synced to 1.2

[ginac.git] / INSTALL

diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 5e300b5e0252fc67a3e59efdc6414e7fa32deccb..e1881a352da25f57fa739eedcc963ce0ef735cc7 100644 (file)
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -1,13 +1,19 @@
-Prerequisites
+PREREQUISITES
 =============
 
-GiNaC requires the CLN library by Bruno Haible, available at
-<ftp://ftp.santafe.eu/pub/gnu/> or <ftp://ftp.ilog.fr/pub/Users/haible/gnu/>.
-You will also need a C++ compiler adhering to the ANSI standard (we used gcc
-for development so if you have a different compiler you are on your own).
+GiNaC requires the CLN library by Bruno Haible, available from either
+one of the following FTP-sites:
+  * <ftp://ftp.santafe.edu/pub/gnu/>,
+  * <ftp://ftp.ilog.fr/pub/Users/haible/gnu/> or
+  * <ftp://ftpthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/pub/gnu/>.
+You will also need a decent ANSI-compliant C++-compiler.  We recommend
+the C++ compiler from the GNU compiler collection, GCC >= 3.0.  If you
+have a different or older compiler you are on your own.  Note that you
+may have to use the same compiler you compiled CLN with because of
+differing name-mangling schemes.
 
 
-Installation
+INSTALLATION
 ============
 
 As with any autoconfiguring GNU software, installation is as easy as this:
@@ -16,13 +22,13 @@ As with any autoconfiguring GNU software, installation is as easy as this:
  $ make
  $ make check
 [become root if necessary]
- $ make install
+ # make install
 
 Known to work with:
-  - Linux/x86, EGCS-1.1.2 or GCC 2-95.
-
-The "make" step takes about 10 minutes, on a 586 DX / 133 MHz / 64 MB or
-about 2 minutes on a P-III /550 MHz / 512 MB.
+  - Linux on x86, Alpha and Sparc using GCC 3.0.x, 3.1 and 3.2.
+Known not to work with:
+  - GCC 2.96 or earlier because proper exception and standard library support
+    is missing there.
 
 The "configure" script can be given a number of options to enable and
 disable various features. For a complete list, type:
@@ -40,11 +46,44 @@ A few of the more important ones:
 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
+an Athlon/800MHz with "enough" memory:
+
+step          | GCC optimization  | comment
+              |   -O1   |   -O2   |
+--------------+---------+---------+----------------------------------------
+make          |   ~6m   |   ~8m   | shared and static library
+make check    |   ~8m   |  ~12m   | largely due to compilation
+
+
+COMMON PROBLEMS
+===============
 
 Problems with CLN
-=================
+-----------------
+
+You should use at least CLN-1.1, since during the development of
+GiNaC various bugs have been discovered and fixed in earlier versions.
+Please install CLN properly on your system before continuing with
+GiNaC.
+
+Problems with building ginsh
+----------------------------
+
+The most common reason why this doesn't succeed is the absence of
+libreadline and/or the corresponding header files.  Depending on what
+your system/distribution is, you will have to install a package called
+libreadline and maybe libreadline-dev.  If your system's vendor
+doesn't supply such packages, go to <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/readline/>
+and compile it yourself.
+
+Problems with missing standard header files
+-------------------------------------------
 
-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.
+Building GiNaC requires many standard header files.  If you get a
+configure error complaining about such missing files your compiler and
+library are probably not up to date enough and it's no worth
+continuing.