Installation issues

[achesoch]

Hi, thanks for producing this software and publishing it as open source, it is much appreciated. I am attempting to install picFoam and am having some issues. I have installed OpenFOAM 8 on Ubuntu 20.04 in my /opt/ directory. I have used several OpenFOAM 8 solvers (e.g. mhdFoam, icoFoam, sonicFoam) and have not encountered problems with my installation. When I run ./Allwmake in the picFoam directory, I get the following error message:

wmake PICMCCFVM
make: *** No rule to make target '/opt/openfoam8/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude/scalarFwd.H', needed by 'Make/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/parcels/derived/picParcel/picParcel.C.dep'. Stop.
wmake solver/picFoam
make: *** No rule to make target '/opt/openfoam8/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude/int16.H', needed by 'Make/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/picFoam.C.dep'. Stop.
wmake preProcess/picInitialise
make: *** No rule to make target '/opt/openfoam8/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude/scalarFwd.H', needed by 'Make/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/makePICInitialiseModels.C.dep'. Stop.

I checked my '/opt/openfoam8/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude/' directory and could not find these files. I found them in my OpenFOAM 2106 folder (e.g. '/opt/OpenFOAM-v2106/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude/scalarFwd.H'). I tried copying some files over, but each time I tried to run ./Allwmake I had the same error with a different missing file. This would seem to suggest that either picFoam requires a different version of OpenFOAM, or that my OpenFOAM 8 installation has issues. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Lakshmikanthaks]

I have installed picFoam in 18.04 without any issue. Did you tried to place all files in home directory or any place you have full access to modify files and try. /Allwmake.

[achesoch]

Hi Lakshmikanthaks, thanks for responding so quickly. You're right, I had an access issue. picFoam was in my home directory, but didn't have permission to write to the opt directory. I moved picFoam to opt and ran ./Allwmake as a super user, and it installed. I am running a tutorial case now to see if it is working as expected. I suspect I will need to change some other permissions moving forward. Thanks again!

[chriskuehn]

Hi, nice that the advice from Lakshmikanthaks worked out. Some remarks, OpenFoam v2106 ist the ".com" version of OpenFoam I never tried if it's possible to compile picFoam with it. picFoam is build on top of OpenFoam8 meaning the ".org" version. One should be careful with copying source files from the v2106 version to the ".org" folder. This could create some weird errors when compiling picFoam or even worse later during runtime... Looks to me like you installed the software package of OpenFoam. I recommend that you compile it from source as described in the README. Then wmake shouldn't have any problem in finding all source files and libs required. You can also do this as a user no need from acquiring root privileges.

[achesoch]

Hi chriskuehn, thanks for the help. I have 2 versions of OpenFoam installed on my machine: 8 and 2106. They are both functional with the usual solvers. I've spent some time over the last couple of days undoing my previous actions, including removing all the v2106 source files from my OpenFoam8 directory. I reverted to a functional version of OpenFoam8 in my opt directory and removed the super-user installed version of picFoam, then attempted to install picFoam with user privileges in my home directory. I once again had the error I detailed in my first post. To get around it so that I can run picFoam without super-user privileges, I did the following:

Move picFoam directory to opt/openfoam8/ and inside that directory
sudo su
source ../etc/bashrc
./Allwmake

At that stage, I could run picFoam as a super-user, but not as a regular user. To access picFoam and picInitialise as a regular user, I had to copy them from the /root/ directory to the /opt/ directory. To do that I did the following:

cd /root/OpenFOAM/root-8/platforms/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/bin/
cp * /opt/openfoam8/platforms/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/bin/
cd ../lib
cp * /opt/openfoam8/platforms/linux64GccDPInt32Opt/lib/
exit

After executing those commands, I found I was able to run picInitialise and picFoam as a regular user from my home directory. I suspect that I ended up with a lot of additional complexity because I installed OpenFoam8 in /opt/, or that I perhaps made a mistake when installing OpenFoam8 in the first place. Anyhow, I thought I'd upload these details in case they are useful for someone else.

[gremie]

Hi,

Does picFOAM only work with the OpenFOAM 8 ? Not with the 9 version ?

Thanks

[chriskuehn]

Haven't tried that yet. If the Cloud and Particle base classes haven't change it should compile and run just fine. Else there meight be some minor changes needed. I could try on monday, back in the office, but I don't have much time if it needs a lot of changes. I am working on a different projects right now. In general I will just fix bugs if I encounter them. At the moment I am only running some final simulations on glow discharges and hall thruster plasma instabilities and writing my phd thesis on this solver after hours.