Installing FriCAS on Windows (experimental)
Bill Page
Please try this experimental binary install of FriCAS on Windows.
Unlike previous releases of Axiom for Windows, it includes the full
version of both HyperDoc and Graphics. Installation of an X-server for
Windows is also required. It is built on Cygwin using Waldek's recent
changes to permit the use of Clisp with Axiom-style sockets, but a
separate installation of Cygwin is not required.
Click on http://groups.google.com/group/fricas-devel/web/fricas-on-windows-cygwin?hl=en
- or copy & paste it into your browser's address bar if that doesn't
work.
Note that this experimental binary version of FriCAS depends on parts
of Cygwin licensed under the GPL, therefore distribution of this
version would required that the FriCAS project also offer a
distribution of the Cygwin library in source form. If we decide to
continue this approach, I will upload the necessary files.
If you have any questions, please ask.
Regards,
Bill Page.
Martin Rubey
Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org> writes:
> Dear Fricas Users and Developers,
>
> Please try this experimental binary install of FriCAS on Windows.
a colleague let me try, but we failed:
Executing axiom or axiom.bat in a cmd shell gave us:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\usr\local\bin>axiom
C:\usr\local\bin>set AXIOM=/usr/local/lib/axiom/target/i686-pc-cygwin
C:\usr\local\bin>set
rootwsdir=\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin
C:\usr\local\bin>set
PATH=\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cy
in\bin;\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;\usr\local
ib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin;C:\Program Files\MiKTeX
2.6\miktex\bin;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Program
Files\QuickTime\Q ystem\
C:\usr\local\bin>set wsname=AXIOMsys
C:\usr\local\bin>set
serverws=\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin\AXIOMsys
C:\usr\local\bin>set DISPLAY=:0
C:\usr\local\bin>\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin\sh
\usr\local\bin\axiom
The directory for Axiom, /usr/local/lib/axiom/target/i686-pc-cygwin, does
not exist.
Goodbye.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin
Bill Page
Thank you for trying. I guess I am going to need a little more help to
solve the problem...
Alfredo also reported the same problem. I attach our correspondence
below. I suggested a change to the 'axiom' script but Alfredo has not
replied as to whether that solved the problem for him or not. Really
this script is not necessary when running on windows and should
probably be replaced with something more complete in the 'axiom.bat'
file.
Meanwhile I am not able to reproduce this problem on my Windows
machines. It seems to work for me as I described. So something is
different.
As I asked Alfredo: What did you use to decompress the zip archive?
Also I would like to know what version of Windows you are using. The
only version that I have available for my testing is Windows XP/SP2.
Have you tried to run just AXIOMsys?
Has anyone else had any success?
Regards,
Bill Page.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org>
Date: Oct 4, 2007 9:32 AM
Subject: Re: [fricas-devel] Installing FriCAS on Windows (experimental)
To: Alfredo Portes <doyen...@gmail.com>
Alfredo,
Thanks for trying this.
On 10/4/07, you wrote:
>
> Following the instructions, I get the following output when running axiom.bat:
> ...
> C:\usr\local\bin>\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin\sh \usr\local\bin\axiom
> The directory for Axiom, /usr/local/lib/axiom/target/i686-pc-cygwin, does not exist.
> Goodbye.
>
What method did you use to unzip the file 'fricas-i686-pc-0.2.zip' ?
Some (ancient) unzip programs might not retain the full path
structure.
What structure do you see under the \usr directory?
Regards,
Bill Page.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alfredo Portes <doyen...@gmail.com>
Date: Oct 4, 2007 9:57 AM
Subject: Re: [fricas-devel] Installing FriCAS on Windows (experimental)
To: Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org>
On 10/4/07, Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org> wrote:
> What method did you use to unzip the file 'fricas-i686-pc-0.2.zip' ?
> Some (ancient) unzip programs might not retain the full path
> structure.
I used Winrar.
> What structure do you see under the \usr directory?
I see the directories
c:\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\
and
c:\usr\local\bin
Regards,
Alfredo
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org>
Date: Oct 4, 2007 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [fricas-devel] Installing FriCAS on Windows (experimental)
To: Alfredo Portes <doyen...@gmail.com>
Alfredo,
On 10/4/07, you wrote:
> On 10/4/07, Bill Page <bill...@newsynthesis.org> wrote:
>
> > What method did you use to unzip the file 'fricas-i686-pc-0.2.zip' ?
