Hi Allister,
Allister Levi Sanchez wrote:
>
> I still have some questions:
>
> 1. Do I still have to set the environment variables such as $ROOTSYS?
Funny you should ask. Unfortunately, you still have to set $ROOTSYS
with the Autoconfed version of ROOT. However, I have a fix for this,
and I can send a patch to you if you like. However, I try to keep my
changes to the ROOT sources independent of the Autoconfed version of
ROOT (see below for why this is so), which is why I don't include it by
default.
> 2. What is in the file root-2.21.08.04.tar.gz ?
This is the most current version of the Autoconfed version of ROOT, as
of today. The file `root-2.21.08.tar.gz' is just a symlink to the
latest version of ROOT 2.21.08 with Autoconf support, which as of today
is `root-2.21.08.04.tar.gz'.
My versioning system is to append my own version number (which in this
case is "04", meaning my 4th release) to the official ROOT version
number (which in this case is "2.21.08"). I increment my version number
after each release I make, and have `root-2.21.08.tar.gz' always be a
symlink to the latest release.
I make periodic releases as I add new platforms and fix bugs in ROOT's
Autoconf support. When people inform me of problems building the
Autoconfed version of ROOT on an unsupported system, I'll add support
for that system, fix any other outstanding bugs, and make a new release.
Therefore, if you download the Autoconfed version of ROOT and it builds
cleanly for you and passes the testsuite, then you don't need to
download any later release I make. If it doesn't build cleanly for you,
then let me know and I will try and help you.
It is an important design goal of mine to make my changes as orthogonal
as possible to the ROOT source code. The Autoconfed version of ROOT
simply makes changes (albeit extensive changes) that make ROOT more
portable and easier to build out of the box. It doesn't add or remove
any other ROOT functionality.
I created the Autoconfed version of ROOT to help users for which there
isn't an official version of ROOT for their system. Also, users seem to
like how easy it builds and installs. Thanks to Automake, you can
absolutely depend that "configure --prefix=/opt/ROOT" will reliably
install ROOT exactly where you tell it to, and not accidentally splatter
files all over your filesystem as hand written Makefiles are want to do.
Keep in mind, however, that it is still beta software. Having said
that, it is the version of ROOT I use for my everyday physics analysis.
> 3. Is there any preferred shell where this installation works?
Nope. That's the beauty of Autconf. It depends only on the most basic
features of "/bin/sh" (which even Windows users now have, thanks to
Cygwin32).
If you have problems building the Autoconfed version of ROOT, please let
us know.
--
Matthew D. Langston
SLD, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
langston@SLAC.Stanford.EDU
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 04 2000 - 00:43:33 MET