README - Georgia Tech Smoothing and Mapping library
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What is GTSAM ?

  GTSAM is a library of C++ classes that implement smoothing and
  mapping (SAM) in robotics and vision, using factor graphs and Bayes
  networks as the underlying computing paradigm rather than sparse
  matrices. A set of MATLAB mex wrappers is included.

GTSAM is not (yet) open source: See COPYING & LICENSE

The code is organized according to the following directory structure:

  base				provides some base Math and data structures, as well as test-related utilities
  geometry		points, poses, tensors, etc
  inference		core graphical model inference such as factor graphs, junction trees, Bayes nets, Bayes trees 
  linear			inference specialized to Gaussian linear case, GaussianFactorGraph etc...
  nonlinear		non-linear factor graphs and non-linear optimization
  slam				SLAM and visual SLAM application code
  
All of the above contain code and tests, and build local shared libraries that are then
bundled in a top-level shared library libgtsam.la. After this is built, you can also run
the more involved tests that test the entire library:  
  
  tests				more involved tests that depend on slam

Furthermore the MATLAB wrapper generator code is run as well

  wrap				MATLAB wrapper generation code
	gtsam.h			interface file for which wrappers will be generated
  toolbox			MATLAB proxy classes and wrappers generated
  matlab			examples and tests of the above  		

Finally, there are some local libraries built needed in the rest of the code:

  colamd			COLAMD and CCOLAMD by Tim Davis needed for re-ordering
  CppUnitLite	unit test library
  doc					documentation
  m4					local M4 macros

Boost Dependencies:
------------------
The GTSAM library is based on the 'Boost C++ Libraries' which can be
found here: http://www.boost.org/. 
Donwload the lates version and extract Boost in any place. To this
place the compiler will be linking. 

- On Linux BOOST can also be installed with a packaged manager.
- On Mac OS Mac Ports can be used.

For example the Boost path could be '/opt/local/include/' on a typical
Mac system, where you should be able to find one of the header files:
/opt/local/include/boost/config.hpp 

If your boost files are in a different place change the path according
to your path.

The path to the Boost files can be set as an environmental variable in
the startup script. For a Bash shell the startup file is ~/.bashrc
put the following command in this file:
export BOOST_DIR=/opt/local/include/ 

Installation:
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To finally install the library go into the directory where you unpacked the 
GTSAM library. We recommend you do an out-of-source build, as described in the
next section. However, this is not required:

Standard Build:
---------------

run the command below to configure the library:

$] ./configure --with-toolbox=$HOME/toolbox/ 

where the path after --with-toolbox should point to the directory you want to have the gtsam
matlab scripts installed in. You have to set it to an existing directory. 
After successful installation there will be a gtsam directory with all Matlab GTSAM Toolbox files.

The configure script will attempt to find the Boost C++ library on your system. If you installed
 Boost in a non-standard place, you have to to specify an additional flag to the configure script:

$] ./configure --with-toolbox=$HOME/toolbox/ --with-boost=/path/to/boost/include/

After configuring your makefile you have to compile the library
Type:
$] make
$] make install

Out-of-source build:
--------------------
The above will put object files and executables in the source directories. If you like, it is 
very easy to configure the libraries to put all these in a parallel build tree so they do not 
clutter the source tree. To do this, instead of running configure in the gtsam directory itself, 
run it in sub-directory of choice, e.g., starting out in the main GTSAM folder:

$] mkdir build
$] cd build
$] ../configure --with-toolbox=$HOME/toolbox/
$] make install

Built-in Unit Tests:
----------------
There is one more optional step in which you can invoke the unit tests included in the gtsam libraries. 
$] make check
By verifying all the test results are positive, you can make sure that the functionalities of the GTSAM
libraries are correct.

Compile Matlab Toolbox:
-----------------------
1) Start Matlab
2) Go to File->Set Path and add the toolbox directory where you installed the
   GTSAM Matlab Toolbox
3) Change your current directory to the GTSAM Matlab Toolbox
4) Type 'make_gtsam' at the Command Window

Run Matlab Unit Tests:
-----------------------
In the matlab command window, change directory to $gtsam/matlab and then type 'run_tests', which will 
invoke the matlab unit tests.