---
# OpenFOAM® ThirdParty Build
OpenFOAM depends to a certain extent on third-party libraries
(*opensource only*). It also provides some interfaces to *opensource* or
*proprietary* libraries. This third-party package contains configurations and
scripts for building third-party packages. It should normally only be used in
conjunction with the corresponding OpenFOAM version.
## Organization
The ThirdParty directory contains a number of build scripts as well as
some directories:
| Directory | Contains
|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------
| etc/ | auxiliary tools and content used for the build process
| build/ | intermediate build objects
| platforms/ | the installation directories
## Configuration of Third-Party Versions
For most of the build scripts, the default software version
is provided by an appropriate OpenFOAM `etc/config.sh/...` entry.
This approach avoids duplicate entries for the default versions and
ensures the best overall consistency between the OpenFOAM installation
and its corresponding third-party installation.
Nonethess, the distributed make scripts can generally be used for a
variety of versions of the third-party libraries, with the software
version specified on the command-line. For example,
$ ./makeFFTW -help
usage: makeFFTW [OPTION] [fftw-VERSION]
---
## Before Starting
0. Review the [system requirements](http://www.openfoam.com/documentation/system-requirements.php)
and decide on the following:
* compiler type/version - if the system compiler is not relatively recent,
you will need a [third-party compiler](#makeGcc) installation.
* MPI type/version.
* ParaView type/version.
* CMake type/version, ...
1. If you are using a system MPI (eg, openmpi), ensure that this environment
has also been properly activated for your user.
Often (but not always) a `mpi-selector` command is available for this purpose.
You may need to open a new shell afterwards for the change to take effect.
Using the following command may help diagnosing things:
which mpicc
2. Adjust the OpenFOAM `etc/bashrc`, `etc/config.sh/...` or equivalent
`prefs.sh` files to reflect your preferred configuration.
For many config files, there are several configuration possibilities:
- Define a particular third-party version.
- Use a system installation.
- Disable use of an optional component.
- Define an alternative site-wide central location.
- After making the desired changes, use `wmRefresh` or equivalent to use the configurations.
---
## Building
Many components of ThirdParty are *optional* or are invoked
automatically as part of the top-level OpenFOAM `Allwmake`.
Nonetheless it may be necessary or useful to build various
ThirdParty components prior to building OpenFOAM itself.
### Bootstrapping *(optional)*
* `makeGcc` _or_ `makeLLVM`
- Makes a third-party [gcc](#gcc-compiler) or [clang](#clang-compiler) installation,
which is needed if the system gcc is [too old](#gcc-compiler).
If your system compiler is recent enough, you can skip this step.
- If you do use this option, you will need the following adjustments to the
OpenFOAM `etc/bashrc` or your equivalent `prefs.sh` file:
- `WM_COMPILER_TYPE=ThirdParty`
- `WM_COMPILER=Gcc48` (for example)
- `WM_COMPILER=Clang40` (for example)
- or `WM_COMPILER=Clang` and adjust `clang_version` in the OpenFOAM
`etc/config.sh/compiler` or equivalent.
- More description is contained in the header comments of the
`makeGcc` and `makeLLVM` files.
- *Attention*: If you are building a newer version of clang, you may need to
update your CMake beforehand.
* `makeCmake`
- Makes a third-party [CMake](#general-packages) installation, which is
needed if a system CMake does not exist or is [too old](#min-cmake),
- Note that CMake is being used by an number of third-party packages
(CGAL, LLVM, ParaView, VTK, ...)
so this may become an increasingly important aspect of the build.
Note that the order of the bootstrapping process may need to be
reversed, or even require a few loops. For example, if you may need a
newer version of CMake before being able to build LLVM/Clang and
subsequently use the newly build clang to create a newer version of
CMake in the desired location.
