1 Introduction

This page is dedicated to explaining how to install OpenFOAM in SUSE Linux Enterprise.

If you do not yet feel comfortable using Linux, then perhaps you better first read the page Working with the Shell and train a bit with the shell/terminal environments, so you can have a better perception of the steps shown below.

2 Copy-Paste steps

A few notes before you start copy-pasting:

Lines that start with # don't have to be copy-pasted. They are just comments to let you know what's going on.
One wrong character is enough for breaking this guide, so make sure you can read the characters properly or that the installed language system does not break the copied characters!

2.1 SLE Desktop 12

You can follow either one of these instructions:

Try to follow the official instructions for building from source code: Download v2.4.0 | Source Pack
Or follow the instructions below...
- Note: The following instructions were tested with a 60 day trial of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 12.

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: No thread available. Please a create a new thread in the forum.

Steps:

Make sure you have your SLE subscription operational in your installation, along with the update repositories and that you also have configured the SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 in the same repositories (briefly explained here).
Switch to root mode (administrator), to install the necessary packages:
```
sudo -s
```
- If the 'sudo' command tells you're not in the sudoers list, then run:
```
su -
```

Install the necessary packages:

zypper install -t pattern Basis-Devel
zypper install cmake libqt4-devel gnuplot gmp-devel mpfr-devel python-devel \
glu-devel boost-devel flex bison

Note: If you do not have NVidia or ATI drivers installed, then you also need to run this command:

zypper install Mesa-devel

Now exit from the root mode:
```
exit
```

Download and unpack (here you can copy-paste all in single go):

#OpenFOAM downloading and installation
cd ~
mkdir OpenFOAM
cd OpenFOAM
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz
 
tar -xzf OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz 
tar -xzf ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz

For building OpenFOAM itself, you'll need to activate the correct environment settings:

#here you can change 4 to the number of cores you've got
source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-2.4.0/etc/bashrc WM_NCOMPPROCS=4 WM_MPLIB=OPENMPI

Save an alias in the personal .bashrc file, simply by running the following command:
```
echo "alias of240='source \$HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-2.4.0/etc/bashrc $FOAM_SETTINGS'" >> $HOME/.bashrc
```
Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM 2.4.0 shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:
```
of240
```
For more information on this topic, read section Using aliases to help manage multiple OpenFOAM versions in the page Installation/Working with the Shell.

Now let's build the ThirdParty folder, because we need the shell environment to be updated afterwards, for CGAL to be properly picked up for building OpenFOAM:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
# This next command will take a while... somewhere between 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
 
#update the shell environment
wmSET $FOAM_SETTINGS

Now let's build OpenFOAM:
(Warning: this may take somewhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours, depending on your machine.)

#Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder
cd $WM_PROJECT_DIR
 
# This next command will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 3-6 hours.
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
 
#Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1

To check if everything went well:
1. Check if icoFoam is working, by running this command:
```
icoFoam -help
```
  which should tell you something like this:
```
Usage: icoFoam [OPTIONS]
options:
  -case <dir>       specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
  -noFunctionObjects
                    do not execute functionObjects
  -parallel         run in parallel
  -roots <(dir1 .. dirN)>
                    slave root directories for distributed running
  -srcDoc           display source code in browser
  -doc              display application documentation in browser
  -help             print the usage
```
  Note: And keep in mind that you need to be careful with the letter case of the command. It's icoFoam, not icoFOAM.
2. If the previous command failed to work properly, then edit the file log.make and check if there are any error messages. A few examples on how you can edit this file:
  - By using kwrite:
```
kwrite log.make
```
  - By using gedit:
```
gedit log.make
```
  - By using nano:
```
nano log.make
```
    You can then exit by using the key combination Ctrl+X and following any instructions it gives you.
  Note: It's the first error message that matters.
3. If you don't understand the output, then please compress the log-file log.make and attach the compressed file to a post in the designated thread.
  If you do not know how to create a compressed file, then try one of the following examples:
  - You can compress the file with gzip by running this command:
```
gzip < log.make > log.make.gz
```
    Then attach the resulting package file named log.make.gz to a post in the designated thread.
  - Or you can compress one or more log-files into a tarball package file, by running this command:
```
tar -czf logs.tar.gz log.*
```
    Then attach the resulting package file named logs.tar.gz to a post in the designated thread.
4. Instructions on how to further diagnose the issue yourself, have a look at the section Common errors when building OpenFOAM from source code in the page FAQ/Installation and Running.

