README.Windows

Dear Reader,

generally, running XGAP under the Windows operating system is not
supported by the authors. However, here is a report by a user who
claims that this is indeed possible.

We have not altered his description, so you probably have to
update some URLs to the latest version of GAP and XGAP.

  Max Neunhoeffer

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe Bohanon <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Saad and GAP Forum

It took me a while to figure out how to install XGAP to run in XP, but 
yes, it is possible.  If you have access to a mac, I'd also recommend 
CocoaGAP.

I helped one of my colleagues install it on her laptop a few years ago.  
Here's the e-mail I sent with a few updates.  If anyone has corrections 
or clarifications, I'd welcome them.

Here's the long list of steps to get XGAP running.  

1. Download Cygwin from http://www.cygwin.com/setup.exe.  Run the program
and use all the default install locations.  Once you get to where you can
choose a mirror, the one I've used is about half-way down,
ftp://mirrors.rcn.net.  It's very fast downloads, unlike some of the other
foreign servers listed.

2. Once you hit next it brings up a list of things to install.  Already
checked should be everything critical to run Cygwin, but you need a few
extra packages.  First, go down to X11 and select everything.  Then hit
the "View" button, which will list all packages alphabetically.  Get
"gcc", "gdb" and "make".  Hit next and it will start downloading, then
installing.  This will probably take a while.  Once finished, run cygwin
(it should've created a desktop icon or one in the start menu).  The
commands are exactly the same as UNIX.  If you don't know UNIX, you really
only need to know that CD changes directory, CD .., moves you one
directory up, and ls lists the files and folders in the current directory.

3. Now, you need to get GAP downloaded and unpacked.  Get the .zoo file
from ftp://ftp.gap-system.org/pub/gap/gap4/zoo/gap4r4p6.zoo and the unzoo
utility from ftp://ftp.gap-system.org/pub/gap/gap4/util/unzoo.c.  Download
both files into a convenient directory in the c:\cygwin folder and
navigate to it.  Type "cc -o unzoo -DSYS_IS_UNIX unzoo.c" to get the unzoo
program compiled.  Then once GAP finishes downloading, type unzoo -x
gap4r4p6.zoo.  This take a while as well.  I'm pretty sure it will always
unpack into the location /usr/local/lib/gap4r4.

4. Once GAP is finished installing, you can check to see if it will run by
navigating to the folder above in the Cygwin shell, then going into /bin.
You can try running ./gapw95.exe or ./gap.bat.  On mine, I have to use the extra option "-l .." with the first command.

5. Next, download xgap from
ftp://ftp.gap-system.org/pub/gap/gap4/zoo/packages/xgap4r21.zoo and unpack
it in the same way.  Move it to the pkg folder.

6. In the Cygwin shell, navigate to /pkg/xgap and type ./configure.  Once
it finishes type make.  I forget exactly where, but at this point a file
called "xgap.sh" has been created.  Type ls and if you don't see it, go
into the "bin" folder and try again.  Anyway, you really want to edit this
from the Windows interface anyway.  Right-click and choose to open the
file with wordpad (notepad apparently does not read some of the line break
characters making it near impossible to edit).  Now scroll down and input
the following value:
For GAP_DIR, /usr/local/lib/gap4r4
For XGAP_PRG, you need to look in the XGAP/bin folder.  The exectuable is
in a folder that is called something like i686-pc-cygwin-gcc, but it may
vary.  Then you input something like i686-pc-cygwin-gcc/xgap.exe.
Save and close the file.

7. Go back to the cygwin shell and navigate to /usr/local/bin, then type
ln -s /usr/local/lib/gap4r4/pkg/xgap/bin/xgap.sh xgap.  This makes it so
you don't have to navigate through a ton of folders.

8. Now you need to get X-windows running.  Supposedly there are 3 commands
to do so, but I've only gotten one to work.  The two that don't (which you
should try just in case) are xwin.exe and startxwin.bat.  The second one
does open a shell, but not the graphical thing that the first does.  I
have gotten xinit to work every time.

9. Type xgap, and it should start running GAP. In X-Windows, the enter
key isn't bound right. To get commands to execute, you have to hit
enter, then Ctrl-J (this is something I'd appreciate if someone found a
work-around for).

10. I also use a program called fvwm. I forget exactly how I installed
it, but the instructions were straightforward. When you get it installed
go into X-Windows, and type fvwm (you might have to create a link to
that program, I don't remember). Then left click in the blank space and
click "XTERM". Now you have the shell you want. Incidentally, you'll
also probably want select the option "All Paging Off" from the "Simple
Config Ops" menu that shows up when you left-click.

There are also examples here:
http://www-gap.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Manuals/pkg/xgap/htm/CHAP004.htm
These are good in case you don't want to draw a full lattice.

Let me know if you can get this working.  If you have trouble I'd be happy
to try to help.

Joe