Additionally, if you are using clang but with ThirdParty locations for
gmp/mpfr you will need some extra work. Here is an example:
* Compile a new ThirdParty clang version:
./makeLLVM llvm-4.0.1
* Now adjust the OpenFOAM `prefs.sh` to use the new compiler settings,
and update the OpenFOAM environment (eg, `wmRefresh`)
* Next use (abuse) the `makeGcc` script to compile gmp/mpfr libraries.
It is best to pass the desired versions explicitly, and necessary
to set the CC/CXX variables so that the correct compiler is used:
CC=clang CXX=clang++ ./makeGcc gmp-6.1.2 mpfr-4.0.0 gcc-system
specifying `gcc-system` effectively disables building of gcc,
but will build the gmp/mpfr components.
* As a final step, it will be necessary to add the ThirdParty
gmp/mpfr locations in the OpenFOAM config files since they are
normally only used in combination with a ThirdParty gcc.
The location to make these changes is in the `etc/config.sh/CGAL`,
since this is the component that uses the mpfr library.
For example,
gmp_version=gmp-6.1.2
mpfr_version=mpfr-4.0.0
export GMP_ARCH_PATH=$WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR/platforms/$WM_ARCH$WM_COMPILER_ARCH/$gmp_version
export GMP_ARCH_PATH=$WM_THIRD_PARTY_DIR/platforms/$WM_ARCH$WM_COMPILER_ARCH/$mpfr_version
* Update update the OpenFOAM environment (eg, `wmRefresh`) again.
### Build Sequence
1. `Allwmake`
- This will be automatically invoked by the top-level OpenFOAM `Allwmake`, but
can also be invoked directly to find possible build errors.
- Builds an mpi library (openmpi or mpich), scotch decomposition, boost, CGAL, FFTW.
- If the optional kahip or metis directories are found, they will also be compiled.
2. `makeParaView` *(optional but highly recommended)*
- This is optional, but extremely useful for visualization and for
run-time post-processing function objects.
You can build this at a later point in time, but then you should
remember to rebuild the post-processing function objects and the
reader module as well.
3. Make any additional optional components
#### Optional Components
`makeADIOS`
- Only required for [ADIOS](#parallel) support,
which is currently staged in the [add-ons repository][link AddOns].
`makeCGAL`
- Builds [boost](#general-packages) and [CGAL](#general-packages).
Automatically invoked from the ThirdParty `Allwmake`,
but can be invoked directly to resolve possible build errors.
`makeFFTW`
- Builds [FFTW](#general-packages).
Automatically invoked from the ThirdParty `Allwmake`,
but can be invoked directly to resolve possible build errors.
`makeKAHIP`
- Builds [KaHIP](#parallel) decomposition library.
Automatically invoked from the ThirdParty `Allwmake`,
but can be invoked directly to resolve possible build errors.
`makeMETIS`
- Builds [METIS](#parallel) decomposition library.
Automatically invoked from the ThirdParty `Allwmake`,
but can be invoked directly to resolve possible build errors.
`makeMGridGen`
- Optional agglomeration routines.
`makeCCMIO`
- Only required for conversion to/from STARCD/STARCCM+ files.
`makeTecio`
- Only required for conversion of results to Tecplot format.
`makeMesa`, `makeVTK`
- Additional support for building offscreen rendering components.
Useful if you want to render on computer servers without graphics cards.
The `makeParaView.example` and `makeVTK.example` files offer some
suggestions about compiling such a configuration.
`makeQt`
- Script to build a [Qt](#makeQt), including qmake.
- Possibly needed for `makeParaView`.
- The associated `etc/relocateQt` may be of independent use.
Read the file for more details.
`makeGperftools`
- Build gperftools (originally Google Performance Tools)
`minCmake`
- Scour specified directories for CMakeLists.txt and their cmake_minimum.
Report in sorted order.
`Allclean`
- After building, this script may be used to remove intermediate build information
and save some disk space.
## Build Notes
### CGAL
- The zlib library and zlib development headers are required.
### Scotch
- The zlib library and zlib development headers are required.
### Mesa
- Needed for off-screen rendering.
- Building with [mesa-11][older11 mesa] and [mesa-13][older13 mesa] both
seem okay, as does building with [mesa-17][link mesa].
