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Compiling the programs for UNIX-like systems

This is not really easy, so in general I recommend that people use the executable programs that I have provided. However, occasionally people need to build the programs from the source code. While I can't guarantee that this process will be simple and easy, since it depends on software that needs to be on your system already, the procedure outlined below should get you most of the way there. These instructions are intended for users of UNIX-like systems such as Solaris, AIX, IRIX, and HP-UX.

What you'll need

1. A standard (ANSI) C compiler
2. The make utility
3. The gzip and tar utilities
4. src.tar.gz (source code for the metadata tools)
5. the Expat XML parser
6. Tcl/Tk version 8.3 or later (to build Tkme and mq)
7. Mktclapp (to build Tkme)

The compiler and make utility should come with your operating system. Try running cc -v and make to determine if these programs are already set up for you. You should check to see whether Expat exists on your system already: look in /usr/lib or /usr/local/lib for a file named libexpat.so or libexpat.a and look for a file named expat.h in /usr/include or /usr/local/include. Likewise, Tcl/Tk may be there already; if it isn't, you'll find it's a handy thing to have anyway. Mktclapp is a single C program; it can be compiled with a line like cc mktclapp.c -o mktclapp then all you have to do is remember what directory you stored the executable in.

In the makefile Makefile.unx I've assumed that the Expat and Tcl/Tk libraries are in /usr/local/lib and that the mktclapp executable is in /usr/local/bin. The makefile can be edited to reflect your local configuration if it is different.

Compilation procedure

1. Download the source code (tar.gz,1.5M)
2. Move the archive to an appropriate directory

3. Unpack. This will create a directory called tools

   $ gzip -d src.tar.gz
   $ tar xvfo src.tar
   

4. Move to subdirectory tools/src

   $ cd tools/src
   

5. Make a copy of the makefile and edit it to reflect the names of the directories where you have the Expat and Tcl/Tk libraries and the Mktclapp executable.

   $ cp Makefile.unx Makefile
   $ vi Makefile
   

6. Run make

   $ make
   

   This should compile most of the programs.

7. If you want tkme, run make again, like this:

   $ make tk
   

8. Create symbolic links in an appropriate place

   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/mp        /usr/local/bin/mp
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/cns       /usr/local/bin/cns
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/err2html  /usr/local/bin/err2html
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/dbfmeta   /usr/local/bin/dbfmeta
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/dbfuniq   /usr/local/bin/dbfuniq
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/dbfrename /usr/local/bin/dbfrename
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/shpinfo   /usr/local/bin/shpinfo
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/xtme      /usr/local/bin/xtme
   $ ln -s /something/tools/bin/tkme      /usr/local/bin/tkme
   

   This might require you to be the system administrator. If you get errors at this step, that's probably the cause. Obviously substitute for something the directory in which you unpacked the tools. Also for these commands to be useful, /usr/local/bin has to be in your PATH. If it isn't in your path, you might want to substitute something else for /usr/local/bin, or you might wish to put this directory into your path.

   An alternative is to use shell aliases. If you're using csh, ksh, bash, or tcsh, you can put something like these lines into your login script (either .profile or .cshrc):

   alias mp=/something/tools/bin/mp
   alias cns=/something/tools/bin/cns
   alias xtme=/something/tools/bin/xtme
   alias tkme=/something/tools/bin/tkme
   alias err2html=/something/tools/bin/err2html
   alias dbfmeta=/something/tools/bin/dbfmeta
   alias shpinfo=/something/tools/bin/shpinfo
   alias dbfrename=/something/tools/bin/dbfrename
   alias dbfuniq=/something/tools/bin/dbfuniq
   

9. Try each executable to make sure they work

   $ mp
   $ cns
   

   In each case, the program should print out a short message indicating the command-line arguments and version number. In particular, the output of mp should not be many screens full of PostScript code. If you see that, you've run a different program with the same name. That other mp is part of some mail-handling systems. You can either re-arrange your PATH or rename one of these versions of mp.

   $ xtme
   $ tkme
   

   Xtme and Tkme will print one or two warnings indicating that it cannot find a config file and that it cannot find a help file. If you're going to be using these, look at the information given when you choose Version from the Help menu; that explains how to set your environment up so that the program can find its more-extensive help file.

As always, contact me anytime anything goes wrong. Email is easiest for me to respond to, because that gives me some time to think about the problem (pschweitzer@usgs.gov), but you can call too.