Installing AIPS on Ubuntu 16.04

I've recently installed AIPS (version 31DEC16) on Ubuntu 16.04. Here are my notes on the installation experience. Due to recent compiler work on AIPS this was a much better experience than on recent new versions of Ubuntu. Note that this was a "text" (compile-from-source) install - if you just need to use AIPS you will likely get a faster experience using the pre-compiled binaries available from the binary installation (see http://www.aips.nrao.edu/dec16.shtml for full instructions)


As before, the Ubuntu dependencies are:


        libx11-dev and its dependancies
        x11proto-xext-dev
        libxext-dev
        libxpm-dev
        libncurses5-dev
        libncursesw5-dev
        libbsd-dev
        libedit-dev


I use gcc and gfortran to compile AIPS - you need to specify their location in the AIPS installer (/usr/bin/gfortran is both the fortran compiler and the linker for me, while /usr/bin/gcc compiles for C). I also have trouble with the fortran compiler flags -axWPT and -ip options, so I turn them off both for gfortran and gcc. XAS isn't built using these directives however, so you need to go to Y/SERVERS and edit XAS.SHR to remove the use of the axWPT and -ip flags when compiling the TV server.


A new problem with this combination of Ubuntu and AIPS is an errant "-c" ending up in the link command for making XAS after XAS.SHR is run. This means you will get an error that XAS failed to link, but if you open the makefile at Y/SERVERS/XAS/makefile and remove the "-c" option from the LOCALOPTS_LNX64 variable, then you can just type "make" to correctly make and set up XAS (I did this in a separate terminal while the rest of the installation was proceeding). Make sure the executable xas file has been successfully moved to LNX64/LOAD.


Make sure to add


        sssin        5000/tcp    SSSIN        # AIPS TV
        ssslock        5002/tcp    SSSLOCK        # AIPS TV Lock
        msgserv        5008/tcp    MSGSERV        # AIPS Message Server
        tekserv        5009/tcp    TEKSERV        # AIPS TekServer
        aipsmt0        5010/tcp    AIPSMT0
        aipsmt1        5011/tcp    AIPSMT1
        aipsmt2        5012/tcp    AIPSMT2
        aipsmt3        5013/tcp    AIPSMT3
        aipsmt4        5014/tcp    AIPSMT4
        aipsmt5        5015/tcp    AIPSMT5
        aipsmt6        5016/tcp    AIPSMT6
        aipsmt7        5017/tcp    AIPSMT7


to /etc/services to get AIPS to run properly. To do this you may need to open the file as root.


One last thing - add the aips path to your profile so you can run it straight from the terminal. For me the line was ". /home/colm/aips/LOGIN.SH; $CDTST". The CDTST bit at the end is needed if you intend to compile custom AIPS tasks.