Singular version University of Kaiserslautern Department of Mathematics Centre for Computer Algebra Authors: G.-M. Greuel, G. Pfister, H. Schoenemann (C) 1986-1999 All Rights Reserved UNIX INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR SINGULAR ============================================ To install Singular on a Unix platform, you need the following two archives: Singular--share.tar.gz (or, Singular--share.zip) -- contains architecture independent data like documentation and libraries Singular--.tar.gz -- contains architecture dependent executables, like the Singular program where is a description of the processor and operating system for which Singular is compiled (e.g, ix86-Linux). Please contact us if you can not find an appropriate architecture-dependent archive. You can obtain these files from ftp://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/pub/Math/Singular/ IMPORTANT ========= Please see the file COPYING contained in the distribution for license information on Singular. In particular, notice that we only grant you permission to use Singular if you have registered yourself as a Singular user by sending email to with the subject line (or, mail body) `register'. TO INSTALL SINGULAR =================== (0) You need appr. 10MByte of free disk space to unpack the archives. (1) Simply change to the directory in which you wish to install Singular (usually wherever you install 3rd-party software): cd /usr/local/ Singular specific subdirectories will be created in such a way that multiple versions and multiple architecture dependent files of Singular can peaceably coexist under the same `/usr/local/' tree. Messages from tar like "Could not create symlink to ..." can safely be ignored - they appaer only in the case that you install the same version of Singular twice. (2) Unpack the architecture dependent files: gzip -dc Singular--.tar.gz | tar -pxf - (3) Unpack the architecture independent files: If you downloaded Singular--share.tar.gz do: gzip -dc Singular--share.tar.gz | tar -pxf - Alternatively, if you downloaded Singular--share.zip do: unzip -u Singular--share.zip (4) [Optionally:] Arrange that typing 'Singular' at the shell prompt starts up the installed Singular executable. If you have root permission, do: ln -s `pwd`/Singular///Singular /usr/local/bin/Singular Otherwise, append the dir `pwd`/Singular// to your $PATH environment variable. For the csh (or, tcsh) shell do: set path=(`pwd`/Singular// $path) For the bash (or, ksh) shell do: export PATH=`pwd`/Singular//:$PATH You also might want to adjust your personal start-up files accordingly, so that the PATH variable is set automatically each time you login. IMPORTANT: Do NEVER move or copy the file `./Singular///Singular' to another place, but use soft-links instead. After unpacking, you will have a directory structure like: ./Singular/// executable(s) ./Singular/LIB// Singular libraries ./Singular/LIB/gftables/ Singular lookup tables ./Singular/doc// documentation (ps, dvi, info) ./Singular/html// documentation (html) ./Singular/README general information on Singular ./Singular/COPYING licence information ./Singular/INSTALL this file For the executable to work, the directory layout must look pretty much like this; the executable looks for "sibling" directories at run-time to figure out where its Singular libraries and on-line info documentation are. These constraints on the local directory layout are necessary to avoid having to hardcode pathnames into the executables, or require that environment variables be set before running the executable. In particular, you should not move or copy the Singular executables to another place, but use soft-links instead. See also the `TROUBLES' section below, if you run into any problems. TO INSTALL THE ON-LINE DOCUMENTATION ===================================== Singular needs the `info' program for its on-line documentation. If you do not have the `info' program installed on your system, you may obtain it from ftp://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/pub/Math/Singular/utils/ by downloading the respective info-.tar.gz file. To install, simply cd to the directory where you unpacked the other tar files and then unpack the info tar file. cd /usr/local/ # i.e., wherever you have unpacked Singular tar files gzip -dc info-.tar.gz | tar -pxf - This adds .//bin/info info program to the above directory structure and ensures that the `info' program is found at run-time. You also might want to add a Singular menu entry to the global info file of your system, such that the Singular on-line help can be accessed from the stand-alone `info' program or from the Emacs editor: (1) Add the line * Singular:(singular.hlp). A system for polynomial computations to your system `dir' file (usually `/usr/info/dir' or `/usr/local/info/dir') (2) Copy or soft-link the file ./Singular/doc//singular.hlp to the directory of your `dir' file. TROUBLES ========= * For HPUX systems: The /etc/termcap files which are pre-installed on these systems are broken which leads to messages like Name collision between 9826 9836 when Singular is started. To fix this, you can get fixed termcap files from ftp://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/pub/Math/Singular/utils by downloading the files termcap- and either replace your /etc/termcap file by the file found there, or view, and redo the respective changes by diff'ing the downloaded and the original file. * For Linux systems: Due to some incompatibilities of shared libraries, the start-up of Singular might fail with messages like Can not find shared library .... To fix this, first delete the file ./Singular///Singular and then download and install Singular---static.tar.gz which contains statically linked executables. * For AIX systems: The default 'info' program of the system is not GNU's hypertext system which we need to display the on-line documentation. Therefore, the distribution of the AIX executable already contains the 'info' program we need. If you remove this program, make sure that the GNU info program is executed if you call 'info' from your shell. * General: Singular can not find its libraries or info-file: (1) Start up Singular, and issue the command `system("Singular");'. If this does not return the correct and expanded location of the Singular executable, then you found a bug in Singular, which we ask you to report (see below). (2) Check whether the directories containing the libraries and info-file can be found by Singular: If $bindir denotes the directory where the Singular executable resides, then Singular looks for library files as follows: 1.) All dirs specified by the environment variable SINGULARPATH 2.) $bindir/LIB 3.) $bindir/LIB/ 4.) $bindir/../../Singular/LIB 5.) $bindir/../../Singular/LIB/ 6.) /usr/local/Singular/LIB 7.) /usr/local/Singular/LIB/ The info-file, i.e., the file singular.hlp is looked for at the following places: 1.) $bindir/../doc 2.) $bindir/../info 3.) $bindir/../../Singular/doc/ 4.) $bindir/../../Singular/doc 5.) $bindir/../../info 6.) /usr/local/Singular/doc/ 7.) /usr/local/Singular/doc 8.) /usr/local/info 9.) All dirs where it looks for libraries. (3) As a last resort, you can set the environment variable SINGULARPATH, so that the directories containing the Singular libraries and info-files are contained in the value of SINGULARPATH. You can inspect the used SearchPath and info-file by starting up Singular with the `-v' option, or by issuing the command `system("with")'. Use colons (i.e., `:') for directory separators within the SINGULARPATH. * General: Singular can not find the `info' program: Install the info program on your system -- see the section "TO INSTALL THE ON-LINE DOCUMENTATION" above. * For any other troubles, please send mail to singular@mathematik.uni-kl.de and include the header which is displayed by starting up Singular with the `-v' option, and a description of your machine (issue the command `uname -a' on your shell) in your report. More information about Singular: Comments, Questions, Bug Reports ================================================================= More and up-to-date information about Singular is always available from http://www.mathematik.uni-kl.de/~zca/Singular We very much welcome any comments, questions, and bug reports. Please contact us at singular@mathematik.uni-kl.de GOOD LUCK and ENJOY! Your Singular team.