Dear Nicolas, dear GAP Forum,
Quite often we are being asked how to get some GAP packages ('package' in the
GAP sense) working under the Debian GAP package ('package' in the Debian sense)
by users who installed it using apt-get or other package managers in some Linux
distributions.
Our answer is that we do not support the Debian package for GAP, mainly because
the directory structure that Debian conventions impose does not work well with
GAP, and in particular with some GAP packages. Note that some packages extend
the functionality and/or performance of the system quite substantially, but you
will not be able to get them just by installing the Debian GAP package. For
this reason, we suggest downloading GAP and all released packages from the GAP
website and installing them yourself in a single location (for example, in
/opt/gap4r4 or in ~/gap4r4) following the instructions provided
athttp://www.gap-system.org/Download/UNIXInst.html
Another alternative is a Linux binary distribution offered by Frank Lübeck via
remote syncronization with a reference GAP installation which includes *all*
packages and some optimisations for installing GAP 4.4 on Linux PCs with i686
or x86_64 compatible processors:
http://www.math.rwth-aachen.de:8001/RsyncLinuxGAP
However, we admit that some users may not have such choice (e.g. on a computer
in a university lab where GAP may have been installed using the Debian package
by a system administrator, and where students have such a low personal quota
that full GAP installation is not an option). In this case, some packages may
still work if they will be installed in the ~/gap/pkg directory. However, this
is guaranteed to work only for packages that do not have external binaries or
GAP kernel modules. For most packages with external binaries, the default
assumption of the location of GAP is ../.., so you will have to direct them to
/usr/share/gap at the build stage (see package manual for build instructions).
But most unfortunately, the Debian GAP package is broken for some important
packages with GAP kernel modules, like, for example, IO, Edim, Browse, orb (so
since genss requires orb, this is not a way to go to install genss) because the
Debian policy requires headers to be located in /usr/include/gap, while not all
GAP codebase in the Debian GAP package has been adjusted to this change.
Finally, please note that GAP Support is a proper contact point for any
installation-specific and other technical questions for any GAP distribution.
If you have used one of the alternatives, please specify, if known, which
distribution was used - this will help us to provide more efficient advice.
Best wishes,
Alexander Konovalov,
with inputs from GAP Support members.
On 2 Jan 2012, at 04:02, Nicolas FRANCOIS wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I'd like to use the generic Schreier-Sims package (genss) on my Debian
> computer. But LoadPackage("genss"); fails.
>
> I tried to install genss and orb packages manually (they don't seem to
> be included in the Debian archives), in /usr/share/gap/pkg/, but the
> problem remains.
>
> Can you help me ?
>
> Thank you.
>
> \bye
>
> --
>
> Nicolas FRANCOIS | /\
> http://nicolas.francois.free.fr | |__|
> X--/\\
> We are the Micro$oft. _\_V
> Resistance is futile.
> You will be assimilated. darthvader penguin
>
> _______________________________________________
> Forum mailing list
> Forum@mail.gap-system.org
> http://mail.gap-system.org/mailman/listinfo/forum
_______________________________________________
Forum mailing list
Forum@mail.gap-system.org
http://mail.gap-system.org/mailman/listinfo/forum
