Prerequisites ============= GiNaC requires the CLN library by Bruno Haible, available at or . You will also need a good C++ compiler adhering to the ANSI standard (we used gcc for development so if you have a different compiler you are on your own). Installation ============ As with any autoconfiguring GNU software, installation is as easy as this: $ ./configure $ make $ make check [become root if necessary] $ make install Known to work with: - Linux/x86, EGCS-1.1.2 or GCC 2-95.1/2-95.2 The "configure" script can be given a number of options to enable and disable various features. For a complete list, type: $ ./configure --help A few of the more important ones: --prefix=PREFIX install architecture-independent files in PREFIX [defaults to /usr/local] --exec-prefix=EPREFIX install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX [defaults to the value given to --prefix] --disable-shared suppress the creation of a shared version of libginac More detailed installation instructions can be found in the documentation, in the doc/ directory. The time the "make" step takes depends heavily on optimization levels. Large amounts of memory (>128MB) will be required by the compiler, also depending on optimization. To give you a rough idea of what you have to expect the following table may be helpful. It was measured on a P-III/500MHz with "enough" memory: step: | value of $CXXFLAGS: | comment: | -O0 | -O1 | -O2 | --------------+-------+-------+-------+------------------------------- make | ~4m | ~6m | ~10m | building shared and static lib make check | ~2m | ~2m | ~7m | mostly due to compilation Problems with CLN ================= You should use at least CLN V1.0.2, since all earlier ones are somewhat buggy. Even V1.0.1 has a few problems and GiNaC will not support older versions. Please install it properly on your system before continuing with GiNaC.