2.Local XploRe version

2.1. Installation instructions XploRe for Unix

There are two different possibilities for the installation of a local version of XploRe on your computer: Local installation for a single user and installation for all users within a local network. This document contains information on the installation procedures.

2.1.1. General performance

Supported platforms:

The software consists of three different tar-archives which are compressed with 'gzip':

1)-2) Two of them do not depend on the hardware architecture: xpl4help.tar.gz
xpl4.tar.gz
3) The third one contains mainly the executable and depend on your operating system:
  • xpl4_solaris_dynamic.tar.gz
  • xpl4_hpux_static.tar.gz
  • xpl4_sgi_static.tar.gz
  • xpl4_linux_static.tar.gz

Note: There are two types of XploRe versions: static and dynamic.The dynamic version requires less Memory but a certain number of Libraries The static version does not need the Motif runtime library. Note, that we have no dynamical versions anymore except for Solaris because of too many problems with different Motif versions.

Appendix (for Solaris): The dynamically linked libraries

All versions are dynamically linked with the standard libraries like the C and mathematics libraries or X11. On most of the systems XploRe will find these libraries automatically. If you encounter problems that some libraries are not found, it may be possible thet the libraries are installed but not at the right search path. On usual Unix systems you can control this path by the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

Example:

On some Solaris machines the Xext library is not found. Usually it is located in /usr/openwin/lib. Setting the environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH:

setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/openwin/lib

for C-Shell or

export  LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/openwin/lib

for bash.

2.1.2. Installation steps for a single user

  1. On the Download page choose the local version of XploRe, your operating system, answer the questions and click on "submit&Download XploRe".

  2. In the next dialog you can choose the static or dynamic version of XploRe (for Solaris) and transfer the archive 'xpl4_[your architecture].tar.gz '. Click also on "Help system" as well as "Libraries" to transfer the files 'xpl4.tar.gz' and 'xpl4help.tar.gz'.

    If you use ftp make sure to set the binary mode before transfer.

  3. Create a directory XploRe and move the files to that directory.

  4. Decompress the archiv file 'xpl4_[your architecture].tar.gz'

    gzip -c -d xpl4_[your architecture].tar.gz | tar xf -
    

    Now, you should find the files 'XploRe.ini', 'install.txt', 'instx4' and 'xpl4.exe' in your directory. Check if the files xpl4.exe and instx4 have execution permissions. If not, change them with chmod a+x. The file 'install.txt' contains some more detailed information.

  5. Run the script 'instx4' with

    ./instx4
    

    It unpacks libraries and helpfiles ('xpl4.tar.gz' and 'xpl4help.tar.gz') and creates the 'xplore' script.

  6. Now you can run the script 'xplore' with

    ./xplore
    

    The script 'xplore' looks like xpl4.exe -ini/opt/bin/XploRe/XploRe.ini $*. You should add the directory XploRe to your PATH in order to call xplore from other places.

  7. The help system is displayed using a WWW browser. Depending on the system 's load and the network bandwidth it can take a few seconds to start it. The default browser is Netscape. You can set it within XploRe with the command

    setenv ("browser", "[mybrowser]") 
    

    The HTML files use the frame extension.

2.1.3. Installation steps for a server

The installation for all users of a Unix/Linux machine or network is very similar to the single user installation.

  1. Start with steps 1. and 2. for the single user installation (see 2.1.2.).

  2. Create a directory XploRe in a path which is accessible to all users.

    Move the files 'xpl4_[your architecture].tar.gz ', 'xpl4.tar.gz' and 'xpl4help.tar.gz' to that directory.

    A common choice would be /usr/local/XploRe or /opt/XploRe.

  3. Follow steps 4. and 5. for the single user installation (see 2.1.2.).

  4. You should find now the xplore script in your XploRe directory. You may check the installation by executing

    ./xplore
    

  5. Add the directory XploRe to the standard PATH or create a link to xplore on the standard PATHS. For example, if/usr/local/bin is in the standard PATH and you installed in /usr/local/XploRe , then

    ln -s /usr/local/XploRe/xplore /usr/local/bin/xplore
    
    will do this.

  6. The help system is displayed using a WWW browser. Depending on the system 's load and the network bandwidth it can take a few seconds to start it. The default browser is Netscape. You can change the browser for all users by setting the enviroment variable "browser" in XploRe.ini. For example,

    browser=/opt/bin/netscape4.5
    
    will use the executable /opt/bin/netscape4.5 as your default browser. Note that the browser should support the frame extension.

2.2. Installation Windows

You can either choose to download the whole XploRe in one file ("xpl4win.exe") or to download XploRe in multiple files ("disk1.exe, disk2.exe,...").

The file(s) you have downloaded is a self-extracting executable. Just copy it/them in a temporary directory. Then you can execute it by e.g. double-clicking on it in an Explorer window.

If you have downloaded XploRe in parts start doubleclicking with the last part (currently "disk6.exe") and continue to doubleclick until you are on "disk1.exe". It is important that you doubleclick on "disk1.exe" at last !

Afterwards you are interactively led through the installation procedure where you can choose the path, you like XploRe to be installed in, and more. If you are not sure about these things, just choose the default values. After the installation procedure you might can delete the self-extracting executable and save disk space.

Attention: After the installation process is finished, you need to unzip the files "help/xplhlp.exe" into "help" and "tutorials/tutor.exe" into "tutorials" to install the help system.


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