Prerequisites: -------------- To build and run OpenCog, the following packages are required. With a few exceptions, most Linux distributions will have these packages.
Older versions of CMake may not have scripts to find all of these packages, some needed CMake scripts are included in lib, but others in lib/compat are provided if you are trying to build with an old version of CMake (although the best option is to get the latest CMake if possible).
cmake -- a build management tool http://www.cmake.org/ Debian/Ubuntu package cmake
cxxtest -- a test framework http://cxxtest.sourceforge.net/ (Not originally available in Debian/Ubuntu; get cxxtest from https://launchpad.net/~dhart/+archive/ppa)
boost -- a C++ utilities package - http://www.boost.org/ Debian/Ubuntu package libboost-dev Version 1.35 or greater is required for embodiment
expat -- an XML parsing library - http://www.jclark.com/xml/expat.html (version 1.2) Debian/Ubuntu package libexpat1-dev Alternatively Debian/Ubuntu package libxmltok1-dev (supplies expat v1.2) Version 2 seems to work as well. http://expat.sourceforge.net/
guile -- Embedded scheme interperter http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html Version 1.8.6 is required. Debian/Ubuntu package guile-1.8-dev
unixODBC -- Generic SQL Database client access libraries http://www.unixodbc.org/ Debian/Ubuntu packages unixodbc-dev
libgsl -- The GNU Scientific Library Debian/Ubuntu package libgsl0-dev
xercesc -- Apache Xerces-C++ XML Parser Debian/Ubuntu packages libxerces-c28 and libxerces-c2-dev
Lua -- Lua programming language http://www.lua.org/ (version 5.1) Debian/Ubuntu package liblua5.1-dev
Luabind -- Binding between C++ and Lua http://www.rasterbar.com/products/luabind.html (version 0.8.1 or later) (Not originally available in Debian/Ubuntu; get libluabind-dev from https://launchpad.net/~arthur.loiret/+archive/ppa)
HyperTable -- Distributed storage. Optional package, needed only for experimental support. http://hypertable.org. This requires SIGAR as well.
OpenGL -- Open Graphics Library Optional package Required by opencog/spatial/MapTool info: http://www.opengl.org Commonly provided with your video card driver
SDL -- Simple DirectMedia Layer Optional package Required by opencog/spatial/MapTool http://www.libsdl.org Debian/Ubuntu package libsdl1.2-dev
SDL_gfx -- Simple DirectMedia Layer extension Optional package Required by opencog/spatial/MapTool http://www.ferzkopp.net/joomla/content/view/19/14/ Debian/Ubuntu package libsdl-gfx1.2-dev
To build opencog: ----------------- Peform the following steps at the shell prompt:
cd to project root dir mkdir bin cd bin cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release .. make
Libraries will be built into subdirectories within bin, mirroring the structure of the source directory root. The flag -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release results in binaries that are optimized for for performance; ommitting this flag will result in faster builds, but slower executables.
Unit tests: ----------- To build and run the unit tests, from the ./bin directory enter (after building opencog as above):
make test
Running the server: ------------------- The cogserver provides a simple server interface to the reasoning system.
See CommandRequestProcessor.cc as an example control interface to the server. This command processor understands 3 simple commands: load <xml file="" name>="">, ls and shutdown. There is an example XML file under tests/server/atomSpace.xml
To run a simple test, build everything and execute bin/opencog/server/cogserver. Then, from another terminal, run "telnet localhost 17001". Try loading the example XML file and ls to see all the nodes and links.
Config file ----------- The operation of the server can be altered by means of a config file. This config file is in lib/opencog.conf. To make use of it, say "cogserver -c <config-filename>" when starting the server.
Scheme shell ------------ The cog server also includes a built-in scheme shell. The shell can be started by typing "scm" after entering the opencog server shell. It can be exited by placing a single . on a line by itself. This shell allows opencog atoms and truth values to be created, manipulated and destroyed using a very simple but powerful interface. Examples and documentation for the available OpenCog commands can be found in src/guile/README.
Modifying the list of basic types --------------------------------- See the example under ./examples/atomtypes
CMake notes ----------- Some useful CMake's web sites/pages:
The main CMakeLists.txt currently sets -DNDEBUG. This disables Boost matrix/vector debugging code and safety checks, with the benefit of making it much faster. Boost sparse matrixes and (dense) vectors are currently used by ECAN's ImportanceDiffusionAgent. If you use Boost ublas in other code, it may be a good idea to at least temporarily unset NDEBUG. Also if the Boost assert.h is used it will be necessary to unset NDEBUG. Boost ublas is intended to respond to a specific BOOST_UBLAS_NDEBUG, however this is not available as of the current Ubuntu standard version (1.34).
-Wno-deprecated is currently enabled by default to avoid a number of warnings regarding hash_map being deprecated (because the alternative is still experimental!)
1.5.6