Using XPPAUT on a Mac

XPPAUT requires X11, the unix graphical window system, in order to run. If you are running OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or newer, then X11 is already installed and will start up automatically when you run XPPAUT.

That said, I suggest that one install the latest version of X11 from the XQuartz project. The XQuartz version of X11 is an updated and improved version of the stock X11 (itself a port of x11.org, a standard unix X11).

If you are running an earlier version of OS X, then you will need to install X11 from the OS X DVD which came with your computer. In order to run XPPAUT, you will first need to start X11, for which there will be an icon in Applications -> Utilities.

–Ken Moyle

Installing

Pre-compiled Executables

Ready-to-use, pre-compiled XPPAUT packages are available on the XPPAUT home page under Download -> Assorted binaries. There is no naming scheme and it may not be clear which one you want.

If you have an Intel Mac, then you almost certainly want one with latest date and with “osx” and “intel” in the name. Download the file, double-click on it to unzip/unpack it, then look for installation instructions.

If you have a PowerPC Mac (see Does my Mac have an Intel or PowerPC processor?) then you will need to download the precompiled DMG for XPPAUT 5.99 (the latest version for which there is a PPC binary, as of January, 2012).

Note: The pre-compiled versions do not allow you to link your XPPAUT calculations to ‘‘dynamic link libraries’’ (DLLs). This is a major limitation for analysis of periodically forced ODEs. If you want to be able to link to DLLs (e.g., to make use of C code that computes a stroboscopic map) then you need to follow the instructions below for compiling from source.

Compiling from Source Code

Alternatively, you can download and install the latest source code and compile it as shown below.

The only caveat is that you need to install the Apple XCode tools; XCode is free from Apple but you must explicitly install it. In OS X 10.7 (Lion), XCode is a free app which can be downloaded from the App Store. Prior to OS X 10.7, XCode was an optional install available on the OS X installation DVD. If you don’t have the OS X DVD then follow the instructions for [[downloading XCode tools from McMaster]].

Once you’ve installed XCode and run Software Update, you can compile XPPAUT like so:

• open Terminal (Applications -> Utilities)
• first, enter the following to download and unzip the source-code files

   cd 
   cd Desktop
   mkdir xppaut
   cd xppaut
   curl -O http://www.math.pitt.edu/~bard/bardware/xppaut_latest.tar.gz
   tar -xzf xppaut_latest.tar.gz
  

• now compile the code

   make
   sudo make install
  

• you can remove the source files once you have installed the compiled binaries

   cd
   cd Desktop
   \rm -r xppaut
  

To run XPPAUT, enter this command from the Terminal

 xppaut

Creating a Icon in Applications

If you’d like to have an icon in Applications for XPPAUT, run the following commands in a Terminal window

 cd /Applications
 sudo ln -s `which xppaut` XPPAUT

It’s not pretty, but it works.

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