Basic Installation Steps
This is a step-by-step installation guide to OpenFOAM on 32bit machines. It is highly focused on Linux-newbies, thus many steps might look superfluous on more experienced users. The character ">" is used to signal that what follows on that specific line is to be typed in a command line.
- Make a directory for your OpenFOAM installation by typing:
> mkdir $HOME/OpenFOAM > cd $HOME/OpenFOAM > mkdir linux
- Download the following six archives from the opencfd-homepage to the $HOME/OpenFOAM directory:
> OpenFOAM-1.4.1.General.gtgz > OpenFOAM-1.4.1.linuxGccDOpt.gtgz > OpenFOAM-1.4.1.linuxGccSOpt.gtgz > gcc-4.2.1.linux.tgz > j2sdk1.4.2_05.linux.tgz > paraview-2.4.4.linux.tgz
- Open a terminal and type:
> ls /usr/include/features.h a) EITHER "/usr/include/features.h" is written to screen. Do not do any further. b) OR "cannot access /usr/include/features.h: No such file or directory" is written to screen. You need the build essentials to compile your own boundary conditions, thus type the following in a terminal: > aptitude install build-essential gcc
- Unpack the archives by typing the following command:
> cd $HOME/OpenFOAM > tar -xzf OpenFOAM-1.4.1.General.gtgz > tar -xzf OpenFOAM-1.4.1.linuxGCCDPOpt.gtgz > tar -xzf OpenFOAM-1.4.1.linuxGCCSPOpt.gtgz > tar -xzf gcc-4.2.1.linux.tgz linux/ > mv *.tgz linux/. > cd linux > tar -xzf gcc-4.2.1.linux.tgz > tar -xzf j2sdk1.4.2_05.linux.tgz > tar -xzf paraview-2.4.4.linux.tgz
- You need to set some environmental variables to be able to run OpenFOAM. This is done in the following way:
a) EITHER, if running bash or ksh (if in doubt type 'echo $SHELL'), do the following: > nano $HOME/.bashrc (this open a text-editor in your command window) In the end of the file you type: . $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.4.1/.OpenFOAM-1.4.1/bashrc Press 'CTRL-X' to quit nano and agree to save changes.
a) OR, if running tcsh or csh (if in doubt type 'echo $SHELL'), do the following: > nano $HOME/.cshrc (this open a text-editor in your command window) In the end of the file you type: source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.4.1/.OpenFOAM-1.4.1/cshrc Press 'CTRL-X' to quit nano and agree to save changes.
- Open a new command-window. This will read $HOME/.bashrc and set all the necessary environmental variables. To check the installation do:
> cd ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.4.1/bin > sh foamInstallationTest
- On single-machine setups, the installation test will probably produce a report which looks like this in the last couple of lines:
============================================================================== Checking networking... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Action Result Crit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinging_ngj-ubuntu Successful yes Pinging_localHost Successful yes Test_rsh: Unsuccessful_connection_refused* yes Test_ssh: Unsuccessful_connection_refused* yes FATAL ERROR: No remote shell available. Foam1.4.1 enviroment requires either ssh and/or rsh. Contact your system administrator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The system test has evoked 1 fatal error(s). Critical systems ok. Review the output for warning messages and consult the installation guide for trouble shooting. ==============================================================================
This fatal error is due the test_rsh and test_ssh critiria, though they are irrelevant on single-machine installations, i.e. only relevant for parallel- processing on multiple machine.
- To setup the a working directory, follow step 6 in the ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.4.1/README file.
- You are now ready to begin working with OpenFOAM.
- Have fun:)