COGENT Version 2.3 Installation Notes

These notes contain instructions for installing and configuring COGENT to run under Windows, UNIX and Mac OS X environments.

• Installation on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 etc.:
• Installation on UNIX
• Installation on Mac OS X

Installation on Windows 95/98/NT/2000 etc.:

COGENT does not currently come as a self-installing package. This means that you need to do a little work to install it:

• Obtain the zipped distribution file (e.g., cogent-2.3.1-win32.zip)
• Unzip the distribution (using WinZip or similar) into a suitable distribution folder. (We suggest C:\Program Files, but you may prefer just C:\ or some other location.)
• To make it easier to start COGENT:
• create a shortcut from the desktop to the COGENT program, and/or
• create a menu item from the Start Menu to the COGENT program.
• Start COGENT (by double clicking on the shortcut or selecting the menu item) and follow the instructions for setting essential user preferences

To create a shortcut from the desktop to the COGENT program:

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder in which you installed COGENT (e.g., C:\Program Files)
• Descend into the COGENT 2.3.1 folder and then into the bin folder
• Right-click on the cogent (or cogent.exe) item in this folder and select Send To and then Desktop (create shortcut) from the menu that appears

To create a menu item on the Start Menu to the COGENT program:

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs
• Create a new folder within C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs called COGENT
• Select the new folder and create a shortcut within it to the COGENT program by selecting New and then Shortcut from the Explorer menu
• A new window will open. Select browse and navigate to the folder in which you installed COGENT, and from there descend into the COGENT 2.3.1 folder, then into the bin folder, then select cogent (or cogent.exe) in that folder, and select open from the browser window
• Select Next on the Create Shortcut window, and enter a name for the shortcut (e.g., Cogent II) and then select Finish on the Create Shortcut window

Setting essential preferences:

The first time you run COGENT, it will run an installation wizard in order to set various user and system preferences. To set these preferences, run COGENT. The installation wizard gives two options:

• Standard installation: all system files must be located in one folder and all user files must be located in another
• Custom installation: different types of system files may be located in different folders

In either case the relevant preferences can be adjusted after installation from COGENT's preferences panel. Standard installation requires that you set the system folder and the user folder. The system folder should be set to the folder in which COGENT was installed (e.g., C:\Program Files\COGENT 2.3.1). The user folder may be set to any existing folder. If COGENT is installed in the default location (C:\Program Files) then the default values for these preferences will be correct.

Custom installation allows independent locations to be set for a range of preferences. This is never necessary, but offered for advanced users who have unusual tastes in the location of system files. Such users are assumed to not require further documentation.

Installation on UNIX

On UNIX, COGENT may be installed in either single user mode or multi-user mode. Single user mode is applicable if you want to install/run COGENT but do not have system privileges. Multi-user mode requires system privileges and makes COGENT available to all users on a UNIX system.

Single user installation

• Obtain the relevant compressed tar archive distribution file (e.g., cogent-2.3.1-linux.tgz)
• Uncompress and untar the distribution:

$ tar xvfz cogent-2.3.1-linux.tgz
• Descend into the COGENT directory of the distribution:

$ cd cogent-2.3.1
• Install the system and user files in your own file-space with "make":

$ make single
• This will copy system files to ~/COGENT and ~/bin
• You may now delete the distribution files:

$ cd .. ; rm -r COGENT
• To start COGENT, use

$ ~/bin/cogent
or
$ cogent
(assuming ~/bin is on your search path and rehash has been used to reset your UNIX shell).

Multi-user installation

• Obtain the relevant compressed tar archive distribution file (e.g., cogent-2.3.1-linux.tgz)
• Uncompress and untar the distribution:

$ tar xvfz cogent-2.3.1-linux.tgz
• Descend into the COGENT directory of the distribution:

$ cd cogent-2.3.1
• To make COGENT available to all users, adopt root privileges and install with "make":

$ su
# make multi
# exit
• This will copy system files to a standard place (/usr/local/lib/cogent and /usr/local/bin)
• You may now delete the distribution files:

$ cd .. ; rm -r COGENT
• To start COGENT, use

$ /usr/local/bin/cogent
or
$ cogent
(assuming /usr/local/bin is on your search path and rehash has been used to reset your UNIX shell).

