This is an old revision of the document!
User Software :: Data Access Library (DAL)
Getting the source code
As of Feb 15, 2001 there are two ways in which to retrieve, build and install the DAL:
- From the original source repository on Github.
In order to build the DAL as a stand-alone library, clone directly from the repository on Github:git clone https://github.com/nextgen-astrodata/DAL.git DAL
Once your checkout from the Git repository is complete, follow the instructions as described in the section “Configuration and build” below.
- As part of the LOFAR User Software (LUS).
If you want (or need) to use the DAL as part of the LUS software collection, check out a working copy of the code base from the LUS Subversion repositorysvn co http://usg.lofar.org/svn/code/trunk lofarsoft
Once the checkout is complete (assuming bash as shell):
cd lofarsoft export LOFARSOFT=`pwd` . ./devel_common/scripts/init.sh cd build ./bootstrap make dal
By default build of the DAL will be carried out from a source tar-archive which comes as part of the software collection.
Configuration, build and installation
The DAL uses the CMake (www.cmake.org) Cross-Platform Makefile Generator for configuration and control of the build.
Once your checkout from the Git repository is complete you will have a directory structure on disk as described in section “Organization of the source code” above.
cd DAL mkdir build cd build cmake .. make
The default installation location is “/opt/dal”; if you want to change this, you can tell CMake so by using
cmake -D DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX=<installation prefix> ..
The CMake scripts will check a number of standard locations for the required 3-party packages (such as Boost, HDF5, etc.), but if you are using a custom version installed at a non-standard location, you might need to aid CMake in finding all required components:
cmake -DHDF5_ROOT_DIR=<basedir of HDF5 install> ..
In to install the DAL you will have to run
make install
from within the build directory. Depending on whether you are installing into a local directory or into a system-directory, appropriate permissions might be required.
In order to maintain compatibility with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS) the following default installation layout has been defined:
/opt └── dal CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX ├── bin DAL_INSTALL_BINDIR = DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX/bin ├── include DAL_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR = DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX/include │ ├── coordinates │ ├── core │ ├── data_common │ └── data_hl ├── lib DAL_INSTALL_LIBDIR = DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX/lib └── share └── doc └── html
However the installation configuration can be tailored depending on your personal needs:
- Default settings.
If no further command line parameter are provided, the installation will be done according to the above described structure. - Custom installation prefix.
In order to install into an existing standard directory structure – such such as e.g. “/usr/local” – use-D DAL_INSTALL_PREFIX=<prefix>
- Installation as part of the LUS.
In order to simplify installation of the DAL as part of the LOFAR User Software distribution, a preset has been defined which can be used through-D LUS_INSTALL_PREFIX=$LOFARSOFT/release
For further details and additional configuration options, consult the Doxygen-based documentation.