Installing OpenFOAM 1.6.x and keeping it up to date

OpenCFD^TM regularly releases updates for OpenFOAM^TM using a GIT repository, which can be conveniently used both for a fresh installation and to keep your current OpenFOAM installation up to date.

First installation

• Create a directory called OpenFOAM in your home directory: mkdir ~/OpenFOAM
• Enter the OpenFOAM directory: cd ~/OpenFOAM
• Download the OpenFOAM sources from the GIT repository: git clone git://repo.or.cz/OpenFOAM-1.6.x.git
• Download the third party packages from the OpenCFD website. If you are using a 64-bit system, you need to download also the 32-bit version of the third party package, containing cmake.
• Extract the third party packages corresponding to your architecture (32 or 64 bit) in the ~/OpenFOAM directory. If you use a 64 bit system, extract the 32-bit version of the third party packages in another directory from ~/OpenFOAM, and move the cmake directory to the ThirdParty directory into your ~/OpenFOAM directory.
• Create a symbolic link called ThirdParty-1.6.x pointing to ThirdParty-1.6:  ln -s ~/OpenFOAM/ThirdParty-1.6/ ~/OpenFOAM/ThirdParty-1.6.x
• Open your ~/.bashrc file in a text editor and add the line:  . $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6.x/etc/bashrc
• Enter the ThirdParty-1.6.x directory: cd ~/OpenFOAM/ThirdParty-1.6.x
• Rebuild Paraview with the following commands (you need qt4 development libraries installed in your system. Check the README file coming with OpenFOAM for a list of working versions)
  • rm -rf paraview-3.6.1/platforms
  • ./makeParaView
• Enter the ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6.x directory: cd ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6.x
• Rebuild OpenFOAM typing ./Allwmake

Once OpenFOAM 1.6.x is built for the first time, you can easily keep it up to date using GIT.

Update an existing installation of OpenFOAM 1.6.x.

• Enter the ~/OpenFOAM directory: cd ~/OpenFOAM
• Check for updates: git pull
• If there are updates, rebuild OpenFOAM as follows:
  • cd ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6.x
  • ./Allwmake

These operations should be repeated often, in order to keep an up to date installation of OpenFOAM and obtain the latest bug fixes.

Enjoy 🙂

This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, the producer of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks.