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Install options

The following documentation discusses the installation process for UNIX users.

Install [ bin ] [ source ]
[ extract ] [ fixincludes ] [ test ]
[ --tape=device ]
[ --installdir=directory ]

bin
source
By default, Install extracts both source and binaries. Instead of relying on the default, you can use these options to specify exactly what you want. You need to do this if you want only binaries or only source.

Install is designed to share files, wherever possible, between installations for different hosts (of the same release). If you get release tapes configured for different hosts, there is no need to do a binary-only install of some of the tapes to save space on a shared file system; Install arranges the files so that all hosts share the same source files. Documentation files are shared as well. Note that it is faster to extract the source code only once if you are installing GNUPro Toolkit for more than one host.

See Links for easy access and updating for a discussion of how to manage the directory structure used for this purpose.

extract
fixincludes
test
In a cross-development configuration, only the ‘extract’ steps are used.

In a native configuration—meant for developing software on the same host where the GNUPro Toolkit runs—a full installation includes up to three of the following things:

- extracting software from the tape;
- creating ANSI-C conforming copies of your system’s standard header files; and
- testing the installation.

You can execute these steps separately by specifying ‘extract’, ‘fixincludes’, or ‘test’ on the Install command line.

In the native configuration, after you run extract, ‘fixincludes’ is essential to the compiler. ‘fixincludes’ does not change your system’s original header files; Install writes the converted copies in a separate, GCC-specific directory. See Why convert system header files? for more on the ‘fixincludes’ step. Install only attempts these last two steps if you run it on the host for which the binaries were compiled.

When you run ‘extract’, Install creates a log file in ‘/usr/cygnus/progressive-97r1a/extract.log’.

When you run ‘fixincludes’, Install creates a log file in ‘/usr/cygnus/progressive-97r1a/fixincludes.log’.

‘test’ (used only for the native configuration) is a confidence-building step, and doesn’t actually change the state of the installed software. The ‘test’ step may not make sense, depending on other options you specify. If you install only source, there’s nothing to test.

--tape=device
--tape=tarfile
Specify the non-rewinding device name for your tape drive as tape. If you extract the installation script and tarfile on some other system, and transfer them to your host for installation, use the name of the tar file instead of a device name with ‘--tape’. See Installing with a remote tape drive for more discussion.

--installdir=directory
If you cannot or do not wish to install into ‘/usr/cygnus’, use this option to specify an alternate directory for placing your software—but beware: the software is configured to go in ‘/usr/cygnus’, and you’ll have to override or change that too. See Running the programs.

If you specify a step that doesn’t make sense, Install notices the error, and exits with an error message, so you can try again.