Ubuntu Deb Pack Installation

Ubuntu Versions

OpenFOAM and Paraview are currently available for the following versions of Ubuntu:

• 11.10, codename oneiric
• 12.04 LTS, codename precise
• 12.10, codename quantal

Installation

OpenFOAM and Paraview can be simply installed using the apt package management tool. The user will need to provide superuser password authentication when executing the following commands with sudo

1. In a terminal window, add OpenFOAM to the list of repository locations for apt to search, by copying and pasting the following in a terminal prompt (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal).
   

   VERS=$(lsb_release -cs)
   sudo sh -c "echo deb http://www.openfoam.org/download/ubuntu $VERS main > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openfoam.list"
   
   • Note 1: Line 1 stores the version name of your Ubuntu distribution (e.g. maverick) under $VERS, which is used in line 2
   • Note 2: This only needs to be done once for a given system
2. Update the apt package list to account for the new download repository location

   sudo apt-get update
3. Install OpenFOAM (220 in the name refers to version 2.2.0):
   

   sudo apt-get install openfoam220
4. For Ubuntu versions 11.10 and 12.04 only, install Paraview (3120 in the name refers to version 3.12.0):

   sudo apt-get install paraviewopenfoam3120
   
   For Ubuntu version 12.10, install the system version of Paraview

   sudo apt-get install paraview
   

OpenFOAM-2.2.0 is now installed in the /opt directory (along with and Paraview-3.12.0 in the Ubuntu versions 11.10 and 12.04).

Installation Problems

Networking must be enabled in order to be able to install software packages in Ubuntu. Installation failure due to networking problems usually results in an error message that reports failures in fetching archives and ends with a line like the following:

The .deb files for different versions of Ubuntu supplied can be downloaded directly from the following locations:

User Configuration

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

1. 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
2. At the bottom of that file, add the following line (see Note 1) and save the file

   source /opt/openfoam220/etc/bashrc
3. Open a new terminal window (see Note 2) and test that the icoFoam application, from the OpenFOAM package, is working by typing

   icoFoam -help
4. 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.