GMT Installation Helper

sh install_gmt GMTparam.txt

Output may be redirected to a log file by appending >& install.log (if your login shell is csh or tcsh) or appending > install.log 2>&1 (if your login shell is bash or sh).

Any problems during the install will be noted in the log. Saving the log messages is of course optional.

Note: You do not have to use this form. install_gmt can still be run interactively as in previous versions. However, after a successful install it will write all the parameters to a file named by you, and this file can be used for background installs as shown above.

IMPORTANT: Move or remove old GMT*.bz2 files from the current directory before running install_gmt!

• You have access to a POSIX Bourne shell (Bash will also work). Note that on Solaris you are advised to use the version in /usr/xpg4/bin since /usr/bin/sh (and things like /usr/bin/grep) are not Posix-compliant, and furthermore /usr/bin/awk thinks sin(1) = 1.
• You have bzip2 on your system. If not, use your package manager, or get source code and executables for bzip2 from the bzip2 site.
• You have write permissions in all directories you specify below.
• You have obtained and saved install_gmt, the GMT install script.
• If you are using Cygwin, check these important notes before you proceed.

Note: This used to be a choice that affected the compilation of GMT. However, since version 3.3.2 this selection is a run-time selection, meaning you can reverse it at any time. The present choice is simply a convenient way to set the default units for all users of your GMT installation (see gmtdefaults man page for how to change this choice at a later time). Individual users can always override the default with gmtset MEASURE_UNIT cm|inch

Note: GMT-produced PostScript files will by default use the printer configuration command setpagedevice to set image area (i.e., paper size) and to select specific paper trays, including the manual tray (e.g., when making overhead transparencies). Encapsulated PostScript files (EPS) are not allowed to use this command. Some older PostScript previewers (like Sun's pageview) do not understand setpagedevice, while more up-to-date previewers like GNU ghostview does. The parameter PAPER_MEDIA is used to choose between EPS and PS output and this can be changed at run-time with the gmtset command. Thus, this radio button only affects the initial default selection. Choose EPS if you do not need to worry about paper trays. Choose the default PS if you need the extra flexibility offered. Please read the gmtdefaults man page and Appendix C for more details.

Note: GMT passes information about previous GMT command-line options to future GMT commands via a hidden file in the current directory (.gmtcommands). To avoid that this file is updated by more than one program at the time (e.g., when you connect two or more GMT commands with a pipe) we use POSIX advisory file locking on the file. Unfortunately, some versions of the Network File System (NFS) have not implemented file locking properly. We know this to be the case with Linux pre-2.4 kernels when mounting NFS disks from a Sun server. If this is your case, you must turn file locking OFF, and avoid using the GMT shorthands in commands that are piped together.

Note: In either case you must fill out the directory name. If you already have netCDF then give the directory it resides in; if you need to install netCDF then give the directory you intend to install it. You can leave it blank if you have defined $NETCDFHOME to be the directory where you installed netcdf. Finally, if you have already installed netCDF as a SHARED library it is your responsibility to make sure these libraries are in default paths or explicitly have been added to LD_LIBRARY_PATH or similar environment parameters.

Note: Download times are shorter when you pick a site that is physically closer to you. If you already have downloaded the files and simply wants to use the script to reinstall, select the last option.

Note: If you are behind a firewall you will need to use a passive ftp session. Only if you have some very old ftp client, you may have to resort to active ftp (which involves the server connecting back to the client).

Note: The first three are required for a simple GMT install (in order to run all the examples in the cookbook). Many users will also prefer to get the higher resolution coastline files for map making in smaller areas. Make sure you remove old GMT *.bz2 archives from the working directory before you run the script; otherwise the script may decide that it does not need to ftp new versions of those archives.

Note: You may want to select Shewchuk's faster triangulation routine but as it is not distributed under the GNU Public License it is not included by default. For-profit organizations should first inspect Shewchuk's license. Only Watson's algorithm is included in the GMT source code archive.

Note: The GMT libraries can be made static or shared. The main benefit of using shared (dynamic) libraries is significantly reduced executable sizes (50-70% savings in disk space). The GMT install procedure knows how to make shared libraries under Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, OSF1, OSX, and IRIX. For other systems capable of generating shared libraries you must manually configure the makegmt.macros file. If you have no preferences or no idea what to do on an unlisted system, select the default static libraries.

Note: The default cc should work unless you are on a system with several C compilers. E.g., you may run Solaris and have purchased Sun's compiler but have also installed GNU gcc. To ensure you get the GNU you should select gcc. If your C compiler has another name or lives in a strange directory not in your path, please select "other" and enter the value for CC below.
Custom C Compiler:

Note: The default make should work unless you are on a system with a weird make utility. GNU make works best, and some Sys V makes have problems. If you have make problems, use GNU make (assuming it is installed): Select "other" and enter the path for make below.
Custom make program:

Note that the man pages will be be placed in the sub-directories man1 and man3 of the directory specified above. The man utility will find the GMT man pages if the chosen man directory is included in the users' MANPATH environmental variable. Make sure the users' search path contains the directory where you place the executables. Finally, advise users to add a browser bookmark for the file gmt/doc/html/gmt_services.html in the doc directory you chose above; that page provides links to online GMT documentation and man pages (assuming you selected the doc archive in Section C.3).

Note: At run-time GMT will look in the shared data directory (specified in section C.7) to find configuration and data files. That directory may appear with a different name to remote users if a different mount point is used or a symbolic link is set. GMT can use the environment variable $GMT_SHAREDIR to point to the right place. If users see a different location for the shared data files, specify it here. (It will be used only to remind you at the end of the installation to set the enronment variable $GMT_SHAREDIR). Leave blank to select the shared data directory of the data resources directory given in C.7 [Default].

Note: Normally, all coastline files reside in $GMT_SHAREDIR/coast. However, if your disk resources are limited or you are sharing files via NFS or similar mounts, you may want to place the larger files in places separate from where the smaller files reside. The selections below are only used if you chose that way.

Place crude, low, and intermediate coastlines in:
Place high resolution coastlines in:
Place full resolution coastlines in:

Note: The selected packages will only be installed if you also selected the supplemental tar archive above. The x2sys and x_system packages require the mgg package, the mex package requires Matlab or Octave, and xgrid requires various X11 libraries.

Note: Examples will only be run if you also ftp'ed the doc archive.

Once received, use your browser's File->Save As option to save the GMTparam.txt. file.