diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md index 3053858d67..2912f1199f 100644 --- a/INSTALL.md +++ b/INSTALL.md @@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ you need to download the GAP source distribution, that is, a file named for GAP 4.X.Y. Alternatively, you can also use the `.tar.gz` or `.zip` archives. -If you use Windows, then download the `.exe` installer which contains binaries +If you use Windows, then download the Windows installer which contains binaries for GAP and some packages and provides the standard installation procedure. @@ -108,21 +108,16 @@ permissions to read the files.) Windows ------- -If you are using the `.exe` installer (which we strongly recommend), -simply download and run it. It will offer a standard installation -procedure, during which you will be able to select an installation path. - -Note that the path to the GAP directory must not contain spaces. -For example, you may install it in a directory named like `C:\gap-4.X.Y` -(default), `D:\gap` or `C:\Math\GAP\my-gap-4.X.Y`, but you must not install -it in a directory named like `C:\Users\alice\My Documents\gap-4.X.Y` or -`C:\Program files\gap-4.X.Y` etc. +If you are using the Windows installer, simply download and run it. +It will offer a standard installation procedure, during which you will +be able to select an installation path. You can either install for all +users, or just the current user. 4 Compilation ============= -For the Windows version the `.exe` installer will already have put +For the Windows version the installer will already have put binaries in place and nothing else needs to be done. Under Unix you will have to compile such a binary yourself, as described @@ -303,9 +298,7 @@ users (including those on macOS) should type ./gap -Windows users should start GAP with the batch file - - C:\gap-4.X.Y\bin\gap.bat +Windows users should start GAP using the GAP icon in the start menu. GAP should start up with its banner and after a little while give you a command prompt @@ -327,7 +320,7 @@ Try a few commands to see if the compilation succeeded. [ 29, 101, 281, 9901, 226549, 121499449, 4458192223320340849 ] If you get the error message `hmm, I cannot find lib/init.g` you are likely -to have installed only the binary (or used the wrong path on Windows). +to have installed only the binary (or have a broken installation on Windows). If GAP starts but you get error messages for the commands you issued, the files in the `lib` directory are likely to be corrupt or incomplete. Make @@ -382,12 +375,6 @@ performing all tests from the `tst` directory. It takes significantly longer to complete than `testinstall.g`, but otherwise produces output similar to the `testinstall.g` test. -Windows users should note that the Command Prompt user interface provided -by Microsoft might not offer history scrolling or cut and paste with the -mouse. To get a better environment, use the script `gap.bat` to start GAP -instead of `gapcmd.bat`. - - 7 Packages ========== @@ -396,9 +383,8 @@ redistribute in the `gap-4.X.Y/pkg` directory, and for packages that consist only of GAP code no further installation is necessary. Some packages however contain external binaries that will require separate -compilation. (If you use Windows you may not be able to use external -binaries anyhow, except for those packages whose binaries for Windows are -included in their distribution, so you may skip the rest of this section.) +compilation. (If you use the Windows installer these binaries are already +compiled for you, so you may skip the rest of this section.) You can skip this compilation now and do it later -- GAP will work fine, but the capabilities of the affected packages won't be available. @@ -558,28 +544,26 @@ This is a problem if you are running a keyboard driver for some non-english languages. These drivers catch the ^ character to produce the French circumflex accent and do not pass it properly to GAP. For macOS users, as a workaround please refer to the section "GAP for macOS" below for information on -how to install readline and section 5 on how to recompile GAP, for windows no +how to install readline and section 5 on how to recompile GAP, for Windows no fix is known. (One can type `POW(a,b)` for `a^b`.) ## Problems specific to Windows -### Cut and Paste does not work - -You might want to try different shells, using both of the two `.bat` -files in the `bin` directory: `gap.bat` and `gapcmd.bat`. Also, - might give a remedy. - -### GAP does not work in the remote desktop - -GAP cannot be started in the Windows Command Prompt shell (via `gapcmd.bat`) -in the remote desktop. To start GAP in the remote desktop, use the script -`gap.bat` which should work in such setting. - -### You get an error message about the `cygwin1.dll` - -GAP comes with a version of this dynamic library. If you have another -version installed (use "Find"), delete the older one (and probably copy the -newer one in both places). +Rather than use the Windows installer, another option is to use the +"Windows Subsystem for Linux" (), +also known as WSL. This can be found in the "Microsoft Store" in Windows, +where you will find installers for a selection of Linux distributions (Ubuntu +is the standard, and best supported). After installing a linux distribution you +can then follow the guidance for building and using GAP in Linux inside WSL. + +The main advantage of using WSL is that the Windows installer does not support +adding new packages which require compiling kernel modules. Also, GAP is +slightly faster in WSL. + +We also support building GAP using 'Cygwin', which is a Unix wrapper for +Windows. Cygwin is used for making Windows release. Almost all packages are +supported in the Windows releases. By default the Windows release reads and +writes files from the user's "Documents" directory. ### Something else went wrong