chap2.txt

  
  2 Installing and Loading the Example Package
  
  
  2.1 Unpacking the Example Package
  
  If  the  Example package was obtained as a part of the GAP distribution from
  the  Download  section  of  the GAP website, you may proceed to Section 2.2.
  Alternatively,  the  Example  package  may  be  installed  using  a separate
  archive,  for  example,  for  an  update or an installation in a non-default
  location (see 'Reference: GAP Root Directories').
  
  Below we describe the installation procedure for the .tar.gz archive format.
  Installation using other archive formats is performed in a similar way.
  
  To install the Example package, unpack the archive file, which should have a
  name of form example-XXX.tar.gz for some version number XXX, by typing
  
    gzip -dc example-XXX.tar.gz | tar xpv
  
  It may be unpacked in one of the following locations:
  
      in the pkg directory of your GAP 4 installation;
  
      or  in  a directory named .gap/pkg in your home directory (to be added
        to the GAP root directory unless GAP is started with -r option);
  
      or  in  a  directory  named  pkg  in  another directory of your choice
        (e.g. in the directory mygap in your home directory).
  
  In  the  latter case one one must start GAP with the -l option, e.g. if your
  private  pkg directory is a subdirectory of mygap in your home directory you
  might type:
  
    gap -l ";myhomedir/mygap"
  
  where  myhomedir  is  the path to your home directory, which (since GAP 4.3)
  may be replaced by a tilde (the empty path before the semicolon is filled in
  by the default path of the GAP 4 home directory).
  
  
  2.2 Compiling Binaries of the Example Package
  
  After  unpacking  the archive, go to the newly created example directory and
  call  ./configure to use the default ../.. path to the GAP home directory or
  ./configure  path  where  path is the path to the GAP home directory, if the
  package  is being installed in a non-default location. So for example if you
  install  the  package in the ~/.gap/pkg directory and the GAP home directory
  is ~/gap4r5 then you have to call
  
    Example  
    ./configure ../../../gap4r5/
  
  
  This  will  fetch the architecture type for which GAP has been compiled last
  and create a Makefile. Now simply call
  
    Example  
    make
  
  
  to compile the binary and to install it in the appropriate place.
  
  
  2.3 Loading the Example Package
  
  To  use  the Example Package you have to request it explicitly. This is done
  by calling LoadPackage (Reference: LoadPackage):
  
    Example  
    gap> LoadPackage("example");
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Loading  Example 3.3 (Example/Template of a GAP Package)
    by Werner Nickel (http://www.mathematik.tu-darmstadt.de/~nickel),
       Greg Gamble (http://www.math.rwth-aachen.de/~Greg.Gamble), and
       Alexander Konovalov (http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~alexk/).
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    true
  
  
  If  GAP  cannot  find  a  working binary, the call to LoadPackage will still
  succeed  but  a  warning  is issued informing that the HelloWorld() function
  will be unavailable.
  
  If  you  want  to  load  the  Example  package  by  default, you can put the
  LoadPackage  command  into  your  gaprc  file  (see  Section 'Reference: The
  gap.ini and gaprc files').