Lecture 1 Activity 3

Install QFITS library

Hi,

Please install your own copy of the qfits library. The one on the system is too old.

Christ T.A.

This is a typical task involving

./configure --prefix=...
make
make install

Find the webpage of the library with a web search

https://www.eso.org/sci/software/eclipse/qfits/

According to the description, qfits is a C library for FITS files.

Decide on the build and installation path:

• Build path: /mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/src
• Installation path: /mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/opt/qfits/6.2.0

Download the latest source and extract.

cd /mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER
cd src
wget ftp://ftp.eso.org/pub/qfits/qfits-6.2.0.tar.gz
tar -zxf qfits-6.2.0.tar.gz

Navigate into source and read installation notes

cd qfits-6.2.0
ls
less README

README contains no installation information; and INSTALL file is not present. So go back to webpage to read the library's online-documentation. The installation follows the standard procedure ./configure --prefix=install_dir ; make ; make install.

Step by step:

mkdir -p /mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/opt/qfits/6.2.0
./configure --prefix=/mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/opt/qfits/6.2.0
make -j 2
make install

Installation finishes. Navigate to the installation path to confirm

cd ../../opt/qfits/6.2.0/
ls
ls lib
ls bin

The system can't find the installation yet

which dfits

Based on installed directories, decide what environment variables to modify:

• bin -- $PATH for executibles.
• include -- header files; it's a C library so $CPATH.
• lib -- $LIBRARY_PATH, and also $LD_LIBRARY_PATH to allow dynamic linking to '*.so`.
• man -- $MANPATH for man page.

Add the following to ~/.bashrc

# /home/#USER/.bashrc
export QFITS="/mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/opt/qfits/6.2.0/"
export PATH="$QFITS/bin:$PATH"
export CPATH="$QFITS/include:$CPATH"
export LIBRARY_PATH="$QFITS/lib:$LIBRARY_PATH"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$QFITS/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
export MANPATH="$QFITS/man:$MANPATH"

Put the new path definition into effect. Now the system can locate the installation

. ~/.bashrc
# or equivalently "source ~/.bashrc"
which dfits

Remove the installation files but leave the source tar ball.

rm -rf /mnt/scratch-lustre/$USER/src/qfits-6.2.0

Suggestion: Instead of defining various paths in .bashrc, define your own environment module following the instruction on the CITA wiki http://wiki.cita.utoronto.ca/mediawiki/index.php/Personal_Environment_Modules