Installing Starlab (version 4.2 and lower)

Untar the file you just downloaded (it should be called something like starlab_x.x.tgz). The result will be to create a starlab subdirectory of your current directory. If that's not where you want the package to go, change directory now! On Linux systems, type 
	tar -zxf starlab_x.x.tgz
If your version of tar doesn't understand the "z" option, try 
	gunzip -c starlab_x.x.tgz | tar xf -
(or just gunzip the tar file first!). The starlab subdirectory this creates will become the home directory for the new installation. We will refer to it here as starlab-directory.

The Starlab installation procedure has changed substantially (for the better!) with version 4.0. The new steps are described here. For earlier versions, follow the instructions in the README file in starlab-directory.

For version 4.0 and later, the installation is handled by configure and make. The simplest method is as follows. Move to the starlab directory, 

	cd starlab-directory
then, for (t)csh users, type 
	source AAA_SOURCE_ME
If you are a sh user (or don't know what you are), type 
	sh AAA_SOURCE_ME.sh
By the way, if you wisely don't trust all-in-one scripts, relax! The AAA_SOURCE_ME scripts simply automate the following steps, keeping track of the output for you in the file install.log: 
	./configure
	make config_new
	source starlab_start
	make all
	rehash; kira --help	# (a simple test)

If all goes well, then that's all there is to the installation of the (default) package! Configure should correctly identify the proper components of your system, but if an error occurs during installation, you may have to tailor the compilation and/or other options to your site, as described in the next section. Note that not all of Starlab is built by default. The configuration file local/cshrc.starlab described in the next section also explains how to change how much of the package is compiled.

To define the Starlab environment in future logins or shells, (t)csh users should add the following lines to their .login or .cshrc file: 

	setenv STARLAB_PATH starlab-directory
	source $STARLAB_PATH/starlab_start
Users of sh should put the following in .profile: 
	STARLAB_PATH="starlab-directory"
	. $STARLAB_PATH/starlab_start.sh
You may also want to add the Starlab executable directories $STARLAB_PATH/sbin and $STARLAB_PATH/bin to your search path.

Changing the defaults

Starlab is maintained and developed on a RedHat Linux system, so the probability of successful installation is greatest there. The configure program should create settings appropriate for other operating systems too. However, UNIX systems differ, and it may be necessary to tell Starlab where to find certain system programs and libraries, or to set specific switches. This is accomplished by the use of environment variables set in the script starlab-version/local/cshrc.starlab. This script is created by configure. You can subsequently edit it to change the default settings. Some of the more important variables defined in this file are:

STARLAB_CCC C++ compiler and necessary switches
STARLAB_C_COMPILE C compiler
STARLAB_CPP C preprocessor
STARLAB_CCC_FLAGS Optional C++ compiler flags
STARLAB_FORTRAN_COMPILE FORTRAN compiler
STARLAB_OS_FLAG Define the operating system
STARLAB_FORTRAN_LIBPATH FORTRAN library location (include the "-L")
STARLAB_FORTRAN_LIB FORTRAN library to use (include the "-l")
STARLAB_X11INC Location of X header files
STARLAB_X11LIB Location of X libraries

The script also allows the user to specify the portions of Starlab actually built. See local/cshrc.starlab for details.

NOTE: If you modify this file, you must rerun $STARLAB_PATH/starlab_start, as described above, in order for the changes to take effect.