Setting essential preferences:

The first time you run COGENT, it will run an installation wizard in order to set various user and system preferences. To set these preferences, run COGENT. The installation wizard gives two options:

• Standard installation: all system files must be located in one directory and all user files must be located in another
• Custom installation: different types of system files may be located in different directories/folders

In either case the relevant preferences can be adjusted after installation from COGENT's preferences panel. Standard installation requires that you set the system directory, the user directory and the location of the oos binary. The system directory should be set to the directory in which COGENT was installed (e.g., /usr/local/src/cogent for multi-user COGENT or ~/COGENT for single-user COGENT, where ~ should be replaced by the user's home directory). The user directory may be set to any existing directory for which the user has write access. The recommended setting is ~/COGENT, where ~ should be replaced by the user's home directory. The location of the oos binary must also be set appropriately. With multi-user installation in default directory, the location will be /usr/local/bin/oos. With single-user installation it will be ~/bin/oos (where ~ should be replaced by the user's home directory).

Custom installation allows independent locations to be set for a range of preferences. This is never necessary, but offered for advanced users who have unusual tastes in the location of system files. Such users are assumed to not require further documentation.

Installation on Mac OS X

To run COGENT on the Mac you must have:

• Some version of Mac OS X. OS X is the tenth generation Mac operating system. It is built on top of a version of UNIX, and running COGENT on the Mac relies on having UNIX underneath. It is not possible to run COGENT on a Mac running OS 9 or earlier releases of the operating system.
• A fully operational X server and associated window manager. The X server is the standard UNIX windowing system that is available free of charge for Mac OS X. (Note: the "X"s in "OS X" and "X server" refer to entirely different things, and "Mac OS X server" refers to something else that is not relevant to running COGENT on a Mac.) For further details and installation notes for the X server see http://www.xdarwin.org. For a nice window manager to complement the X server, see http://oroborosx.sourceforge.net.

NOTE: The following instructions are new. We have reports that they work flawlessly, but please let us know of any difficulties.

Once you have these, installation basically follows that of UNIX, with the use of the OS X sudo command replacing the more standard UNIX su:

• Obtain the relevant compressed tar archive distribution file (e.g., cogent-2.3.1-osx.tgz)
• Open an Xterm (or other terminal application)
• Uncompress and untar the distribution:

$ tar xvfz cogent-2.3.1-osx.tgz
• Descend into the COGENT directory of the distribution:

$ cd cogent-2.3.1
$ sudo make multi
Enter your password when prompted
• This will copy system files to a standard place (/usr/local/lib/cogent and /usr/local/bin)
• You may now delete the distribution files:

$ cd .. ; rm -r COGENT
• To start COGENT, open an X term and use

$ /usr/local/bin/cogent
or
$ cogent
(assuming /usr/local/bin is on your search path and rehash has been used to reset your UNIX shell).
• Users with moderately advanced Mac OS X knowledge will be able to tidy things up by setting an icon for COGENT in the dock (rather than opening an X term every time).

Setting essential preferences:

The first time you run COGENT, it will run an installation wizard in order to set various user and system preferences. To set these preferences, run COGENT. The installation wizard gives two options:

• Standard installation: all system files must be located in one folder and all user files must be located in another
• Custom installation: different types of system files may be located in different folders

In either case the relevant preferences can be adjusted after installation from COGENT's preferences panel. Standard installation requires that you set the system folder, the user folder and the location of the oos binary. The system folder should be set to the folder in which COGENT was installed (e.g., /usr/local/src/cogent). The user folder may be set to any existing folder for which the user has write access. The recommended setting is ~/COGENT, where ~ should be replaced by the user's home folder. The location of the oos binary must also be set appropriately. With installation in default folder, the location will be /usr/local/bin/oos.

Custom installation allows independent locations to be set for a range of preferences. This is never necessary, but offered for advanced users who have unusual tastes in the location of system files. Such users are assumed to not require further documentation.