Compile on MacOS

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This page explains step by step how to compile LabRPS 0.001 or newer on MacOS. For other platforms see Compiling.

Prerequisites

Compiling LabRPS on MacOS requires several tools and libraries.

A compiler. LabRPS is tested with MinGW—other compilers may work, but instructions for their use are not included here. More details in #Compiler, below.

Qt for C++ (>=4.3).

Qwt (>=5.1.0).

QwtPlot3D (>=0.2.6).

GSL (>=1.8).

muParser (>=1.28).

zlib (>=1.2.3).

QwtPlot3D and Qwt must be compiled against Qt 5.x! If these are compiled with Qt3 or Qt4, the application might crash.

Get the source

In the following instructions, the source and build folders are created side-by-side under

/Users/username/LabRPS

but you can use whatever folders you want.

mkdir ~/LabRPS
cd ~/LabRPS

The following command will clone the LabRPS git repository into a directory called LabRPS-git.

git clone https://github.com/LabRPS/LabRPS LabRPS-git

Create the build folder.

mkdir ~/LabRPS/build

Building LabRPS

Downloading the requirements:

Please download Qt, GSL, MuParser, Qwt and Qwt3D from their web sites before building:

Qt: ftp://ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source/qt-mac-opensource-4.4.1.dmg (this is for version 4.4.1, the current one at the time of writing, there may be a newer)
GSL: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gsl/ (the current version at the time of writing: 1.11)
muParser: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/muparser/ (the current version at the time of writing: 1.30)
Qwt: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/qwt/ (the current version at the time of writing: 5.1.1)
QwtPlot3D: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/qwtplot3d/qwtplot3d-0.2.7.zip?download (the current version at the time of writing: 0.2.7)

(I) Building the OS X binary on one's own platform:

Open the image file and install Qt for Mac.
Open Terminal and change to the directory which the gsl-x.xx.tar.gz locates. For example, type cd Downloads, if gsl-x.xx.tar.gz locates in the downloads folder of your home directory.
Type tar -xzf gsl-x.xx.tar.gz to extract the files
Type cd gsl-x.xx
Type ./configure.
Type sudo make and enter your password as prompted.
If there is no error occurring, then type sudo make install to install GSL. If you regret for the installation, you can type sudo make uninstall. If there is any error occurs and you want to restart the process, please type make clean.
Change to the directory which the muparser*.tar.gz locates and type tar -xzf muparser*.tar.gz to extract the files.
Type cd muparser.
Type ./configure --enable-shared=no because LabRPS requires static library.
Type make.
Type sudo make install. The same options of make in (7) are still applicable.
Change to the directory which the qwt*.zip locates and type unzip qwt*.zip to extract the files.
Change to the directory which the qwtplot3d*.zip locates and type unzip qwtplot3d*.zip to extract the files.
Change to the directory which the LabRPS*.zip locates and type unzip LabRPS*.zip to extract the files.
Copy both qwt-*.*.* and qwtplot3d folders into LabRPS_*/3rdparty/, and change the folder name qwt-*.*.* into qwt
Change to the newly created directory LabRPS*/3rdparty/qwt
Open qwtconfig.pri with any text editor and add # at the beginning of the line CONFIG += QwtDll for building static library.
Type qmake -spec macx-g++ to create make file for gcc compilier instead of xcode.
Type make. The same option clean of make in (7) is still applicable here.
Change to the newly created directory LabRPS*/3rdparty/qwtplot3d
Open qwtplot3d.pro with any text editor and add a line CONFIG += staticlib next to the line QT += opengl for building static library.
Type qmake -spec macx-g++ to create make file for gcc compilier instead of xcode.
Type make. The same option clean of make in (7) is still applicable here.
Change to the directory LabRPS*/ and type qmake -spec macx-g++
Type sudo make
As the building ends up with no error, the LabRPS application will be in LabRPS*/LabRPS. Unfortunately, the icon seems missed for some unknown reason and shows as a generic application icon.

(II) Building Universal Binaries (UB):

The whole process is essentially same as above except some extra commands for universal binaries. The references for building universal binaries for typical unix make systems can be found at:

The basic step for building UB is to pass the option -arch ppc -arch i386 to compiler gcc and linker ld. Qt simply takes care this problem by adding the block macx {CONFIG += x86 ppc } in each source's *.pro file. However, it is somewhat different for unix configure-base stuffs. The followings are the procedure for reference.

Building GSL in UB
Change to the root directory of GSL source and type ./configure --disable-dependency-tracking
Type make CFLAGS="-g -O2 -arch i386 -arch ppc" LDFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch ppc" to pass the desired option. The original values of CFLAGS and LDFLAGS in makefile after executing configure script are -g -O2" and ", respectively. Therefore, I just append -arch i386 -arch ppc to the original values and put them after make to override.
Same as (I).(7).
Building muParser in UB
Change to the root directory of GSL source and type ./configure --enable-shared=no --disable-dependency-tracking.
Type make CPPFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch ppc" LDFLAGS="-arch i386 -arch ppc". I do not use CFLAGS variable because the makefile does not contain it. However, I find CPPFLAGS, which should stands for c++ flags, in makefile and then I use it to pass the desired option.
Same as (I).(12).
Building Qwt and QwtPlot3D in UB
Change to LabRPS*/3rdparty/qwt and open qwtconfig.pri with text editor.
Adding the block macx {CONFIG += x86 ppc }
Same as (I).(18)--(20)
Change to LabRPS*/3rdparty/qwtplot3d and open qwtplot3d.pro with text editor.
Adding the block macx {CONFIG += x86 ppc } after QT += opengl<code><nowiki>. In fact, this location is somewhat arbitrary and not necessarily here. # Same as (I).(22)--(24) # Building LabRPS in UB # Change to {{incode|LabRPS*/LabRPS}} and open LabRPS.pro with text editor. # Adding the block <code><nowiki>macx {CONFIG += x86 ppc } in the section for Default settings for Linux / Mac OS X
Same as (I).(25)--(35)

Closing remark: The described procedures are testes and built on OS X 10.5.4 and a macbook. The older OS such as 10.4.x and PPC machine might need to minor revision on the procedures. For example, QMAKE_MAC_SDK=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk might need to be added into the *.pro, -isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk need to be added into CFLAGS and LDFLAGS.

Good luck building LabRPS on Mac OS X. - Yu-Hung Lien

Additional information

Forums and mailing lists If you want to discuss LabRPS with other users (or the developers) or if you are insterested in its further development, you can go to the LabRPS forum.
License LabRPS is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. A copy of this license is provided in the file `gpl.txt`.

Thus it is "free software". "Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech", not as in "free beer". "Free software" is also often called Open Source, FOSS, or FLOSS. When we say that LabRPS is "free", we are talking about

The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

That said, LabRPS is also free as in "free beer". We do not charge money for anything you can download on our homepage and we will not do so in the future. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

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