- Building with mesa-12 is not possible since it fails to create
the necessary `include/GL` directory and `osmesa.h` file.
### VTK
- Needed for off-screen rendering and run-time post-processing without
ParaView.
- Rather than downloading VTK separately, it is easy to reuse the VTK
sources that are bundled with ParaView.
For example, by using a symbolic link:
ln -s ParaView-v5.4.1/VTK VTK-8.1.0
The appropriate VTK version number can be found from the contents of
the `vtkVersion.cmake` file.
For example,
$ cat ParaView-v5.4.1/VTK/CMake/vtkVersion.cmake
# VTK version number components.
set(VTK_MAJOR_VERSION 8)
set(VTK_MINOR_VERSION 1)
set(VTK_BUILD_VERSION 0)
### ParaView
- Building ParaView requires CMake, qmake and a `qt` development files.
Use the `-cmake`, `-qmake` and `-qt-*` options for `makeParaView` as
required.
See additional notes below about [making Qt](#makeQt) if necessary.
#### 5.4.x
- Compiles without patching.
No known issues with the native OpenFOAM reader.
#### 5.3.0 and older are neither recommended nor supported
- Various compilation issues and known bugs.
### ADIOS
- The github release currently requires GNU autoconf tools (eg,
autoconf, autoheader, automake) for its configuration.
- Some inconsistency in directory names (ADIOS vs. adios) between releases.
- Optionally uses bzip2, zlib development headers (eg, libbz2-devel, zlib-devel)
for the corresponding compression tranforms.
- The [zfp floating point compression][page zfp] library is now included as
part of ADIOS.
### Making Qt
- Building a third-party Qt installation (prior to building ParaView) requires
some additional effort, but should nonetheless work smoothly.
1. Download a [*qt-everywhere-opensource-src*][link Qt] package and
unpack in the third-party directory.
2. Use the `makeQt` script with the QT version number. For example,
./makeQt 4.8.7
3. Build ParaView using this third-party QT. For example,
./makeParaView -qt-4.8.7 5.4.1
- ParaView versions prior to 5.3.0 do not properly support QT5.
- If you relocate the third-party directory to another location
(eg, you built in your home directory, but want to install it in a
central location), you will need to use the `etc/relocateQt` script
afterwards.
---
## Versions
### Gcc Compiler
The minimum version of gcc required is 4.8.0.
| Name | Location
|-------------------|--------------------------------------------
| [gcc][page gcc] | [releases][link gcc]
| [gmp][page gmp] | system is often ok, otherwise [download][link gmp]
| [mpfr][page mpfr] | system is often ok, otherwise [download][link mpfr]
| [mpc][page mpc] | system is often ok, otherwise [download][link mpc]
#### Potential MPFR conflicts
If you elect to use a third-party version of mpfr, you may experience
conflicts with your installed system mpfr.
On some systems, mpfr is compiled as *non-threaded*, whereas the
third-party will use *threaded* by default.
This can cause some confusion at the linker stage, since it may
resolve the system mpfr first (and find that it is *non-threaded*).
You can avoid this by one of two means:
1. Use system components for gmp/mpfr/mpc: `makeGcc -system ...`
2. Use third-party mpfr, but without threading: `makeGcc -no-threadsafe ...`
#### 32-bit build (on 64-bit)
If you have a 64-bit system, but wish to have a 32-bit compiler, you
will need to enable multi-lib support for Gcc: `makeGcc -multilib`,
which is normally disabled, since many (most?) 64-bit systems do not
install the 32-bit development libraries by default.
### Clang Compiler
The minimum version of clang required is 3.5.
*Attention*: If you are building a newer version of clang, you may need to
update your CMake beforehand since GNU *configure* can only be used prior
to clang version 3.9.
