View source for FAQ/General

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[[Category:FAQSection]]

== FAQ Section [[faqnumber::1]]: [[faqname::General]] ==
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[[faqdescription::General questions about OpenFOAM. Legal etc]]
=== What is OpenFOAM? ===

OpenFOAM is an open source library designed for development of parallel or serial multi-dimensional modeling codes.  OpenFOAM includes numerous C++ classes for finite volume, finite element, and Lagrangian particle tracking.  OpenFOAM also comes with numerous computational fluid dynamics, combustion, and heat transfer programs that demonstrate the capabilities and usage of OpenFOAM.  These solvers are useful for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications and can be customized as needed.  [[OpenFOAM|Read more...]]

=== Can I use OpenFOAM? ===

Yes. [http://www.openfoam.co.uk OpenFOAM] has been released by [http://www.opencfd.co.uk OpenCFD] under the terms of the [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL 2] license.

According to this licence, you can freely download, install and use OpenFOAM. Moreover, you have full access to the source code of OpenFOAM and you can modify it to customize it on your needs.

=== How can I properly reference OpenFOAM? ===

You can cite the [http://www.openfoam.org  www.openfoam.org] website, if web-referencing is allowed, otherwise, cite the OpenFOAM documentation.

=== Where can I find support or ask questions about OpenFOAM? ===

;CFD Online: You can ask questions on the [http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam/ OpenFOAM message board].

;IRC: There also is an IRC channel at [http://freenode.net/ freenode]. The configuration parameters are:
:* Server: irc.freenode.net
:* Channel: #openFOAM-IRC
: For direct access to the IRC channel click [irc://irc.freenode.net/openFOAM-IRC here], if you have a browser configured to start your IRC client.

;Discord: The OpenFOAM Discord channel can be accessed  [https://discord.gg/P9p9eHn here]. According to the [https://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-community-contributions/197468-openfoam-discord.html admin], the goal here is to provide a live discussion, for small questions that maybe don't deserve a new thread on the forum and obtain instant help. It is more suitable for beginners, as advanced questions may need developed answers, thus the forum. There is also an [https://discord.gg/5hXCM8K OpenFOAM channel] here on Elmer's Discord server.

;StackOverflow: you may follow the OpenFOAM tag on [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/openfoam StackOverflow] or [https://scicomp.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/openfoam Computational Science beta]

;Reddit: There a couple of subreddits where you can read or ask OpenFOAM related questions. The [https://www.reddit.com/r/OpenFOAM/ r/OpenFOAM] is dedicated to OF, but [https://www.reddit.com/r/CFD/ r/CFD] is also a good place to look for.

;Commercial: for corporations, consultants and academic institutions there are plenty of paid services available, listed at [[Template:Frontpage_Links|Frontpage links template page]].

=== How do the OpenFOAM versions, variants and forks differ? ===
The official version is [http://www.openfoam.org OpenFOAM], provided by the OpenFOAM Foundation, where:
* Version 4.0 is the current stable release, which  the latest stable version to be released as binary. This should be the version of choice for most users.
* OpenFOAM 4.x is the official bug fix branch and thus contains the newest bug-fixes and features, but comes at the price of being less tested.
* If you're looking for an even more ''bleeding edge'' version, you can find the development repository here: [https://github.com/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-dev/ OpenFOAM-dev @ GitHub]


Known forks and variants of OpenFOAM are all listed at this page: [[Forks and Variants]]
* This includes OpenFOAM+ (plus), {{-Extend}} and [http://caelus-cml.com Caelus-CML].

=== Where is FoamX? ===

[[FoamX]] was only developed up to OpenFOAM 1.4.x and is obsolete as of version 1.5. For more information, read the section [[Main_UserGuideAddendum#Appendix A: The FoamX case manager|Appendix A: The FoamX case manager]] from the [[Main UserGuideAddendum]], which has got annotations concerning the OpenFOAM User Guide.

If you are looking for a GUI for using OpenFOAM, check this page: [[GUI]]


Nonetheless, if you are willing to be stubborn enough to spend countless hours delving into the ''World of Java'', feel free to get the original source code for [[FoamX]] from the official OpenFOAM project at SourceForge.net:
# The last known version of [[FoamX]] is part of the main source code package: [http://sourceforge.net/projects/foam/files/foam/1.4.1/OpenFOAM-1.4.1.General.gtgz/download OpenFOAM-1.4.1.General.gtgz]
# Download the file and then unpack it with the following command: <bash>tar -xzf OpenFOAM-1.4.1.General.gtgz</bash>
# The source code for [[FoamX]] is inside the folder: {{tt|applications/utilities/preProcessing/FoamX}}
# Since building [[FoamX]] is part of the OpenFOAM build structure, then the last known instructions related to building [[FoamX]] are part of these instructions: [[Installation/Outdated/Howto compile OpenFOAM]]

'''Warning''': Estimated amount of time necessary to get [[FoamX]] (barely) working with any of the latest OpenFOAM versions: 40 to 80 hours of dedicated work in coding in Java, depending on your level of experience.

There is also a Cygwin Porting for Windows [http://oshima.eng.niigata-u.ac.jp/OpenFOAM/FoamX-cygwin/README-20070224.html here].
Faqdescription	General questions about OpenFOAM. Legal etc +
Faqname	General +
Faqnumber	1 +