README file for the `orb' GAP4 package
        
To get the newest version of this GAP 4 package download one of the
archive files
    orb-x.x.tar.gz
    orb-x.x.zoo
    orb-x.x.tar.bz2
    orb-x.x.zip
and unpack it using 
    gunzip orb-x.x.tar.gz; tar xvf orb-x.x.tar
respectively
    unzoo -x orb-x.x.zoo
and so on.

Do this preferably (but not necessarily) inside the `pkg' subdirectory
of your GAP 4 installation. It creates a subdirectory called `orb'.

This completes the basic installation of the package.

To compile the C code of this package to improve performance do
(in the `pkg' directory):

    cd orb 
    ./configure [path]

where 'path' is a path to the main GAP root directory (if not given the
default '../..' is assumed).

Afterwards call 'make' to compile a binary file.

If you installed GAP on several architectures, you must execute this
configure/make step on each of the architectures immediately after
configuring GAP itself on this architecture.

If you installed the package in another 'pkg' directory than the standard
'pkg' directory in your GAP 4 installation, then you have to add the path
to the directory containing your 'pkg' directory to GAP's list of directories.
This can be done by starting GAP with the '-l' command line option
followed by the name of the directory and a semicolon. Then your directory
is prepended to the list of directories searched. Otherwise the package 
is not found by GAP. Of course, you can add this option to your GAP
startup script.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STATIC LINKING: This might be interesting for M$ Windows users, as
dynamic loading of binary modules does not always work there.
You can create a new statically linked 'gap' binary as follows:

Go into the main GAP directory and then into 'bin/BINDIR'. Here
BINDIR means the directory containing the 'gap' executable after
compiling GAP. This directory also contains the GAP compiler script
'gac'. Assuming orb in the standard location you can then say

   ./gac -o gap-static -p "-DORBSTATIC" -P "-static" ../../pkg/orb/src/orb.c

Note that you have to replace BINDIR by the name containing the 'gap'
executable after compiling GAP as above. If you have installed the
package in a different place than the standard, you have to replace
'../..' in the above command by the path to the directory containing
the 'pkg' directory into which you installed orb.

Then copy your `gap' start script to, say, `gaps' and change the
references to the GAP binary to `gap-static'.

If you want to install more than one package with a C-part like this
package, you can still create a statically linked GAP executable by
combining all the compile and link options and all the .c files as
in the ./gac command above. For the orb package, you have to add
  -DORBSTATIC
to the string of the -p option and the file
  ../../pkg/orb/src/orb.c
somewhere on the command line. As above, '../..' and 'BINDIR' have
to be replaced if you installed in a non-standard location.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recompiling the documentation is possible by the command `gap makedoc.g'
in the orb directory. But this should not be necessary.

E-mail me if there are any questions, remarks, suggestions. Also, I
would like to hear about applications of this package.


Max Neunhoeffer, e-mail: max.neunhoeffer@math.rwth-aachen.de