How to set PATH and Create Environment variable in OSX 6

[luv2mr]

I recently bought a mac and I want to install this program for my research but I can't figure out how to install the program according to the instruction. Could someone help me?

The program is called Surface Evolver and it is used to compute minimal surface energy given an initial shape. http://www.susqu.edu/brakke/evolver/html/install.htm

The instruction for installing the program on Mac OSX is copied down here
Detailed instructions:

1. Download Evolver230-OSX.tar.gz.

2. The download probably created a folder Evolver230-OSX on your desktop. This folder really has a unix path something like /Users/yourname/Evolver230-OSX. These notes will mostly refer to the terminal command line, so you should be able to open a terminal and use a command line prompt.

3. The Evolver230-OSX folder has the executable file evolver, the samples folder fe, the documentation folder doc, a PDF version of the manual, and a man page evolver.1.

4. Move the executable to some place on your PATH, e.g.

cp evolver /Users/yourname/bin

or add the Evolver folder to your PATH.
Question: How to move the executable to my PATH? How to add the folder to PATH?


5. You should also create an environment variable EVOLVERPATH containing paths to the fe and doc folders by placing the following line in your shell initialization file, with appropriate modifications. You can tell which shell you are running by running the ps command at the command prompt.

C Shell (csh, tcsh): put the following in /Users/yourname/.cshrc or /Users/yourname/.tcshrc:

setenv EVOLVERPATH /Users/yourname/Evolver230-OSX/fe:/Users/yourname/Evolver230-OSX/doc

Bourne shell (sh,bash): put the following in /Users/yourname/.profile or /Users/yourname/.bashrc:

EVOLVERPATH=/usr/you/evolver/fe:/usr/you/evolver/doc
export EVOLVERPATH

Question: I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about here..

6. Install the man page by copying evolver.1 to some place on your manpath, e.g.

cp evolver.1 /usr/share/man/man1

You may have to become root to have permission to do this.
Question: What is a man page?

7. Test by opening a new shell and running "evolver cube". Now you should be able to follow the tutorials in the HTML manual or printed manual.

8. If you wish to compile your own version of the Evolver, and have a C compiler, then follow the unix instructions.

Thank you very much for helping.

 

[robbieduncan]

1) You don't move an executable into your PATH (normally), you add it's location to your PATH. The PATH environment variable is set the same way as the EVOLVERPATH variable in your examples.

2) If you don't know what they are talking about then you might well be in trouble! This is fairly basic Unix stuff. When you start the Terminal you get a command line prompt. This is provided by the shell (not by Terminal). There are numerous shells all of which act slightly differently. You can see what shell you are currently using by typing

echo $SHELL

and hitting return in the Terminal. Once you know which shell you are using you can follow these instructions to edit the hidden file that the shell uses as startup to customise itself. You can add the PATH customisation here too. Note the file might not exist: in this case just create one.

3) A man page is a manual page. In the terminal there is a utility called man that displays them. For example

man ls

(the return) will display the ls man page.

 

[old-wiz]

what version of osx are you running?

 

[gotzero]

If research on a mac is in your future, I would highly recommend this book on the command line.

The second you start using non-mainstream software, it pays off to get comfortable with the terminal. Good luck!

 

[katbaloo]

Surface Evolver

Luv2mr,
I have exactly the same problems, questions, etc. that you had. I know nothing of code-talk. I am an artist trying to develop some 3D models for printing.

Did you ever find a way to download to a mac ?
Thanx,
Tom
tom.dody@gmail.com