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Installing Mathematica on Unix and Linux

Installing Mathematica for Network Licenses

Requirements

Mathematica is available for Windows, Unix, Linux, and Mac OS X. For a complete list of platform availability, visit www.wolfram.com/products/mathematica/platforms.html. Any supported machine can act as a client for running Mathematica, provided the following two conditions are met:
  • The client has access to the Mathematica files, either locally or from a file server on the network.
  • The license server running MathLM is available on the TCP/IP network.
A license server can also function as its own client. However, this is not recommended. If the machine has to be rebooted for any reason, the serving of licenses to all other clients on the network may be disrupted.
Before you install Mathematica as a license server client, MathLM should already be installed and running on a license server on the network (see "Installing MathLM on Windows", and "Installing MathLM on Unix, Linux, and Mac OS X" for details). To complete the Mathematica installation, you will need to know the name or IP address of the license server running MathLM.
To install Mathematica on Unix and Linux, you may need root privileges.

To Install Mathematica:

1.  Mount the CD or DVD. For information on mounting a CD/DVD, see "Mounting a CD or DVD on Unix and Linux".
Note: This step may not be required on some Linux and Unix platforms, as some operating systems automatically handle mounting.
2.  Change directory to /cdrom/Unix/Installer. Note that the exact location of the CD/DVD mount point might be different for your platform.
cd / cdrom /Unix/Installer
3.  Run the installer.
./MathInstaller
4.  (Unix only) You are asked to select the platforms for which you are doing the installation. Select one or more of the available options and press Enter to continue.
5.  The installer prompts you to specify the directory in which Mathematica should be installed. The default location is /usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/7.0. Press Enter to accept the default, or type in a new location and then press Enter.
Note: If you specify a directory that does not exist, the installer will give you the option of creating the directory. If a copy of Mathematica already exists in the directory you specify, the installer will inform you before overwriting the files.

Note: If you are installing over a previous version of Mathematica, your existing mathpass file and custom settings will not be deleted.

6.  Once you have answered all the questions, the installer begins copying files from the CD/DVD to the directory you specified. The progress is indicated by a progress bar on the screen.
7.  You are asked for the location in which to copy the executable scripts. You should choose a directory that is present on each user's PATH. The scripts are also installed in the Executables subdirectory of the Mathematica installation directory. Type a location or accept the default and press Enter.
Note: The installer checks to see if any other Mathematica scripts exist in the specified directory. If they do, you are given the chance to rename the scripts.
8.  You are given several options for configuring the password. Type 2 and press Enter to run Mathematica using a network license.
9.  Type the hostname of the server running MathLM, as given by the hostname command. In some cases, this includes the domain name. Or, enter the IP address of the MathLM server. Press Enter to continue.
Note: The installer does not attempt to verify the server name you type. If you prefer, you may type any arbitrary text here and press Enter. This creates the mathpass file with an invalid password entry. You may then edit the mathpass file manually to add a correct password later. More information on the mathpass file is given in "Registration and Passwords".
10.  The installer creates the mathpass file and displays its location. The installation is now complete.
The installer also adds an additional menu folder named Wolfram to the desktop menu. Inside the folder is an item named Mathematica that points to the most recently installed version of Mathematica. File associations are also modified such that .nb files are now associated with the most recently installed version of Mathematica.

Installing Mathematica for Single-Machine Licenses

Follow these instructions to install a standalone copy of Mathematica that does not get a license from the license server. Depending on your license type, this may require contacting Wolfram Research to purchase additional licenses.
To run Mathematica, you must register with Wolfram Research and receive a password. See "Registration and Passwords" for further information.
To install Mathematica on Unix and Linux, you may need root privileges.

To Install a Single-Machine Copy of Mathematica on Unix and Linux:

1.  Mount the CD or DVD. For information on mounting a CD/DVD, see "Mounting a CD or DVD on Unix and Linux".
Note: This step may not be required on some Linux and Unix platforms, as some operating systems automatically handle mounting.
2.  Change directory to /cdrom/Unix/Installer. Note that the exact location of the CD/DVD mount point might be different for your platform.
cd / cdrom /Unix/Installer
3.  Run the installer.
./MathInstaller
4.  (Unix only) You are asked to select the platform for which you are doing the installation. Select one of the available options and press Enter to continue.
5.  The installer prompts you to specify the directory in which Mathematica should be installed. The default location is /usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/7.0. Press Enter to accept the default, or type in a new location and then press Enter.
Note: If you specify a directory that does not exist, the installer will give you the option of creating the directory. If a copy of Mathematica already exists in the directory you specify, the installer will inform you before overwriting the files.

Note: If you are installing over a previous version of Mathematica, your existing mathpass file and custom settings will not be deleted.

