Latest revision as of 15:22, 27 October 2018

1 Introduction

This page is dedicated to explaining how to install OpenFOAM in Ubuntu.

If you do not yet feel comfortable using Linux, then perhaps you better first read the page Working with the Shell and train a bit with the shell/terminal environments, so you can have a better perception of the steps shown below.

2 Copy-Paste steps

A few notes before you start copy-pasting:

1. Lines that start with # don't have to be copy-pasted. They are just comments to let you know what's going on.
2. One wrong character is enough for breaking this guide, so make sure you can read the characters properly or that the installed language system does not break the copied characters!

2.1 Ubuntu 12.04

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: OF16 install on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise

Steps:

1. Note: Given the age difference of OpenFOAM 1.6 vs Ubuntu 12.04, these instructions will install the ParaView version that Ubuntu provides.
2. Switch to root mode (administrator), to install the necessary packages:

   sudo -s

   • If the 'sudo' command tells you're not in the sudoers list, then run:

     su -

3. Update the apt-get cache by running:

   apt-get update

4. Install the necessary packages:

   apt-get install libglib2.0-dev build-essential flex bison libreadline-dev libncurses-dev paraview
    
   #if you have Ubuntu 64bit (see step #4)
   apt-get install libc6-dev-i386

5. Now exit from the root mode:

   exit

6. Download and unpack (here you can copy-paste all in single go):

   #OpenFOAM downloading and installation
   cd ~
   mkdir OpenFOAM
   cd OpenFOAM
   wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/OpenFOAM-1.6.General.gtgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O OpenFOAM-1.6.General.tgz
   wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/ThirdParty-1.6.General.gtgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O ThirdParty-1.6.General.tgz
    
   tar xzf OpenFOAM-1.6.General.tgz 
   tar xzf ThirdParty-1.6.General.tgz

7. For building OpenFOAM itself, it depends on whether you have installed the i386 or x86_64 architecture of Ubuntu. To check this, run:

   uname -m

   Now, accordingly:

   • For i386:

     #here you can change 4 to the number of cores you've got
     echo export WM_NCOMPPROCS=4 >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
      
     #we're building the 32bit version
     sed -i -e 's/WM_ARCH_OPTION:=64/WM_ARCH_OPTION:=32/' $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
      
     #This is a hack for modern 32bit Ubuntu (http://www.lukedodd.com/?p=225)
     echo 'export LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu:/lib/i386-linux-gnu' >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
     echo 'export C_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/include/i386-linux-gnu' >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
     echo 'export CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH=/usr/include/i386-linux-gnu' >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
      
     source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc

   • For x86_64:

     #here you can change 4 to the number of cores you've got
     echo export WM_NCOMPPROCS=4 >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
      
     #This is a hack for modern 64bit Ubuntu (http://www.lukedodd.com/?p=225)
     echo 'export LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu' >> $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc
      
     source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc

8. Save an alias in the personal .bashrc file, simply by running the following command:

   echo "alias of16='source \$HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc'" >> $HOME/.bashrc

   Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM 1.6 shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:

   of16
   

   For more information on this topic, read section Using aliases to help manage multiple OpenFOAM versions in the page Installation/Working with the Shell.
9. Now to do several more necessary fixes:

   #Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder
   cd OpenFOAM-1.6
    
   #because we're using Ubuntu's ParaView
   sed -i -e 's=\.OpenFOAM=\.foam=' bin/paraFoam
   sed -i -e 's=^unset=. $WM_PROJECT_DIR/etc/unset.sh 2>&1 ; unset=' bin/paraFoam
    
   #adjust to modern times
   sed -i -e '/include $(GENERAL_RULES)\/java/d' wmake/rules/General/standard
   sed -i -e 's=/lib/cpp $(GFLAGS)=cpp -traditional-cpp $(GFLAGS)=' wmake/rules/linuxGcc/general
   sed -i -e 's=/lib/cpp $(GFLAGS)=cpp -traditional-cpp $(GFLAGS)=' wmake/rules/linux64Gcc/general
    
   #Remove all comments from "Make/options" and of some "Make/files"
   find . -name 'options' | grep 'Make/options' | xargs sed -i -e '/^\/\//d'
   sed -i -e 's=^//.*==' src/finiteVolume/Make/files
    