Now, in order to build ParaView 4.1.0 that comes with OpenFOAM, including with the ability to use Python and MPI, several steps are needed:

Need to do several fixes:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
echo "addCMakeVariable  PQWIDGETS_DISABLE_QTWEBKIT:BOOL=ON" >> \
  etc/tools/ParaView4Functions
 
sed -i -e 's=//#define GLX_GLXEXT_LEGACY=#define GLX_GLXEXT_LEGACY=' \
  ParaView-4.1.0/VTK/Rendering/OpenGL/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx
 
cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR/ParaView-4.1.0
 
wget http://www.paraview.org/pipermail/paraview/attachments/20140210/464496cc/attachment.bin -O Fix.patch
patch -p1 < Fix.patch
 
cd VTK
wget https://github.com/gladk/VTK/commit/ef22d3d69421581b33bc0cd94b647da73b61ba96.patch -O Fix2.patch
patch -p1 < Fix2.patch
 
cd ../..

For building ParaView with Python and MPI, run:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
#this will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours or more
./makeParaView4 -python -mpi -python-lib /usr/lib64/libpython2.7.so.1.0 > log.makePV 2>&1

Once the makeParaView4 script is finished running, make sure to check the contents of the file log.makePV and check if there are any errors.

Finally, update the shell environment and build the official reader plug-in:

cd $FOAM_UTILITIES/postProcessing/graphics/PV4Readers 
wmSET $FOAM_SETTINGS
./Allwclean 
./Allwmake

Now you can go read the User Guide, where you may have more than one choice:
1. Which you can find a local copy of the User Guide by running the following command:
```
ls -A1 $WM_PROJECT_DIR/doc/Guides*/*UserGuide*.pdf
```
  - You should see two available formats: A4 and US-Letter.
  - But if it instead tells you that there is No such file or directory, then the OpenFOAM environment is possibly not properly activated.
2. You can also find the more recent OpenFOAM Foundation User Guides online at the following page: official OpenFOAM User Guide - but be careful if you use the version that is too much ahead of the version you are currently using, given that some features have changed overtime.

Reminder: Whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM 2.4.0 shell environment. In other words, run the following command whenever you start a new terminal:

of240

For more information on this topic, read section Using aliases to help manage multiple OpenFOAM versions in the page Installation/Working with the Shell.

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: No thread available. Please a create a new thread in the forum.

2.2 SLE Server 12

You can follow either one of these instructions:

Try to follow the official instructions for building from source code: Download v2.4.0 | Source Pack
Or follow the instructions below...
- Note: The following instructions were tested with a 60 day trial of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12.
- Caution: If you need a machine with SLED to also work with SLES, you should follow the instructions from the previous section SLE Desktop 12 in your SLES installation.

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: No thread available. Please a create a new thread in the forum.

Steps:

Make sure you have your SLE subscription operational in your installation, along with the update repositories and that you also have configured the SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 in the same repositories (briefly explained here).
Switch to root mode (administrator), to install the necessary packages:
```
sudo -s
```
- If the 'sudo' command tells you're not in the sudoers list, then run:
```
su -
```

Install the necessary packages:

zypper install -t pattern SDK-C-C++
zypper install cmake libqt4-devel gnuplot python-devel glu-devel \
openmpi-devel qt4-x11-tools libQtWebKit-devel

Now exit from the root mode:
```
exit
```
Now, since we're trying to minimize the number of packages to be built, the Open-MPI package that is available with SLES is going to be chosen. The downside is that this requires that you logout and log back in, for the system to update the environment settings.
Nonetheless, we can postpone logging out by running:
```
source /etc/profile.d/mpi-selector.sh
```
Note: But keep in mind that until you logout, use this command line on every new terminal window/tab!

Download and unpack (here you can copy-paste all in single go):

#OpenFOAM downloading and installation
cd ~
mkdir OpenFOAM
cd OpenFOAM
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz
wget "http://downloads.sourceforge.net/foam/ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz?use_mirror=mesh" -O ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz
 
tar -xzf OpenFOAM-2.4.0.tgz 
tar -xzf ThirdParty-2.4.0.tgz

For building OpenFOAM itself, you'll need to activate the correct environment settings:

#here you can change 4 to the number of cores you've got
source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-2.4.0/etc/bashrc WM_NCOMPPROCS=4 WM_MPLIB=SYSTEMOPENMPI

Save an alias in the personal .bashrc file, simply by running the following command:
```
echo "alias of240='source \$HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-2.4.0/etc/bashrc $FOAM_SETTINGS'" >> $HOME/.bashrc
```
Note: This last line means that whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM 2.4.0 shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:
```
of240
```
For more information on this topic, read section Using aliases to help manage multiple OpenFOAM versions in the page Installation/Working with the Shell.