If your system gcc is particularly old
(see [minimum gcc requirements for clang](#min-gcc))
you may have additional hurdles to using the newest versions of clang.
| Name | Location
|-----------------------|------------------------
| [clang][page clang] | [download][link clang] or [newer][newer clang]
| [llvm][page llvm] | [download][link llvm] or [newer][newer llvm]
| [openmp][page omp] | [download][link omp] or [newer][newer omp]
### General
| Name | Location
|-----------------------|------------------------
| [CMake][page cmake] | [download][link cmake]
| [boost][page boost] | [download][link boost]
| [CGAL][page CGAL] | [download][link CGAL]
| [FFTW][page FFTW] | [download][link FFTW]
| [ADF/CGNS][page CGNS], ccm | [link ccmio][link ccmio]
| [tecio][page tecio] | [link tecio][link tecio]
| gperftools | [repo][repo gperftools] or [download][link gperftools]
### Parallel Processing
| Name | Location
|-----------------------|------------------------
| [openmpi][page openmpi] | [download][link openmpi]. The newer [openmpi][newer openmpi] make exhibit stability issues.
| [adios][page adios] | [repo][repo adios] or [github download][link adios] or [alt download][altlink adios]
| [scotch, ptscotch][page scotch] | [download][link scotch]
| [kahip][page kahip] | [download][link kahip]
| [metis][page metis] | [download][link metis]
### Visualization
| Name | Location
|-----------------------|------------------------
| [MESA][page mesa] | [download][link mesa] or [older 13][older13 mesa], [older 11][older11 mesa]
| [ParaView][page ParaView] | [download][link ParaView]
| [Qt][page Qt] | Either the [older QT4][link Qt4] or the [newer QT5][link Qt5], which only works with ParaView-5.3.0 and later.
### CMake Minimum Requirements
The minimum CMake requirements for building various components.
2.8 llvm-3.4.2
2.8.11 CGAL-4.9
2.8.11 CGAL-4.11
2.8.12.2 llvm-3.7.0
2.8.12.2 llvm-3.8.0
2.8.4 cmake-3.6.0
3.3 ParaView-5.4.1
3.4.3 llvm-3.9.1
3.4.3 llvm-4.0.0
### GCC Minimum Requirements
The minimum gcc/g++ requirements for building various components.
4.7 llvm-3.7.0
4.7 llvm-3.6.2
4.7 llvm-3.5.2
4.4 llvm-3.4.2
If your system gcc/g++ is too old to build the desired llvm/clang
version, you may need to build a lower llvm/clang version and then use
that clang compiler for building the newer llvm/clang version.
[page gcc]: http://gcc.gnu.org/releases.html
[page gmp]: http://gmplib.org/
[page mpfr]: http://www.mpfr.org/
[page mpc]: http://www.multiprecision.org/
[link gcc]: http://gcc.gnu.org/releases.html
[link gmp]: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gmp/gmp-6.1.0.tar.bz2
[link mpfr]: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpfr/mpfr-3.1.4.tar.bz2
[link mpc]: ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpc/mpc-1.0.3.tar.gz
[page llvm]: http://llvm.org/
[page clang]: http://clang.llvm.org/
[page omp]: http://openmp.llvm.org/
[link clang]: http://llvm.org/releases/3.7.1/cfe-3.7.1.src.tar.xz
[link llvm]: http://llvm.org/releases/3.7.1/llvm-3.7.1.src.tar.xz
[link omp]: http://llvm.org/releases/3.7.1/openmp-3.7.1.src.tar.xz
[newer clang]: http://llvm.org/releases/4.0.1/cfe-4.0.1.src.tar.xz
[newer llvm]: http://llvm.org/releases/4.0.1/llvm-4.0.1.src.tar.xz
[newer omp]: http://llvm.org/releases/4.0.1/openmp-4.0.1.src.tar.xz
[page adios]: https://www.olcf.ornl.gov/center-projects/adios/
[repo adios]: https://github.com/ornladios/ADIOS