> > Some (ancient) unzip programs might not retain the full path
> > structure.
>
> I used Winrar.
>
> > What structure do you see under the \usr directory?
>
> I see the directories
>
> c:\usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\
>
> and
>
> c:\usr\local\bin
>
Well that's weird. Although the script ouputs:
The directory for Axiom, /usr/local/lib/axiom/target/i686-pc-cygwin,
does not exist.
obviously the directory is there since that is where the 'sh' shell is
located that is running the 'axiom' script:
C:\usr\local\bin> \usr\local\lib\axiom\target\i686-pc-cygwin\bin\sh
\usr\local\bin\axiom
For some reason I do not understand the following test in the 'axiom'
script is failing:
if [ ! -d "$SPAD" ] ; then
echo "The directory for Axiom, $SPAD, does not exist."
ciao
fi
-------
The test is not necessary anyway. Maybe you can see what happens if
you just delete those four lines and try again?
I do not have any experience with 'Winrar'. I have used WinZip, 7-zip
and Windows XP native zip directories successfully to install this zip
file so far. One thing to watch out for is to make sure that the unzip
program is not doing something stupid like changing LF into CR/LF
(Windows line endings). If you can find out how to disable this, you
should. I have seen cases where these extra CR characters interfere
with unix-style scripts.
Regards,
Bill Page.
Martin Rubey
> As I asked Alfredo: What did you use to decompress the zip archive?
> Also I would like to know what version of Windows you are using. The
> only version that I have available for my testing is Windows XP/SP2.
Winrar, and Windows Vista, it seems.
> Have you tried to run just AXIOMsys?
just did it. it says (something like)
noexisting directory #P"/"
I also called sh and tried to start axiom from within, but alas, I couldn't
even find it. (Maybe I didn't try hard enough, though, but I think I remember
that all the directories were empty)
Martin
Bill Page
On 05 Oct 2007 17:06:25 +0200, you wrote:
> "Bill Page" writes:
>
> > As I asked Alfredo: What did you use to decompress the zip archive?
>
> > Also I would like to know what version of Windows you are using. The
> > only version that I have available for my testing is Windows XP/SP2.
>
> Winrar, and Windows Vista, it seems.
>
> > Have you tried to run just AXIOMsys?
>
> just did it. it says (something like)
>
> noexisting directory #P"/"
>
Before calling AXIOMsys you need to make sure that the AXIOM variable
is set. In a Command Prompt Windows you can do that by typing
echo %AXIOM%
If it is not set then you should do this before calling AXIOMsys
set AXIOM=/usr/local/lib/axiom/target/i686-pc-cygwin
set PATH=%AXIOM%\bin;%PATH%
(Notice the \ versus the / and other difference between windows
command language and unix commands.)
AXIOMsys
should start Axiom. If this works, then you should also be able to
call 'sman ...' directly as you see at the bottom of the 'axiom'
script.
> I also called sh and tried to start axiom from within, but alas, I couldn't
> even find it. (Maybe I didn't try hard enough, though, but I think I remember
> that all the directories were empty)
>
I don't know. Windows Vista is a whole different animal... If you can
find a Windows XP machine and avoid the use of WinRaR, it would be
great to see if at least one other person can get it to work as it
does for me.
Regards,
Bill Page.
Bill Page
I just found a Windows system running XP that fails in just the way
that you and Alfredo described. And it also does not run AXIOMsys,
giving the same error you observed.. So at least I can continue to
test this now. I don't know the reason for the failure yet but one
thing that is different with this system is that it has both Cygwin
and MinGW pre-installed. The other systems where this worked did
not...
It turns out that on this system if I unzip the file *inside* of
Cygwin on this system then I can run Axiom with no problems. I did
this:
0) Start Xming (not in Cygwin)
1) Start Cygwin
2) Copy 'fricas-i686-pc-cygwin-0.2.zip' to my Cygwin home directory
or you can download it again like this:
wget http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/page/fricas-i686-pc-cygwin-0.2.zip
3) cd /
4) unzip /home/Administrator/fricas-i686-pc-cygwin-0.2.zip
5) cd ~
6) export DISPLAY=:0
7) /usr/local/bin/axiom
Axiom starts and the HyperDoc windows appears as expected.