6.  Once you have answered all the questions, the installer begins copying files from the CD/DVD to the directory you specified. The progress is indicated by a progress bar on the screen.
7.  You are asked for the location in which to copy the executable scripts. You should choose a directory that is present on each user's PATH. The scripts are also installed in the Executables subdirectory of the Mathematica installation directory. Type a location or accept the default and press Enter.
Note: The installer checks to see if any other Mathematica scripts exist in the specified directory. If they do, you are given the chance to rename the scripts.
8.  You are given several options for configuring the password. Type 1 and press Enter to run Mathematica using a single-machine license.
9.  Your machine name and MathID number are displayed. To obtain your password, contact Wolfram Research (see "Registration and Passwords" for details). You will need to supply your MathID number and the license number located on your electronic or physical copy of the license certificate.
10.  Enter your name, the name of your organization, your license number (located on your electronic or physical copy of the license certificate), and your password, and press Enter when you are done.
11.  The installer creates the mathpass file and displays its location. The installation is now complete.
The installer also adds an additional menu folder named Wolfram to the desktop menu. Inside the folder is an item named Mathematica that points to the most recently installed version of Mathematica. File associations are also modified such that .nb files are now associated with the most recently installed version of Mathematica.

Installing Mathematica from a File Server

One convenient way to install Mathematica on a client is to run the installer remotely from a file server. This is an efficient way of making Mathematica available to a large number of users without having to supply a CD/DVD to each one. You can install Mathematica from a file server on a client running any supported Unix or Linux platform. It is not necessary that the client platform be the same as the file server platform.
To install Mathematica from a file server, you first must make the installer and Mathematica files available to the clients. You can do this by copying the contents of the CD/DVD to the file server and exporting the directory, or by exporting the CD/DVD mount point on the file server. Then, mount the directory with the Mathematica distribution on the client and change to this directory, and run MathInstaller to install Mathematica on the client machines. (Note that you must run MathInstaller from the directory in which it is located.) If you are installing Mathematica in a mixed-platform environment, you may need to use the MathInstaller option -platform to ensure that the correct files for your platform are installed.

Installing Mathematica from a Script

If you are installing Mathematica on multiple machines, it can be time-consuming to respond to all of the installer prompts on each individual machine. By supplying command-line options to the MathInstaller command, you can customize various features of the installation process or automate it entirely.
-autoforce the installation to proceed automatically without prompting the user for any information
-createdir=valuespecify whether or not to create the directories specified by the options -targetdir and -execdir
-execdir=dirspecify the path to be used for the symbolic links to the executable scripts
-helpdisplay information about the installer options
-method=typedefine the type of installation you would like to perform
-overwrite=valuespecify whether the installer should overwrite any files that already exist in the target directory
-platforms=valuespecify the system ID of the Unix platform or platforms (e.g., Linux, Solaris, and so forth) for which you want to do the installation
-selinux=valuespecify whether the installer should attempt to modify the security context of any included libraries so that it will function properly
-silentforce an automatic installation (equivalent to the -auto option)
-targetdir=dirspecify the installation directory
-verbosedisplay detailed information about the files and directories being installed

MathInstaller command-line options.

Note: Default values are used for any options that are not specified explicitly on the command line.

Valid input for -createdir is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to y.
The default directory for -execdir is /usr/local/bin. This option only works with an automatic installation.
The values for -method may vary by product. When this option is applicable, the values can be determined by running the installer. The default value for this option is Full.
Valid input for -overwrite is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to y. This option only works with an automatic installation.
The default for -platforms is the system you are installing on, if that information is available to the installer. This option only works with an automatic installation.
Valid input for -selinux is y for yes or n for no. By default, this value is set to n.
The option -silent suppresses any output from being displayed on the screen. The output is instead written to a file named InstallerLog-number. If the installation is unsuccessful, the log file is saved in the /tmp directory. Otherwise, the file is moved to the target directory and renamed InstallerLog.
The directory specified for -targetdir corresponds to the value of the global variable $InstallationDirectory. The default value is /usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/7.0. This option only works with an automatic installation.
To complete the installation in one step, run a command like the following.
./MathInstaller -auto -targetdir=/home/mathematica
This allows you to complete the installation automatically in one step, while still being able to customize various details such as the directory to install to. You are not prompted to enter your password using this method, so you will need to enter a password the first time Mathematica is launched.
If you are doing many installations, you might find it convenient to include the MathInstaller command with all the relevant options in a shell script. Running the shell script is then an easy way to do an identical customized installation on multiple machines. You can further simplify the installation process by including a line in your script that copies an existing mathpass file to the appropriate location on the newly installed machine. Note that MathInstaller must be run from the directory in which it is located, so your script may require a command to change directory. See "Registrations and Passwords" for information on sitewide mathpass configurations.
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