Installing GSAS & EXPGUI on Mac OS X

This page describes a new method for installing GSAS & EXPGUI where a small disk image is downloaded, which contains a script that loads the latest versions of GSAS and EXPGUI. When GSAS & EXPGUI are loaded in this fashion, a menu item is activated in EXPGUI that allows it to check for updates and install them. At present, this is only possible on Macs with Intel processors.

The software installation is done using a program called subversion (svn), in addition the installation script is run using the Python interpreter. I believe that python can be found on OS X in the default installation from 10.4 on. Subversion comes preloaded on Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard systems (10.6). Users of 10.4 (Tiger) will need to install subversion this can be done with ​Fink, ​DarwinPorts or ​MacPorts. Note that all that is needed is the svn client, should you have a choice in package size.

How to install GSAS & EXPGUI

Here is the procedure needed to load GSAS & EXPGUI:

• Download file ​http://11bm.xor.aps.anl.gov/downloads/gsas/svnload/gsassvn_i86.dmg

• If the file does not automatically open in finder showing a volume containing a single gsas folder, click on the downloaded gsassvn_i86.dmg file.

• Drag the gsas folder to where you want it on your computer. I recommend placing you place in an area where you have write access without running as admin (you don't login as an admin, routinely -- right?!). If you place this folder in /Applications or any other central location, use an admin account for the next step, as well as to run EXPGUI to perform upgrades.

• Click on the gsas folder in the location where you have copied it. You should see three files: bootstrap.py (the installation script); expgui (an applescript for running EXPGUI, OS X 10.5 & 10.6); expgui10.4 (an applescript for running EXPGUI, OS X 10.4)

• click on bootstrap.py. This should launch python, which will open a terminal window and will start downloading the files needed by GSAS & EXPGUI from the network. If python is installed, but not connected to the .py extension, it is possible to open a terminal window, use 'cd' to change to the approiate directory and then type 'python bootstrap.py'

• recommended: drag the appropriate applescript: expgui (OS X 10.5 & 10.6) or expgui10.4 (OS X 10.4) to the dock.

EXPGUI is started by clicking on the expgui icon, or by dragging .EXP files or directories onto the expgui icon. On occasion, nothing happens when I click on the icon. Closing or restarting X11 seems to fix this problem.

Upgrades

In EXPGUI, one can press the "Upgrade GSAS/EXPGUI" menu button in the File menu. The response to this will be a window that says if there are updates to download or that the programs are "up-to-date". If there are updates, you have the option of installing them and restarting EXPGUI.

If you do not use EXPGUI, you can update by clicking on the bootstrap.py in the gsas folder.

Note that if you make any modifications to any files distributed as part of GSAS or EXPGUI, these files may not be upgraded, should the changes be in the same regions as upgrades made by Bob or myself. If you are in the practice of modifying the programs, you should learn to use svn and do your upgrades by hand.