Chapter 2. Installation

In most cases, performing a basic installation of KST is easy. The only prerequisites for KST are versions 3.1 or greater of and . However, optional libraries such as the Scientific Library enable KST to be compiled with additional plugin and file support functionality, and are highly recommended as they are required for certain portions of this tutorial.

Tip

If you use a package management system, you may use it to install KST instead. However, be aware that the version available in the repository may not be the latest version.

First, you should make sure that the required and libraries have been installed on your system. KST v0.99 requires 3.1 and 3.1. Almost all major distributions have packages for and , so it is recommended that you refer to your particular distribution's documentation for installation. More information is available on the website.

The Scientific Library provides a variety of mathematical operations for the built-in KST plugins. The library can be found at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gsl/. Alternatively, you can find GSL under /gnu/gsl on the mirrors listed at http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html. Download gsl-[ver].tar.gz, where [ver] is the greatest version number found in the directory. Then unzip and untar the file:

tar -zxvf gsl-[ver].tar.gz

replacing [ver] with the version number of the downloaded file.

Read the INSTALL file in the resultant directory for detailed installation instructions. For most systems, the following will work:

cd gsl-[ver]
./configure
make
make install

The second optional (but highly recommended) library is the CFITSIO library. It provides support for reading and writing to the FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) data format. The libary can be found at ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/software/fitsio/c/. Download cfitsio[ver].tar.gz, where [ver] is the greatest version number found the directory. Then unzip and untar the file:

tar -zxvf cfitsio[ver].tar.gz

replacing [ver] with the version number of the downloaded file.

Read the README file in the resultant directory for installation instructions. For most systems, the following will work:

cd cfitsio
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
make install

You may need to modify the --prefix option for your particular system, but for most systems, /usr will work.

Once all of the prerequisites have been met on your system you can compile and install KST. Download the latest source package separately from the KST website . Then, type the following:

tar -zxvf kst-[ver].tar.gz
cd kst-[ver]
./configure --enable-final --prefix=`kde-config --prefix`
make
make install

replacing [ver] with the version of KST you have.

Important

Note that kde-config --prefix is surrounded by backquotes. It is very important that the kde-config utility returns the correct path (most likely /usr), otherwise KST will not install properly. You can double-check by running it directly:

kde-config --prefix

Ensure that a non-null path is displayed.

You can read through the messages displayed by the configure scriptif it reports any missing libraries (such as GSL) that should not be missing, please go back and ensure that the libraries and header files have been correctly installed in the appropriate locations. If installation was successful, you can now go on to the next section of this tutorial.