BornAgain ≻ 21 ≻ Documentation ≻ Install or build ≻ Build BornAgain ≻ Unix ≻ Build and install BornAgain

Build and install BornAgain

The following instructions must be executed for the software projects

  • libheinz,
  • libformfactor,
  • BornAgain,

in the given order.

Each source package comes with configuration files for the cross-platform build system CMake. Using CMake, it takes the following commands to build and install the software:

$ cd <source_dir>
$ mkdir build # see note [1]
$ cd build
$ cmake [<options>] .. # see note [4]
$ make -j4  # see note [2]
$ ctest -j4
$ make install # see note [3]
Note [1]: Build directory

The build process must take place “out of place”, i.e. not directly in the source directory. Otherwise, location and name of the build directory are arbitrary. We nonetheless recommend to follow our convention, create a subdirectory under the source directory, and call it build.

Note [2]: Make or Ninja

With GNU Make, the option -j<n> indicates the number of processors to be used in parallel.

In our experience, the alternative build software Ninja is faster and therefore to be preferred. To use Ninja,

  • install it (e.g. Debian package ninja-build)
  • call cmake with option -GNinja
  • replace calls of make -j<n> by ninja.
Note [3]: Install location

The install directory can be specified by suppling the option -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<install_dir> to the cmake command. Depending on the choice of the installation directory, it may or may not be necessary to run the command make install (or ninja install) under sudo.

Note [4]: Other CMake options

Besides the cmake options already mentioned, you may need -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<paths> where <paths> is a semicolon-separated list of directories specifying directories that are searched by CMake for the libraries and auxiliary programs that are needed for building BornAgain.