But of course it should not be necessary to run this only inside of
Cygwin. It should not be necessary to have Cygwin installed at all and
it should not matter whether or not it is.
Note: The Cygwin /usr/... path is *not* the same as the Windows
\usr\... path that was created by unzipping the file from Windows.
Cygwin has it's own "root" which starts with \cygwin\usr\.... as far
as Windows is concerned. Vice-versa, when inside the Cygwin shell, the
Windows \usr\... path is known as /cygdrive/c/usr/... Needless to say,
this can be a source of some confusion.
Regards,
Bill Page.
On 10/5/07, Bill Page wrote:
> >
> > > Have you tried to run just AXIOMsys?
> >
> > just did it. it says (something like)
> >
> > noexisting directory #P"/"
> >
> ...
Waldek Hebisch
> I just found a Windows system running XP that fails in just the way
> that you and Alfredo described. And it also does not run AXIOMsys,
> giving the same error you observed.. So at least I can continue to
> test this now. I don't know the reason for the failure yet but one
> thing that is different with this system is that it has both Cygwin
> and MinGW pre-installed. The other systems where this worked did
> not...
>
Yesterday I tried the zip file. It worked for me (there were
a little glitch -- graphic .pht pages were missing). Let me remark
that on that machine I had a non-functioning Cygwin installation.
More preciely: to have working Cygwin I have to install it
during given login. When I login later all files are in their
place, but the installation does not work. This seem to indicate
that registry setting made by Cygwin are wiped out. Why I mention
this: I belive that to correctly install Cygwin application
one needs to make apropriate registry entries. Apparently
it is possible to run Cygwin programs with no registry entries,
but then existing registry entry may break it...
BTW. As Bill wrote, graphic and examples were really slow. I
also got a lot of messages about missing fonts (but the texts
appeared correctly).
--
Waldek Hebisch
heb...@math.uni.wroc.pl
Martin Rubey
many of my colleagues and most of my students use MS Windows. Quite a few
refused to install VMware, since they said it broke their registry once
already.
So, what I'm really after is a single self-extracting file that installs all
the necessary components - i.e., xming and cygwin, too. I suspect, however,
that this is a difficult thing if xming or cygwin are already present, and
possibly broken?
So far I had no success with the zip file, unfortunately.
Martin
Gabriel Dos Reis
|
| I am still very interested in this subjects, since (somewhat to my surprise)
| many of my colleagues and most of my students use MS Windows. Quite a few
| refused to install VMware, since they said it broke their registry once
| already.
That happened to me, and it took me a while before getting everything
back to normal -- especially when one did not know of the side-effects
of VMware. I don't think I'm going to install it again in the
foreseable future.
-- Gaby
Bill Page
I also have had some bad experiences of this kind with VMware. But I
have recently discovered 'andLinux'
which is an Ubuntu distribution based on 'co-linux'
See separate thread: "The best way to run Axiom on Windows ..."
Co-linux does *not* run as a virtual machine. Instead the Linux kernel
is run as a Windows process. As a result co-linux runs much faster and
consumes less resources than running Linux under VMware or other
virtual machine. It also seems that the co-linux process being a
native windows process, does significantly less surgery to your
windows installation. The andLinux distribution takes care of all of
the details of setting up co-linux.
I have successfully compiled FriCAS and OpenAxiom under andLinux and
this is the way I am using it on now on several Windows machiens. I
have produced a binary distribution of Sage based on andLinux that is
a download of about 320 Mbytes (about 170 Mbytes is andLinux itself).
See:
http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/page/sage-2.8.7-andLinux.exe
This is a self-extracting zip file created by 7-zip (ultra
compression) which can be extracted to your Windows machine. After
extraction you must run an short installation script to install the
drivers and then you start andLinux with a small batch file.
It would be easy to produce a binary distribution of Axiom on andLinux
this way and it would probably be a little smaller in size. If anyone
is interested in doing this, I am willing to help.
Regards,
Bill Page.
Alasdair
further work in producing a single windows installer for Axiom/FriCAS
and all its necessary libraries?
Actually, in a prefect world, what would be nice would be a version of
Axiom/FriCAS which ran as a native windows executable, rather than as
a linux binary within a cut-down linux within windows... well, I can
always dream, can't I?
cheers,
Aladsair