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 Installing External Binaries

The NairnFEAMPM application requires external binaries before it can run calculations. It needs the xerces library and it needs compiled versions of the NairnFEA and NairnMPM code engines. This topic explains how to install them.

Install Xerces

The NairnFEA and NairmMPM code engines both use the public-domain xerces package for robust reading of XML files. For convenience a xerces binary is included in the downloaded NairnFEAMPM applications. To install this binary so the code engines can find it:

  1. Control click on NairnFEAMPM app and choose "Show Package Contents"
  2. Navigate to the folder in the package Contents/Resources/binaries/lib
  3. Open a new Finder window, choose menu command "Go to Folder...", enter "/usr". You will need to provide your password to open this folders (Apple does not think are are smart enough to see it).
  4. In /usr folder, navigate to folder /usr/local/lib (you may need to create the "local" or "lib" folders if not already there).
  5. Drag the two xerces files from the Contents/Resources/binaries/lib folder in NairnFEAMPM app to the /usr/local/lib folder.

If this compiled binary does not work, it may not not be compatible with chips on your Mac (Apple is in the process if changing chips and eventually libraries will need new versions). If cerces does not work, you will need to install a new xcerces binary to work on your computer.

Compile NairnFEA and NairnMPM Binaries

The compile code engine binaries:

  1. Check out to source code.
  2. Compile to code engines for running in MacOS.

Link to Compiled Binaries

The last step is to tell NairnFEAMPM the location of your compiled code engines. This setting us done using the Code Preferences.

Tip: To check if you install binaries correctly, try the Quick Start sections of either the Finite Element Method or the Material Point Method sections to try pre-loaded example calculations.

Subsequent use of NairnFEAMPM

Once the above steps are done, you can launch NairnFEAMPM and run calculations. At anytime, you can edit the code engine source code and recompile. NairnFEAMPM will automatically use the newly compiled code (as determined by the code preferences code path settings). There is no need to restart it between code engine compilations.

As the nairn-mpm-fea project is updated, you can use switch to the lastest version by updating your checked-out copy and recompiling the code engines; NairnFEAMPM will then be using the latest binaries. You do not need to update NairnFEAMPM, unless a new version of the base application becomes available.