Introduction

These instructions are for Version 5.2.* of PGPLOT.

To install PGPLOT, you need to perform the following steps. These steps are described more fully below for each operating system.

Read the release notes (file ver520.txt) to see what is new in this version.

  1. Copy the distribution file by anonymous ftp from Caltech. This is a gzipped tar archive:
    ftp://ftp.astro.caltech.edu/pub/pgplot/pgplot5.2.tar.gz.
  2. Unpack the distribution file to create the ``PGPLOT distribution'' directory tree. This is identical for all implementations of PGPLOT and can be placed on any disk that is visible on the target system, including read-only network-mounted disks.
  3. Create a writable directory in which the PGPLOT library and associated files will be created. One such directory is needed for each different operating system and compiler combination (``target system'') that you wish to support. This should not be the same directory as the directory containing the source code.
  4. Configure PGPLOT by selecting device drivers from the available list.
  5. Execute the supplied scripts and makefiles to create the library and demonstration programs.
  6. Install the optional C binding for PGPLOT, which provides a convenient way to call PGPLOT subroutines from a program written in C or C++. This requires an ANSI C compiler (that understands function prototypes) and is not available on all systems.
  7. Run the demonstration programs on your selected devices and verify that they run satisfactorily.
  8. Install the optional documentation files.

You will need the following software, which is not distributed with PGPLOT:

Detailed installation instructions are available for the following operating systems:

For Windows 95/98/NT/2000 etc., I also recommend using a version of PGPLOT that includes a driver based on the GrWin graphics library. This can be used with many different compilers. See:

This version has not yet been ported to MS-DOS, OS/2, or MacOS. For notes about earlier attempts to port PGPLOT to these operating systems, see the files called aaaread.me in the directories pgplot/sys_dos, pgplot/sys_msdos, pgplot/sys_salford, and pgplot/sys_mac in the tar file. I appreciate feedback from users.


PGPLOT
Tim Pearson, California Institute of Technology, tjp·astro.caltech.edu
Copyright © 1995-1998 California Institute of Technology