GitLab

• Precompiled packages
  • Installation Locations
  • Sub-packages
  • After installation - using the OpenFOAM environment
    • Package structure (RPM)
    • OpenFOAM session
  • Package Links
  • Resources

Precompiled packages

To make OpenFOAM more readily available to a larger range of users, OpenCFD works actively together with the community surrounding respective Linux distributions to provide precompiled binary installations as system packages. The distributions currently include the following:

Of these, Debian/Ubuntu and openSUSE generally receive first attention:

1. Debian/Ubuntu is a very popular distribution with OpenFOAM users.
2. OpenSUSE is historically our internal development platform. Since it is an RPM-based system, it is generally possible to use a well-crafted spec file to subsequently address RedHat-based distributions.

Installation Locations

The packages have been designed to allow simultaneous installation of different OpenFOAM versions without file or package-name collisions. This lets users experiment with different OpenFOAM versions, perform back-to-back comparisons, or simply continue with an older version until completion of a particular project.

The system installation prefix /usr/lib/openfoam is used, below which individual versions are located. For example,

• /usr/lib/openfoam/openfoam1912/
• /usr/lib/openfoam/openfoam2006/
• ...

The OpenFOAM bash session wrapper will be created under /usr/bin. For example,

• /usr/bin/openfoam1912
• /usr/bin/openfoam2006
• ...

Sub-packages

Satisfying the wishes and requirements of all users is a difficult task. One user (or sysadmin) wants the "only install what I really need" approach [more control, less diskspace]. Another group of users prefers the "just install everything" approach [less control, more diskspace]. We have attempted to strike a reasonable balance between both. For any given base package (eg, openfoam1912 etc), there are a variant of sub-packages ("only-what-I-need"), but also a default package for the "install-everything" folks.

Here are some common selections:

The longer descriptions:

Note the package names for Debian and RPM packages are intentionally kept very similar, except dev (Debian) vs. develop (RPM) names that follow the respective system conventions.

After installation - using the OpenFOAM environment

The OpenFOAM bash session wrapper provide the simplest means of starting OpenFOAM immediately. For example,

$ openfoam1912

This can be used for an interactive bash session, or to run a single OpenFOAM command within the OpenFOAM environment.

For a persistent OpenFOAM environment, the OpenFOAM bashrc file can be sourced from your ~/.bashrc file by adding a line resembling the following to that file:

    source /usr/lib/openfoam/openfoam1912/etc/bashrc

The exact path used will change depending on the OpenFOAM version.

Never attempt to embed the shell session wrapper as part of your ~/.bashrc - this may cause an infinite loop!

Package structure (RPM)

To allow smooth installation and use of multiple OpenFOAM versions on the same system, some installations use a meta-package structure:

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 -> openfoam1912
/usr/bin/openfoam1912
/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-1912 - see www.openfoam.com
Arch:  linux64GccDPInt32Opt (mpi=openmpi-system)
OpenFOAM shell session - use exit to quit

OpenFOAM-1912:~/
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.

Package Links

Resources

For precompiled packaging, the following content is provided for reference purposes, and to help when scripting: