1 This is the README file for the Bioperl central distribution,
9 Thanks for downloading this distribution!
11 Bioperl is an association of developers of public
12 domain Perl tools for computational molecular
15 Our website http://bio.perl.org provides an online
16 resource for modules, scripts, and web links for
17 developers of Perl-based software for life
23 Bioperl developers: vsns-bcd-perl-guts@lists.uni-bielefeld.de
25 Project website : http://bio.perl.org
26 Project FTP server: bio.perl.org (anonymous FTP ok)
28 Bug reports : http://bio.perl.org/bioperl-bugs/
29 bioperl-bugs@bio.perl.org
31 Please send us bugs, in particular about documentation which you
32 think is unclear or problems in installation. We are also very
33 interested in functions which don't work the way you think they do!
37 - Not tested on anything but common forms of Unix
38 - perl 5.003 or later (5.004 recommended; not much 5.005 testing)
39 - ANSI C or Gnu C compiler for XS extensions
43 The "meta" documentation can be found in the bioperl.pod file.
44 This should be the starting point for you to read about what
45 bioperl is, how to use it and who wrote it. (The rest of this
46 file will tell you how to install bioperl)
48 Use your favorite pod2* translator turn it into the format of
49 choice or view it directly via perldoc.
55 or in this directory go
57 pod2text bioperl.pod | more
59 pod2html, which comes with Perl, can be used to create web-browser
60 navigable documentation files.
62 Individual .pm modules have their own embedded POD documentation
65 Remember 'perldoc' is your friend. You can use this to read any
66 file containing POD formatted documentation without needing any type
74 The Bioperl modules are distributed as a tar file in standard perl
75 CPAN distribution form. This means that installation is very
76 simple. Once you have unpacked the tar distribution there is a
77 directory called bioperl-xx/, which is where this file is. Move into
78 that directory (you may well be already in the right place!) and
79 issue the following commands:
81 perl Makefile.PL # makes a system-specific makefile
82 make # makes the distribution
83 make test # runs the test code
84 make install # [may need root access for system install.
85 # See below for how to get around this.]
87 This should build, test and install the distribution cleanly on your
88 system. This installs the main perl part of bioperl, which is the
89 majority of the bioperl modules. There is one module (Bio::Tools::pSW)
90 which needs a compiled extension. This needs an extra installation
91 step. The directions for installing this are given below - it is
92 almost as easy as installing the standard distribution, so don't
95 You may have some errors from the pod2man part of the installation,
98 /usr/bin/pod2man: Unrecognized pod directive in paragraph 168 of Bio/Tools/Blast.pm: head3
100 You don't need to worry about them: they do not effect the documentation
103 To install you need write permission in the perl5/site_perl/ source area.
104 Quite often this will require you (or someone else) becoming root,
105 so you will want to talk to your systems manager if you don't
106 have the necessary access.
108 It is possible to install the package outside of the standard Perl5
109 location. See below for details.
111 To install the Compiled extension for pSW you will need to read the
112 next section of the manual.
115 INSTALLING THE COMPILED EXTENSIONS
117 Move to the directory Compile/SW. This is where the C code and XS
118 extension for the bp_sw module is held and execute these commands:
120 perl Makefile.PL # makes the system specific makefile
121 make # builds all the libaries
122 make test # runs a short test
123 make install # installs the package correctly.
125 This should install the compiled extension. The Bio::Tools::pSW module
126 will work cleanly now.
129 INSTALLING BIOPERL IN A PERSONAL OR PRIVATE MODULE AREA
131 If you lack permission to install perl modules into the
132 standard site_perl/ system area you can configure bioperl to
133 install itself anywhere you choose. Ideally this would
134 be a personal perl directory or standard place where you
135 plan to put all your 'local' or personal perl modules.
137 Note: you _must_ have write permission to this area.
139 Simply pass a parameter to perl as it builds your system
144 perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/home/dag/My_Local_Perl_Modules
149 This will cause perl to install the bioperl modules in:
150 /home/dag/My_Perl_Modules/lib/perl5/site_perl/
152 And the bioperl man pages will go in:
153 /home/dag/My_Perl_Modules/lib/perl5/man/
155 To specify a directory besides lib/perl5/site_perl,
156 or if there are still permission problems, include
157 an INSTALLSITELIB directive along with the PREFIX:
159 perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/home/dag/perl INSTALLSITELIB=/home/dag/perl/lib
161 See below for how to use modules that are not installed in the
162 standard Perl5 location.
167 INSTALLING BIOPERL MODULES: LAST RESORT
169 As a last resort, you can simply copy all files in Bio/
170 to any directory in which you have write privileges. This is
171 generally NOT recommended since some modules may require
172 special configuration (currently none do, but don't rely
175 You will need to set "use lib '/path/to/my/bioperl/modules';"
176 in your perl scripts so that you can access these modules if
177 they are not installed in the standard site_perl/ location.
178 See below for an example.
180 To get manpage documentation to work correctly you will have
181 to configure man so that it looks in the proper directory.
182 On most systems this will just involve adding an additional
183 directory to your $MANPATH environment variable.
185 The installation of the Compile directory can be similarly
186 redirected, but execute the make commands from the Compile/SW
189 If all else fails or are unable to access the perl distribution
190 directories, ask your system administrator to place the files there
191 for you. You can always execute perl scripts in the same directory
192 as the location of the modules (Bio/ in the distribution) since perl
193 always checks the current working directory when looking for modules.
196 USING MODULES NOT INSTALLED IN THE STANDARD PERL LOCATION
198 You can explicitly tell perl where to look for modules by using the
199 lib module which comes standard with perl.
205 use lib "/home/users/dag/My_Local_Perl_Modules/";
208 <...insert whizzy perl code here...>