Obtaining and Installing DAVE Software
DAVE can be freely
downloaded
from the
DAVE web page.
DAVE is fully supported on Linux, Windows and MacOS X platforms. In addition,
there are usually two versions of the software available at any one time:
- a development version representing a snapshot of the current code in the
CVS repository. This version is released very frequently in order to give
users the opportunity to experiment with new, and sometime untested, features.
The development build is there very useful in this respect.
- a stable build which is released once or twice a year. This version is
expected to contain fewer bugs.
It is up to the user to decide what version and Operating System combination
is best for them and to
download
this from the
DAVE web page.
Brief instructions for installing DAVE
- Using Binaries
Windows. Download the appropriate zip bundle. Unzip the downloaded file
into a temporal directory. Navigate into the "dave" directory that is created,
execute "Setup.exe" and follow the instructions to install DAVE. After
installation an entry would be created in your start menu (as indicated during
installation) from which you can launch DAVE. A destop shortcut is also created.
Note that on some version of Windows, Administrator privileges are required to
install an application.
You can just as easily uninstall DAVE (requires Administrator privileges) using one of two methods:
- execute the "Uninstall" program from the relevant programs group from your windows start menu.
- execute "Add or Remove Programs" from the "Control Panel", locate the appropriate DAVE
program and click on the "remove" button to uninstall it.
MacOS X.
Note: X11 must be installed and running for DAVE to work. X11 for MacOS X
can be obtained from Apple's X11 site.
- Download the development version from the link above
- Double-click on the downloaded *.tgz bundle to extract its contents.
- An application bundle called dave (stable version) or daveCVS (development version) will be created. You can now delete the downloaded .tgz file.
- If you are unhappy with the location in which the extracted bundled is placed, use Finder to move the application bundle, dave or daveCVS, to any desired location (for example to the Applications folder). Note that if you do move the application bundle, you must use Finder!
- Finally, double-click on the application bundle to launch DAVE.
Linux. download the
appropriate version from the link above
and extract the files (eg "tar zxvf downloaded_file.tgz"). Then change directory to the
"dave" directory and run "./dave". Please note that DAVE must be launched from the
installation directory otherwise some program modules may not work
properly.
Note: If you are experiencing any problems with fonts and/or plotting, then you need to modify the file called 'dave' and change the line:
topdir=`dirname $0`
so that the topdir variable points to the installation directory in which the 'dave' file is located. For example, if the downloaded DAVE archive was extracted into a directory called /home/path/to/dave, the line in the 'dave' file should be
topdir=/home/path/to/dave
This modification should also enable dave to be executed from anywhere (without changing directory to the installation directory first). Thus DAVE can be launched by issuing the command '/home/path/to/dave/dave' from anywhere.
In addition, executing the following soft link as root:
ln -s /home/path/to/dave/dave /usr/local/bin/dave
would give any user the ability to execute DAVE by simply typing dave on the command line irrespective of the current directory.
- From Source
Note: A valid IDL license is required for this. The recommended IDL version is the one that we are currently using for our own builds (as indicated above for the stable and development versions).
Download the appropriate stable or development source code zip bundle and extract the contents into a self-contained directory. There should be an IDL project file called 'dave.prj' in the top-level directory created. Proceed with the following steps to build and execute DAVE.
- Launch the IDL development environment (idlde).
- Open the DAVE project file by selecting the 'File->Open' Project menu item and choose the 'dave.prj' file from the top-level directory of the source distribution.
- The path to several files that are included in the project and also part of the IDL distribution, are not automatically resolved when the project is loaded for the first time. These files have a red 'x' marker shown next to them in the project tree view - use the vertical scroll bar on the project window to scroll up/down. Manual intervention is required to specify their location as follows:
- Nine of these files (idlexinscribingview__define.pro, idlexmodelmanip__define.pro, idlexobjview__define.pro, idlexobjviewwid__define.pro, idlexviewgroup__define.pro, idlexviewmanip__define.pro, idlexvolview__define.pro, idlexvolviewwid__define.pro, idlexwidget__define.pro) are located in the directory
'{IDL_INSTALL_DIR}/lib/utilities/'
- one file (orb__define.pro) is located in the directory '{IDL_INSTALL_DIR}/examples/doc/objects/'.
Locate the unresolved files on the project window. Right-click on each unresolved file in turn and select the 'Edit' option from the pop-up menu. A file dialog appears. Navigate to the directory (as indicated above) of the missing file - once you get to the the directory the file name will appear in the file dialog. Click on 'Open' on the file dialog. The red marker against the file in the project window should disappear indicating that the file path is now resolved. Repeat for all unresolved files.
- Next, the top-level directory where the source files are located should be included into IDL's search 'path'. Select the 'File->Preferences' menu. A dialog will be displayed. Select the 'Path' tab on the far right. Click on the 'Insert' button half way down the dialog. A directory browser is shown. Navigate to and select the top-level directory underneath which the 'dave.prj' file is located - this should be the 'programs' directory, if the download structure was maintained. Click 'OK'. The selected directory will be displayed in the list box section of the Preferences dialog. Check the box to the left of the directory to indicate that all sub-directories should also be included in the search 'path'. Click on the 'Apply' button. Click on the 'OK' button.
- To perform a build of the entire project, select the 'Project->Build' option from the main application window. The project should compile successfully without any errors.
- Finally, select the 'Project->Run' option to execute DAVE.