PGPLOT Installation Instructions

Version 5.2.0

To install PGPLOT, you need to perform the following steps. These steps are
described more fully below for each operating system.

Read the release notes (ver520.txt) to see what is new in this version.

  1. Copy the distribution file by anonymous ftp from Caltech. This is a
     gzipped tar archive:
     ftp://astro.caltech.edu/pub/pgplot/pgplot5.2.tar.gz.
  2. Unpack the distribution file to create the ``PGPLOT distribution''
     directory tree. This is identical for all implementations of PGPLOT and
     can be placed on any disk that is visible on the target system,
     including read-only network-mounted disks.
  3. Create a writable directory in which the PGPLOT library and associated
     files will be created. One such directory is needed for each different
     operating system and compiler combination (``target system'') that you
     wish to support. This should not be the same directory as the directory
     containing the source code.
  4. Configure PGPLOT by selecting device drivers from the available list.
  5. Execute the supplied scripts and makefiles to create the library and
     demonstration programs.
  6. Install the optional C binding for PGPLOT, which provides a convenient
     way to call PGPLOT subroutines from a program written in C or C++. This
     requires an ANSI C compiler (that understands function prototypes) and
     is not available on all systems.
  7. Run the demonstration programs on your selected devices and verify that
     they run satisfactorily.
  8. Install the optional documentation files.

You will need the following software, which is not distributed with PGPLOT:

   * A Fortran-77 compiler for your computer system.

     Consult your operating system vendor to see what Fortran-77 compilers
     are available for your system. The following are widely used;
        o GNU Fortran compiler (g77): ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/
          (g77-*).
        o f2c Fortran-77 to C translator: ftp://ftp.netlib.org/f2c/.
     I prefer g77, which works well on the systems I have tried. f2c is
     unable to compile many of the PGPLOT device drivers that use
     non-standard extensions to Fortran-77.

   * An ANSI C compiler for your computer system.
   * Utilities for retrieving and unpacking the distribution file: ftp (or a
     Web browser), tar, and gunzip.
   * To use the PGPLOT X-window device drivers: the X Window System for your
     computer, including the standard X header files (*.h) and the Xlib
     library.
   * To use the PGPLOT Motif (X-window) widget driver: the X Window System,
     the Xm and Xt libraries, and associated header files.
   * To use the PGPLOT Tcl/Tk (X-window) widget driver: the X Window System,
     the tk and tcl libraries, and associated header files.

Detailed installation instructions are available for the following operating
systems:

   * UNIX (all varieties)
   * VMS [OpenVMS VAX or OpenVMS Alpha] (Digital Equipment Corp.)
   * Acorn Archimedes

This version has not yet been ported to MS-DOS, Windows, Windows/NT, or
MacOS. For notes about earlier attempts to port PGPLOT to these operating
systems, see the files called aaaread.me in the directories pgplot/sys_dos,
pgplot/sys_msdos, pgplot/sys_win, and pgplot/sys_mac in the tar file. I hope
to include updated versions of these directories in Version 5.2.1; this will
require feedback from users.

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PGPLOT
Tim Pearson, California Institute of Technology, tjp@astro.caltech.edu
Copyright © 1997 California Institute of Technology