page build code

Linux, Unix-like systems

Version	Build
v1906	Build

Older versions use a general build guide webpage, which will be replaced by alternative content in the future.

Packaging systems

System	Links	Status	Notes
openSUSE science	package openfoam, download	Actively maintained by OpenCFD	notes
Fedora/CentOS/RedHat copr	package openfoam	In development by OpenCFD	notes
Debian science	package openfoam - see debian search and tracker	Maintained independently, with input from OpenCFD	notes
spack	package openfoam	Actively maintained by OpenCFD	notes
EasyBuild	package OpenFOAM	Maintained independently, with input from OpenCFD

Package structure (RPM)

To allow smooth installation and use of multiple OpenFOAM versions on the same system, we use the following structure:

Package	Comments
openfoam	The top-level meta package that provides links and requirements for the most recent openfoam release
openfoam-selector	Similar to mpi-selector, used to switch active openfoam versions
openfoam1906	The maintenance version for 1906
openfoam1812	The maintenance version for 1812

The version-specific packages (eg, openfoam1906, openfoam1812) install into distinct directories so that it is possible to have multiple versions available on your systems. The top-level openfoam package registers which of the version-specific packages corresponds to the current release.

Finally, the openfoam-selector package is used to register which openfoam packages are installed on the system and allows the use to select one of them. To display which versions are installed:

$ openfoam-selector --list

openfoam
openfoam1806
openfoam1812
openfoam1906

To set a particular version

$ openfoam-selector --set openfoam1906

To query the current selection:

$ openfoam-selector --query

Most people will find the openfoam-selector-menu more convenient to use.

WARNING: Changes made to the openfoam-selector defaults
will not be visible until you start a new shell!

NOTE Similar to the behaviour of the mpi-selector, the values registered via the openfoam-selector will not be activated until the next full login. This is to avoid a possible clash of environments when a parallel job still being launched. Of course, you can still simply source the corresponding bashrc file directly. For example,

$ source /opt/openfoam1906/etc/bashrc

OpenFOAM session

Depending on how your packaging system has done things, an openfoam session command may be available as an alternative to the openfoam-selector mechanism. On the openSUSE installation, for example:

/usr/bin/openfoam -> openfoam-1906
/usr/bin/openfoam-1812
/usr/bin/openfoam-1906
/usr/bin/openfoam-selector
/usr/bin/openfoam-selector-menu

Using openfoam -help displays some useful information.

Calling it without any arguments opens an interactive bash session with an OpenFOAM environment and your usual ~/.bashrc environment.

$ openfoam

Using: OpenFOAM-1906 (patch=191103) - see www.OpenFOAM.com
Arch:  linux64GccDPInt32Opt (mpi=openmpi-system)
OpenFOAM shell session - use exit to quit

OpenFOAM-1906:~/
mark$

If called with arguments, it will setup an OpenFOAM environment before executing a single command. For example,

$ blockMesh -help
blockMesh: Command not found.

$ openfoam blockMesh -help

Usage: blockMesh [OPTIONS]
Options:
   ...

Although the OpenFOAM environment is sourced after your home ~/.bashrc, it is advisable to ensure that there are no circular references from within your ~/.bashrc file.

openSUSE

For openSUSE users, OpenCFD Ltd. is a maintainer on the community Science Portal and provides RPM binary packages for the most recent openfoam versions. The quick access is via the download page: https://software.opensuse.org//download.html?project=science&package=openfoam and follow the instructions there.

If you already have the Science repository registered on your system, you should be able to install it directly with zypper:

sudo zypper install openfoam

Or with a graphical tool such as YaST2:

Fedora/CentOS/RedHat

For RedHat-based system, OpenCFD Ltd. is currently using the copr infrastructure to provide RPM packages. Enable copr for openfoam as per the documentation shown on https://docs.pagure.org/copr.copr/how_to_enable_repo.html

For newer systems:

$ dnf copr enable openfoam/openfoam

Older systems:

$ yum install yum-plugin-copr
$ yum copr enable openfoam/openfoam

Debian/Ubuntu

Support for Debian is expected to further improve in the near future with better use of the openfoam-selector and the openfoam-session mechanisms.

https://packages.debian.org/source/unstable/openfoam (unstable meaning newer)
https://packages.debian.org/source/stable/openfoam (stable meaning newer)

Note that the Debian packages may have been created with applications in /usr/bin and configuration files under /usr/share/openfoam/etc. In this case, you may need to manually define the location of the OpenFOAM directory as follows:

    export WM_PROJECT_DIR=/usr/share/openfoam

spack

The installation of openfoam with spack will generally require the latest (development version) of spack. If this is available, you can install openfoam in various configurations and dependencies, but typically can simply install directly:

$ spack install openfoam

Resources

To help with RPM-based systems, the following content is provided for reference purposes, and to help when scripting:

System	Files	Scripts
common	openfoamVERSION.spec lintrc	create-tar
openSUSE
CentOS/RedHat	openfoam-selector.spec	copr fetch

Darwin (Mac-OS)

The support for Darwin is complete, but is less well tested than Linux.

The Darwin build (and operation) requires a case-sensitive file system, which is often created as a disk image and mounted (for older systems).
Compilation uses the system clang compiler.

Known issues

CGAL

ThirdParty CGAL will normally need to be compiled without mpfr/gmp. This should be done manually prior to building OpenFOAM or other ThirdParty. Eg,
```
cd $WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR
./makeCGAL gmp-none mpfr-none
```
The wmake/rules/darwin64Clang/CGAL file has been adjusted to eliminate references to gmp/mpfr libraries.

Windows

Starting with v1906, Windows source compilation is supported via cross-compilation using the mingw compiler on 64bit Linux to generate a Win64 target. See the version-relevant build information.