   #get the path checker, because we're going to need it for building Gcc
   wget https://github.com/OpenCFD/OpenFOAM-1.7.x/raw/master/wmake/wmakeCheckPwd -O bin/wmakeCheckPwd
   chmod +x bin/wmakeCheckPwd
    
   #we'll need this one for cleaning up the shell environment for ParaView
   wget "https://raw.github.com/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-2.1.x/master/etc/config/unset.sh" -O etc/unset.sh

10. Have to build Gcc 4.3.3 from source, because Ubuntu 12.04 doesn't have it:

    #Go into the ThirdParty folder
    cd ../ThirdParty-1.6
     
    #Let's get a special compiler script
    wget https://github.com/wyldckat/nucleation-original/raw/master/build-gcc_v4.tar.gz -O build-gcc_v4.tar.gz
    tar -xzf build-gcc_v4.tar.gz
     
    #sorry, but these will have to be downloaded again, because
    #there were some missing files in them
    rm -r gcc-4.3.3 mpfr-2.4.1 gmp-4.2.4
     
    #And this is going to build Gcc 4.3.3, along with downloading everyone that is needed
    ./build-gcc43 > log.gccmake 2>&1
     
    #You can track the current progress in another terminal, by running:
    #  tail -F log.gccmake
     
    #when it's finished, there is still some minor hacking to be done
    mkdir -p $WM_COMPILER_DIR
    rmdir $WM_COMPILER_DIR
    ln -s $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR/platforms/$WM_ARCH/gcc-4.3.3 $WM_COMPILER_DIR

11. Now let's build OpenFOAM:
    (Warning: this may take somewhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours, depending on your machine.)
    

    #Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder
    cd ../OpenFOAM-1.6
     
    #update the shell environment
    . etc/bashrc
     
    # This next command will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 3-6 hours.
    ./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
     
    #Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation
    ./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1

12. To check if everything went well:
    1. Check if icoFoam is working, by running this command:

       icoFoam -help

       which should tell you something like this:

       Usage: icoFoam [OPTIONS]
       options:
         -case <dir>       specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
         -noFunctionObjects
                           do not execute functionObjects
         -parallel         run in parallel
         -roots <(dir1 .. dirN)>
                           slave root directories for distributed running
         -srcDoc           display source code in browser
         -doc              display application documentation in browser
         -help             print the usage

       Note: And keep in mind that you need to be careful with the letter case of the command. It's icoFoam, not icoFOAM.

    2. If the previous command failed to work properly, then edit the file log.make and check if there are any error messages. A few examples on how you can edit this file:
       • By using kwrite:

         kwrite log.make

       • By using gedit:

         gedit log.make

       • By using nano:

         nano log.make

         You can then exit by using the key combination Ctrl+X and following any instructions it gives you.

       Note: It's the first error message that matters.

    3. If you don't understand the output, then please compress the log-file log.make and attach the compressed file to a post in the designated thread.
       If you do not know how to create a compressed file, then try one of the following examples:
       • You can compress the file with gzip by running this command:

         gzip < log.make > log.make.gz

         Then attach the resulting package file named log.make.gz to a post in the designated thread.

       • Or you can compress one or more log-files into a tarball package file, by running this command:

         tar -czf logs.tar.gz log.*

         Then attach the resulting package file named logs.tar.gz to a post in the designated thread.

    4. Instructions on how to further diagnose the issue yourself, have a look at the section Common errors when building OpenFOAM from source code in the page FAQ/Installation and Running.
13. Now you can go read the User Guide, where you may have more than one choice:
    1. Which you can find a local copy of the User Guide by running the following command:

       ls -A1 $WM_PROJECT_DIR/doc/Guides*/*UserGuide*.pdf

       • You should see two available formats: A4 and US-Letter.
       • But if it instead tells you that there is No such file or directory, then the OpenFOAM environment is possibly not properly activated.
    2. You can also find the more recent OpenFOAM Foundation User Guides online at the following page: official OpenFOAM User Guide - but be careful if you use the version that is too much ahead of the version you are currently using, given that some features have changed overtime.

of16

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: OF16 install on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise