[Beowulf] OpenFOAM, Linux & Compilers

[Tomislav Maric]

Dmitry Zaletnev wrote:
> Dear Sir/Madam!
> A few days ago I tried to compile OpenFOAM, I didn't succeed in compiling paraFoam, neiteher I didn't succeed in using ParaView 3.4,
> downloaded from official site, in viewing VTK-format data from Open FOAM. Compiler refused finding cmake. Earlier I worked as software tester than a programmer in NT projects. But know I hardly can't understand how compilation in *nix takes place, what is make, cmake, profile, etc. What is *nix executable? I've heard that Gentoo compiles executable each time it is to be run, and what other Linuces? Is here somebody who can briefly tell me about software development under *nix? And about what benefits gives using Sun Studio or Portland Group PGI instead of gcc & gdb, by the way what else do I need to compile and run my first project under *nix? I use Ubuntu 9.04 x64, openSuSE 11.1 x64, Fedora 9 x64, Fedora 11 ppc64 & Solaris 10.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Dmitry Zaletnev
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Hello Dmitry,

I'm using OpenFOAM for a while now. The question is a bit misdirected,
if I may say - the OpenFOAM forum is the right place for these kind of
questions, namely:

http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-installation/

OpenFOAM has wmake bash scripting utility (and others like foamNew) that
enables You to build it (and your applications, template libs, etc.)
without going into the details of GNU make. Here is the link for
building OF the easy way:

http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Howto_compile_OpenFOAM_the_easy_way

follow these and You should be ok. The -dev version is not "official",
but it is better and newer and opener :))) .

I'll be brave here as a noob in almost everything, and write a little
side note:

Linux/Unix os-es give you an option to install(copy) your binaries
(machine language code) and/or headers in system directories designated
for that use (google Linux FHS), but You can compile the sources and
copy the binaries wherever You wish. GNU Make is a utility that enables
configuration of this process for large apps and checks what needs to be
compiled (that's really cool when You have 150 MB of C++ code like in
OF) and linked and what is to be left as it is.

Anyway, my advice:

1) follow the link above
2) if the problems arise, search the OF forum

    http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/openfoam-installation/

3) contact me on my email if the problems survive the fight

Best regards,
Tomislav