[link adios]: https://github.com/ornladios/ADIOS/archive/v1.13.0.tar.gz
[altlink adios]: http://users.nccs.gov/%7Epnorbert/adios-1.13.0.tar.gz
[page zfp]: http://computation.llnl.gov/projects/floating-point-compression/zfp-versions
[page scotch]: https://www.labri.fr/perso/pelegrin/scotch/
[link scotch]: https://gforge.inria.fr/frs/download.php/file/34099/scotch_6.0.3.tar.gz
[page kahip]: http://algo2.iti.kit.edu/documents/kahip/
[link kahip]: http://algo2.iti.kit.edu/schulz/software_releases/KaHIP_2.00.tar.gz
[page metis]: http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/metis/metis/overview
[link metis]: http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/fetch/sw/metis/metis-5.1.0.tar.gz
[page openmpi]: http://www.open-mpi.org/
[link openmpi]: https://www.open-mpi.org/software/ompi/v1.10/downloads/openmpi-1.10.4.tar.bz2
[newer openmpi]: https://www.open-mpi.org/software/ompi/v2.1/downloads/openmpi-2.1.1.tar.bz2
[page cmake]: http://www.cmake.org/
[link cmake]: http://www.cmake.org/files/v3.5/cmake-3.5.2.tar.gz
[page boost]: http://boost.org
[link boost]: https://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.64.0/boost_1_64_0.tar.bz2
[page CGAL]: http://cgal.org
[link CGAL]: https://github.com/CGAL/cgal/releases/download/releases%2FCGAL-4.9.1/CGAL-4.9.1.tar.xz
[page FFTW]: http://www.fftw.org/
[link FFTW]: http://www.fftw.org/fftw-3.3.7.tar.gz
[page cgns]: http://cgns.github.io/
[link ccmio]: http://portal.nersc.gov/project/visit/third_party/libccmio-2.6.1.tar.gz (check usage conditions)
[altlink ccmio]: http://portal.nersc.gov/svn/visit/trunk/third_party/libccmio-2.6.1.tar.gz (check usage conditions)
[page tecio]: http://www.tecplot.com/
[link tecio]: http://www.tecplot.com/my/tecio-library/ (needs registration)
[repo gperftools]: https://github.com/gperftools/gperftools
[link gperftools]: https://github.com/gperftools/gperftools/releases/download/gperftools-2.5/gperftools-2.5.tar.gz
[page ParaView]: http://www.paraview.org/
[link ParaView]: http://www.paraview.org/files/v5.4/ParaView-v5.4.1.tar.gz
[page mesa]: http://mesa3d.org/
[link mesa]: ftp://ftp.freedesktop.org/pub/mesa/mesa-17.1.1.tar.xz
[older13 mesa]: ftp://ftp.freedesktop.org/pub/mesa/13.0.6/mesa-13.0.6.tar.xz
[older11 mesa]: ftp://ftp.freedesktop.org/pub/mesa/older-versions/11.x/11.2.2/mesa-11.2.2.tar.xz
[page Qt]: https://www.qt.io/download-open-source/
[repo Qt]: http://code.qt.io/cgit/qt-creator/qt-creator.git
[link Qt4]: http://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/4.8/4.8.7/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-4.8.7.tar.gz
[link Qt5]: http://download.qt.io/official_releases/qt/5.9/5.9.3/single/qt-everywhere-opensource-src-5.9.3.tar.xz
[link AddOns]: https://develop.openfoam.com/Community/OpenFOAM-addOns
[link community-projects]: http://www.openfoam.com/community/projects.php
---
## Additional OpenFOAM Links
- [Community AddOns][link AddOns] repository
- [Collaborative and Community-based Developments][link community-projects]
- [Download](http://www.openfoam.com/download) and
[installation instructions](http://www.openfoam.com/code/build-guide.php)
- [Documentation](http://www.openfoam.com/documentation)
- [Reporting bugs/issues](http://www.openfoam.com/code/bug-reporting.php) (including bugs/suggestions/feature requests) in OpenFOAM
- [Contacting OpenCFD](http://www.openfoam.com/contact)
---
Copyright 2016-2018 OpenCFD Ltd