root / avida-ed / README

Avida 2.3.x
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital Evolution Laboratory at Michigan State University


REQUIREMENTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In order to build Avida, you must have CMake 2.x installed.
CMake 2.x is available from http://www.cmake.org

NCurses, in order to build the console viewer.

OR

In Mac OS X, an Xcode project has been provided for building the
'primitive' console only version of Avida, as well as the NCurses
viewer.  Xcode 2.1 or greater is required.


GETTING STARTED
----------------------------------------------------------------------

To compile and install Avida, all you have to do is run:
$ ./build_avida

By default, you will get an optimized version of the code, as well as
the NCurses viewer. The installation goes into a directory called
'work' that is created in a subdirectory named 'build' directory.
See below how to change that.

OR 

In Mac OS X's Xcode, click the 'Build' button on the project window.


CMAKE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are the main options available when configuring and building
Avida with cmake :

AVD_CONSISTENCY_TEST_PRIMITIVE
 -  This is a BOOL, either ON or OFF, to enable primitive consistency
    test suites.
 OFF by default.

AVD_GUI_NCURSES
 -  This is a BOOL, either ON or OFF, to enable building Avida console
    interface.
 ON by default.

AVD_PRIMITIVE
This is a BOOL, either ON or OFF, to enable building interfaceless
Avida (fastest version).
ON by default.

AVD_UNIT_TESTS
 -  This is a BOOL, either ON or OFF, to enable building primitive
    unit test suites.
 OFF by default.

CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE
 -  This is a STRING, one of "None", "Debug", "Release",
    "RelWithDebInfo", "MinSizeRel", to vary optimization levels and
    debugging information in the build.
 "Release" by default.



CONFIGURING THE CMAKE BUILD
----------------------------------------------------------------------

There are three ways by which you can set the various options.


For a simple 'gui' like interface, from the build directory run:
$ ccmake ../

Pressing 'c' will configure 
Pressing 'g' will generate the make files and exit


If you'd like to be prompted with questions for each option, execute
the following from the build directory:
$ cmake -i ../


From the command-line option, the cmake option -D allows setting Avida
configuration options with the following syntax:
-D<variable name>:<type>=<value>

To completely specify each of the above Avida options, cd into your
build directory and type something like :
$ cmake -DAVD_CONSISTENCY_TEST_PRIMITIVE:BOOL=OFF \
  -DAVD_GUI_NCURSES:BOOL=ON \
  -DAVD_PRIMITIVE:BOOL=ON \
  -DAVD_UNIT_TESTS:BOOL=OFF \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Release \
  path-to-source-directory



Revised 2005-16-10 DMB