Now let's build the ThirdParty folder, because we need the shell environment to be updated afterwards, for CGAL to be properly picked up for building OpenFOAM:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
# This next command will take a while... somewhere between 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
 
#update the shell environment
wmSET $FOAM_SETTINGS

Now let's build OpenFOAM:
(Warning: this may take somewhere from 30 minutes to 6 hours, depending on your machine.)

#Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder
cd $WM_PROJECT_DIR
 
# This next command will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 3-6 hours.
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
 
#Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1

To check if everything went well:
1. Check if icoFoam is working, by running this command:
```
icoFoam -help
```
  which should tell you something like this:
```
Usage: icoFoam [OPTIONS]
options:
  -case <dir>       specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
  -noFunctionObjects
                    do not execute functionObjects
  -parallel         run in parallel
  -roots <(dir1 .. dirN)>
                    slave root directories for distributed running
  -srcDoc           display source code in browser
  -doc              display application documentation in browser
  -help             print the usage
```
  Note: And keep in mind that you need to be careful with the letter case of the command. It's icoFoam, not icoFOAM.
2. If the previous command failed to work properly, then edit the file log.make and check if there are any error messages. A few examples on how you can edit this file:
  - By using kwrite:
```
kwrite log.make
```
  - By using gedit:
```
gedit log.make
```
  - By using nano:
```
nano log.make
```
    You can then exit by using the key combination Ctrl+X and following any instructions it gives you.
  Note: It's the first error message that matters.
3. If you don't understand the output, then please compress the log-file log.make and attach the compressed file to a post in the designated thread.
  If you do not know how to create a compressed file, then try one of the following examples:
  - You can compress the file with gzip by running this command:
```
gzip < log.make > log.make.gz
```
    Then attach the resulting package file named log.make.gz to a post in the designated thread.
  - Or you can compress one or more log-files into a tarball package file, by running this command:
```
tar -czf logs.tar.gz log.*
```
    Then attach the resulting package file named logs.tar.gz to a post in the designated thread.
4. Instructions on how to further diagnose the issue yourself, have a look at the section Common errors when building OpenFOAM from source code in the page FAQ/Installation and Running.

Now, in order to build ParaView 4.1.0 that comes with OpenFOAM, including with the ability to use Python and MPI, several steps are needed:

Need to do several fixes:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
sed -i -e 's=//#define GLX_GLXEXT_LEGACY=#define GLX_GLXEXT_LEGACY=' \
  ParaView-4.1.0/VTK/Rendering/OpenGL/vtkXOpenGLRenderWindow.cxx
 
cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR/ParaView-4.1.0
 
wget http://www.paraview.org/pipermail/paraview/attachments/20140210/464496cc/attachment.bin -O Fix.patch
patch -p1 < Fix.patch
 
cd VTK
wget https://github.com/gladk/VTK/commit/ef22d3d69421581b33bc0cd94b647da73b61ba96.patch -O Fix2.patch
patch -p1 < Fix2.patch
 
cd ../..

For building ParaView with Python and MPI, run:

cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
 
#this will take a while... somewhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours or more
./makeParaView4 -python -mpi -python-lib /usr/lib64/libpython2.7.so.1.0 > log.makePV 2>&1

Once the makeParaView4 script is finished running, make sure to check the contents of the file log.makePV and check if there are any errors.

Finally, update the shell environment and build the official reader plug-in:

cd $FOAM_UTILITIES/postProcessing/graphics/PV4Readers 
wmSET $FOAM_SETTINGS
./Allwclean 
./Allwmake

Now you can go read the User Guide, where you may have more than one choice:
1. Which you can find a local copy of the User Guide by running the following command:
```
ls -A1 $WM_PROJECT_DIR/doc/Guides*/*UserGuide*.pdf
```
  - You should see two available formats: A4 and US-Letter.
  - But if it instead tells you that there is No such file or directory, then the OpenFOAM environment is possibly not properly activated.
2. You can also find the more recent OpenFOAM Foundation User Guides online at the following page: official OpenFOAM User Guide - but be careful if you use the version that is too much ahead of the version you are currently using, given that some features have changed overtime.

Reminder: Whenever you start a new terminal window or tab, you should run the alias command associated to the OpenFOAM 2.4.0 shell environment. In other words, run the following command whenever you start a new terminal:

of240

For more information on this topic, read section Using aliases to help manage multiple OpenFOAM versions in the page Installation/Working with the Shell.

Discussion thread where you can ask questions about these steps: No thread available. Please a create a new thread in the forum.

Installation/Linux/OpenFOAM-2.4.0/SUSE Linux Enterprise

1 Introduction

Contents

2 Copy-Paste steps

2.1 SLE Desktop 12

2.2 SLE Server 12