed information).

• Download source code

• Enter source code directory and execute ./configure --prefix=/home/$USER/package. The configure script checks for all necessary dependent libraries and creates all make files. If ./configure fails or if you prefer a particular library over another you must set the necessary path variables.

• Remark: Most libraries are contained in /usr/lib/ and don't need to be specified. If a desired library is not found, you may check /usr/pack/ or www.sepp.ee.ethz.ch/sepp-debian/ for the path (more friendly: you can also use the command sepp for that).

• ./configure --help shows you which variables can be set. Here are the most important ones:

  Variable	Meaning
  PREFIX	toplevel directory path, should be in your homedirectory. It is an argument of the configure script, e.g. ./configure --prefix=/home/$USER/package
  CFLAGS	C-Compiler options (usually gcc on Linux), e.g. include directory specifications. For an include directory use -I (capital i) option, e.g. CFLAGS=-I<inlcude-directory>. You may use multiple -I/path in this variable, use whitespace for separation.
  CXXFLAGS	C++-Compiler options (usually g++ on Linux), e.g. include directory specifications
  LDFLAGS	linker flags. Use -L option for link-time-directory and -Wl,-rpath, (will be passed to ld) for run-time directory (both directories are the same), e.g. LDFLAGS="-L<link-directory> -Wl,-rpath,<link-directory>" Remark: The -Wl,-rpath, option is for linux, on solaris you may want to use -R instead. Use whitespace as separation for more paths.

  Hint: You may use pkg-config to set these variables, check PKGConfig for more information.

• Once the configure script terminated successfully, execute make in order to compile source code. On Solaris you must use gmake instead of make.

• Execute make install in order to install software. Again, on Solaris you must use gmake install.

• In conclusion, here is an example of the whole process (tcsh on Linux):

  > setenv CFLAGS "-I<include-path>"
  > setenv LDFLAGS "-L<link-directory> -Wl,-rpath,<link-directory>"
  > ./configure --prefix=<path>
  ...
  > make
  ...
  > make install
  ...
  >

  Remark: setenv is used in tcsh which is the standard shell on tardis workstations. If you use bash you may want to use the command export instead.