SAS Installation Guide

These instructions cover the installation of the XMM Science Analysis System. After reading this page, please also read the SAS main page for further information on the build process.

Binary installation

The binary distribution consists of two tar files: the SAS proper, and a number of additional shared libraries that are required to run the SAS.

The SAS proper tar files have names like xmmsas_yyyymmdd_hhmm.tar.gz. When unpacked, this creates the directory xmmsas_yyyymmdd_hhmm.

The additional-libraries tar files have names like xmmsas_yyyymmdd_hhmm_libextra.tar.gz. They must be unpacked in the directory xmmsas_yyyymmdd_hhmm.

/path/to/xmmsas_yyyymmdd_hhmm, then . $SAS_DIR/sas-setup.sh (or source $SAS_DIR/sas-setup.csh).

You are ready to run the SAS. Type sashelp to start Netscape on the SAS documentation. If that does not work, point your browser to $SAS_DIR/README.html.

To start the SAS task launcher type sas.

Source installation

If you are reading this, probably you have already downloaded the SAS source distribution. If this is not the case, see the SAS main page.

Make sure you also have installed and configured the required software packages.

An important step in the SAS build process consists in setting up the correct Unix environment. Achieving this may not be trivial, especially if you expect to be able to use at the same time other software packages that may contain or require conflicting libraries.

With a wrongly configured environment, packages may fail to work or even build correctly. The SAS configuration script (see below) will spot most environment problems before you start the compilation. Other problems may emerge during the build stage.

If you cannot proceed, first consult the SAS main page, where you also find instructions on how to submit a problem report and get help with the installation.

The SAS configuration makes use of the following environment variables:

Now on to the build.
  1. If you haven't yet done so, download the latest SAS source distribution, as explained on the main SAS page. This will unpack the SAS in a directory of your choice. In the following we assume that this directory is called /usr/local/sas.
  2. cd /usr/local/sas
    ./configure

    The configure script will generate errors if one of the required packages is not found. The script also generates warnings. These can usually be ignored, but may result in some of the SAS packages not being built. The configure script creates a log file, config.log where it reports the detailed, if somewhat cryptical, reasons why some software package was not found.
  3. Set the environment variable SAS_DIRto /usr/local/sas; set the environment variable SAS_CCF to be equal to $SAS_DIR/lib/testccf; set the environment variable SAS_ODF to be equal to $SAS_DIR/lib/testodf/scisimsimple.
  4. Source one of the set up scripts, according to the flavor of your Unix shell:
  5. make check
    This will recursively build all the packages, including their documentation. When finished, the file check.html will contain a summary of what packages were built, with links to any errors that might have occurred. The file evaluatebuild.html explains if some packages fail indirectly, that is, because one of the packages they depend on fails.
  6. The build is complete. The starting point for the on-line documentation is $SAS_DIR/README.html. Type sas to start the SAS task launcher.

What to do if the build fails

If a package did not build properly you should be able to follow the link from the build log in check.html to a text file containing the full details of the build of a particular package: this should give you an idea of what went wrong. Try to correct the problem, if you think this could be due to a misconfigured environment.

If you think you have identified a problem, see the SAS main page for further advice. There you find also instructions on how to submit a problem report.

Software requirements

The following software packages must be installed correctly in order to build the SAS from sources. When a package version number is specified, this means that the SAS development team makes use of that particular version. Newer or older versions may still work, but have not been tested.

To build the documentation, the following software is also needed:


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Updated on: June 10, 2001