Fedora RPM Pack Installation

Fedora Versions

OpenFOAM and Paraview are currently available for Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle) and Fedora 18 (Spherical Cow). This is the first release of packs for this Linux distribution, so we encourage users to report queries or problems on the OpenFOAM bug-tracking system.

Installation

We have generated RPM packs of OpenFOAM, scotch/ptscotch and Paraview for Fedora. The packs are dependent on other software, available as standard RPM packs for Fedora. Before installing OpenFOAM, please ensure that your Fedora installation includes all the software in the Development Tools group, which can be installed with yum by executing the following at a terminal prompt:

OpenFOAM and Paraview also require the following packages to be installed. Execute the following at a terminal prompt.

Now install OpenFOAM by executing one of the following set of commands. For Fedora 18, replace ‘17’ with ‘18’ in the following texts.

EITHER, download and install Scotch, Paraview and OpenFOAM for 32 bit

OR, download and install Scotch, Paraview and OpenFOAM for 64 bit.

OpenFOAM-2.2.0 and Paraview-3.12.0 are now installed in the /opt directory.

User Configuration

In order to use the installed OpenFOAM package, complete the following

1. The OpenFOAM binaries were compiled with OpenMPI version 1.6.3. Check that an OpenMPI module is available by typing in a terminal window

   module available
   This will return a list of modules that must include openmpi, e.g. openmpi-x86_64 for a 64 bit system.
2. Open the .bashrc file in the user’s home directory in an editor, e.g. by typing in a terminal window (note the dot)

   gedit ~/.bashrc
3. At the bottom of that file, add the following lines (see Note 1), where the first line specifies the name of the openmpi module from step 1. Save the file

   module load openmpi-x86_64
   source /opt/OpenFOAM-2.2.0/etc/bashrc
4. Open a new terminal window (see Note 2) and test that the icoFoam application, from the OpenFOAM package, is working by typing

   icoFoam -help
5. A “Usage” message should appear. Your installation and user configuration is complete.

Note 1: If a similar line has already been added to the user’s .bashrc file, e.g. for a previous version of OpenFOAM, then the line should be deleted or, alternatively, commented out by inserting a # at the beginning of the line.
Note 2: If a user wishes to execute icoFoam in the same terminal window, they must first register the change to the .bashrc file by typing at the terminal prompt (note the dots):  source $HOME/.bashrc

Getting Started

Create a project directory within the $HOME/OpenFOAM directory named <USER>-2.2.0 (e.g. chris-2.2.0 for user chris and OpenFOAM version 2.2.0) and create a directory named run within it, e.g. by typing:

Copy the tutorial examples directory in the OpenFOAM distribution to the run directory. If the OpenFOAM environment variables are set correctly, then the following command will be correct: Run the first example case of incompressible laminar flow in a cavity: Refer to the OpenFOAM User Guide to get started.

Reporting Bugs in OpenFOAM

We appreciate that bugs in OpenFOAM are reported so we can fix them. Please refer to the OpenFOAM bugs pages to report bugs.