1 Introduction

This page is dedicated to explaining how to install OpenFOAM in Raspbian for Raspberry Pi.

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. And please do keep in mind that these instructions can easily go out of date, because the OpenFOAM development repository is the bleeding edge. For more details about this version, see the parent page Installation/Linux/OpenFOAM-dev.

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 Raspbian Jessie

Here you have the following choices:

You can install from source, by either:
- Following the official instructions from here, by following the instructions for Ubuntu: OpenFOAM Source Repository
- Or by following the detailed step-by-step instructions below...

Important Notes

The instructions below are based on top the ones provided in the bug report #2051 comment #6216.
The build will take a considerable long amount of time to do. Expect it will take 12 to 24h, if not more.
The instructions below were tested using emulation via QEMU on a machine with a common x86_64 CPU, which are detailed here: Raspberry Pi on QEMU

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

Steps:

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 -
```
Update the apt-get cache by running:
```
apt-get update
```

Install the necessary packages:

apt-get install git-core build-essential binutils-dev cmake flex bison zlib1g-dev qt4-dev-tools libqt4-dev libqtwebkit-dev gnuplot \
libreadline-dev libncurses-dev libxt-dev libopenmpi-dev openmpi-bin libboost-system-dev libboost-thread-dev libgmp-dev \
libmpfr-dev python python-dev  freeglut3-dev mesa-common-dev

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
git clone https://github.com/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-dev.git
git clone https://github.com/OpenFOAM/ThirdParty-dev.git
```
But we will now have to download a few more of the necessary packages for the ThirdParty-dev folder:
1. First, we need to prepare for the downloads:
```
cd ThirdParty-dev
mkdir download
```
2. Now, we need to download the essential source code packages for these instructions you are following (the links are from the file README.org):
```
wget -P download https://github.com/CGAL/cgal/releases/download/releases%2FCGAL-4.8.1/CGAL-4.8.1.tar.xz
```
3. Next, we need to unpack the packages we've downloaded:
```
tar -xJf download/CGAL-4.8.1.tar.xz
```
4. Last but not least, the final command on this sub-list is to go back to the main OpenFOAM folder:
```
cd ..
```
Optional: Let's make a few symbolic links that should ensure that the correct global MPI installation is used by this OpenFOAM installation:
```
ln -s /usr/bin/mpicc.openmpi OpenFOAM-dev/bin/mpicc
ln -s /usr/bin/mpirun.openmpi OpenFOAM-dev/bin/mpirun
```
This way we avoid having problems in case there is more than one MPI toolbox installed in your Raspbian system, for example if MPICH2 is installed and is the default MPI toolbox.

A few details need to be fixed, before proceeding, which will change the default CGAL version and use the correct build option for Raspberry Pi:

sed -i -e 's/\(cgal_version=\)cgal-system/\1CGAL-4.8.1/' OpenFOAM-dev/etc/config.sh/CGAL
sed -i -e '/softfp/ s/^/#/'  -e '/hard/ s/^#//' OpenFOAM-dev/wmake/rules/linuxARM7Gcc/{cOpt,c++Opt}

For building OpenFOAM itself, activate the OpenFOAM environment with the following command:
```
source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-dev/etc/bashrc FOAMY_HEX_MESH=yes
```
Save an alias in the personal .bashrc file, simply by running the following command:
```
echo "alias ofdev='source \$HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-dev/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-dev shell environment. In other words, whenever you start a new terminal, you should run:
```
ofdev
```
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
 
#make very certain that the correct Qt version is being used, by running this command:
export QT_SELECT=qt4
 
# This next command will take a while... somewhere between 5 minutes to 30 minutes.
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
 
#update the shell environment
wmRefresh

Now, in order to build ParaView 5.0.1, including with the ability to use Python and MPI, several steps are needed:
1. Make sure you're running in the ThirdParty folder and that the correct Qt version is used:
```
cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
export QT_SELECT=qt4
```
2. For building ParaView with Python and MPI, run:
```
./makeParaView -python -mpi -python-lib /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libpython2.7.so.1.0 > log.makePV 2>&1
```
3. Once the makeParaView script is finished running, make sure to check the contents of the file log.makePV and check if there are any errors. If you have any problems building or using ParaView, please check the ParaView installation FAQ page.
4. Finally, update the shell environment:
```
wmRefresh
```
Now let's build OpenFOAM:
1. Go into OpenFOAM's main source folder and be certain that the correct Qt version is being used:
```
cd $WM_PROJECT_DIR
export QT_SELECT=qt4
```
2. This next command will take a considerably long time to run somewhere between 12 to 24 hours:
```
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
```
  Note: If you're using Raspbian with chroot+QEMU and you have enough RAM in your real machine, then you can use the -j option, e.g. for using 4 cores:
```
./Allwmake -j 4 > log.make 2>&1
```
3. Run it a second time for getting a summary of the installation:
```
./Allwmake > log.make 2>&1
```
  Note: Technically, the build will stop as soon as the first error is found. Running a second time only makes it easier to sort through between what's already been built and where the crash occurred.
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 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.
When you need to update your local clone, for getting the latest source code updates, you can follow the instructions provided in the page Installation/Working with git repositories.
Note: When you want to update your build, follow the instructions on section Steps for updating on the parent page.

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

ofdev

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-dev/Raspbian

1 Introduction

Contents

2 Copy-Paste steps

2.1 Raspbian Jessie