source: trunk/documents/UserDoc/DocBookUsersGuides/InstallationGuide/xml/Introduction/introduction.xml@ 905

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<para>
This section describes the global computing environment required
for installing the Geant4 toolkit. To set up your specific
computing environment for Geant4, refer to Section 2 of this Guide.
</para>

<para>
A shell script (<literal>Configure</literal>) is provided to
facilitate the installation procedure, and to help the user set up
the environment correctly.
</para>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#1) ****************** -->
<sect1 id="sect.Support">
<title>
Supported Computers and Operating Systems
</title>

<para>
Geant4 is supported under the following operating systems:

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
    Linux on PC with g++ (gcc compiler)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    MacOSX with g++ (gcc compiler)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    Windows/XP with MicroSoft Visual C++
  </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Currently, this is the set of flavors which can be associated with
the environment variable <literal>$G4SYSTEM</literal> to identify the
system architecture and compiler used:

<literallayout><literal>
  Linux   - Scientific Linux CERN, SLC4 (or SLC5) 
            g++ gcc 3.4.6 (or 4.1.2)               G4SYSTEM: Linux-g++
  MacOSX  - MacOSX Darwin 10.5 
            g++ gcc 4.0.1                          G4SYSTEM: Darwin-g++
  Windows - Windows XP and Cygwin32
            MSVC++ 9.0, Visual Studio 2008         G4SYSTEM: WIN32-VC
</literal></literallayout>
</para>

<para>
For a more detailed description of supported platforms/compilers
and versions of third party software, please refer to the release
notes available with the current release you're using in
<literal>geant4/ReleaseNotes</literal> (also accessible from the web
<ulink url="http://cern.ch/geant4/support/download.shtml">
distribution page
</ulink>
).
</para>

</sect1>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#1) ****************** -->
<sect1 id="sect.ReqSoft">
<title>
Required Software
</title>

<para>
To run Geant4, the following software must be properly installed in
your computing environment:

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
    C++ compiler
    <para>
    (compiler from Unix vendor, g++ or Visual C++ for Windows systems)
    </para>
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    CLHEP library
    <para>
    (see CLHEP reference guide 
     <ulink url="http://cern.ch/clhep/manual/RefGuide/">
     cern.ch/clhep/manual/RefGuide
     </ulink>
    )
    </para>
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    GNU Make (note: g++ preprocessing is used to build file
    dependencies) is also used and a UNIX shell
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    The Geant4 toolkit source code
  </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

</sect1>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#1) ****************** -->
<sect1 id="sect.VisSoft">
<title>
Visualization Software
</title>

<para>
The above list of software is the minimum required for a
non-graphical setup of Geant4. To use visualization graphics in
Geant4 and/or a graphical user interface (GUI), at least one of the
following graphic systems or packages is required in your computing
environment:

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
    X Windows
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://www.opengl.org/">
    OpenGL
    </ulink>
    or
    <ulink url="http://www.mesa3d.org/">
    MesaGL
    </ulink>
    (free software compatible with OpenGL)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://geant4.kek.jp/GEANT4/vis/">
    DAWN
    </ulink>
    , a PostScript renderer
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://oss.sgi.com/projects/inventor/">
    Open Inventor
    </ulink>
    (free software from SGI)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://openscientist.lal.in2p3.fr/">
    Open Scientist
    </ulink>
    (Interactive environment, including GUI)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://www.slac.stanford.edu/BFROOT/www/Computing/Graphics/Wired/">
    HepRApp Browser
    </ulink>
    (
    <ulink url="http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprep/">
    HepRep
    </ulink>
    Browser)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://wired.freehep.org/">
    WIRED4 JAS Plug-In
    </ulink>
    (
    <ulink url="http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~perl/heprep/">
    HepRep
    </ulink>
    Browser)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://cern.ch/geant4/geant4_public/source/geant4/environments/MOMO/docs/MOMOHelp.html">
    Momo
    </ulink>
    (a 
    <ulink url="http://java.sun.com/">
    Java
    </ulink>
    -based GUI environment, GGE, GPE, ...)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    VRML browser
  </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
Alternatively, you can produce an ascii file for VRML or DAWN.
</para>

<para>
More information is available in Section 8.6, Visualization
Drivers, of the User's Guide for Application Developers.
</para>

</sect1>


<!-- ******************* Section (Level#1) ****************** -->
<sect1 id="sect.SoftAnaHisto">
<title>
Software for Analysis and Histogramming
</title>

<para>
Histogramming facilities are provided through the <emphasis role="bold">AIDA</emphasis>
abstract interface, which in this case needs to be installed as
well:

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://aida.freehep.org/">
    AIDA
    </ulink>
    (Abstract Interfaces for Data Analysis)
  </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>
External, AIDA-compliant packages which provide the necessary
functionalities for doing histogramming (and therefore, should be
optionally installed) are:

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://iaida.dynalias.net/">
    iAIDA
    </ulink>
    (iAIDA, an implementation of AIDA in C++)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://jas.freehep.org/jas3/">
    JAS
    </ulink>
    (Java Analysis Studio)
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://openscientist.lal.in2p3.fr/">
    Open Scientist
    </ulink>
    (Interactive Analysis Environment).
  </para></listitem>
  <listitem><para>
    <ulink url="http://ilcsoft.desy.de/portal/software_packages/raida/">
    rAIDA
    </ulink>
    (rAIDA, a <ulink url="http://root.cern.ch/">Root</ulink> implementation of AIDA)
  </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>

</sect1>