Getting the ATLAS basefile tree and the working ATLAS directory

Here are the steps to get a local ATLAS basefile tree:

1. If you don't already have it, install git. On my lubuntu system, I did: ``sudo apt-get install -y git-core gitg qgit''.

2. Checkout the ATLAS basefiles: From a git-capable machine connected to the Internet, go to the directory where you want the ATLAS basefiles to be, and issue:

      git clone git://github.com/rcwhaley/math-atlas.git
   

   This command should create a directory callec math-atlas in the current directory, and math-atlas should contain the files Makefile, extract.c, and README, as well as the directory AtlasBase, which contains all the ATLAS basefiles, and the directory AtlasTest, which contains Antoine's testing scripts.

   $\rightarrow$

   The details of how to use git actually vary depending on what you are trying to do, and the above command is just the simplest thing. Please see:

   http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipy/stable/devel/guidelines/gitwash/
   

   for a good discussion of the two primary ways to use git to contribute: (1) submitting patches, or (2) submitting substantial new development with forking and pull requests.

3. Create ATLAS working directory and extract files: Decide where you wish to create the ATLAS source tree. This directory should not presently exist, since the Makefile is going to create it for you. Create the source tree with the command:

      make srcdir=<your chosen directory>
   

   If srcdir is not given, the Makefile creates a directory TEST in the math-atlas directory (i.e., srcdir defaults to ./TEST).

   Now, cd to srcdir and issue `make' to build the ATLAS tree, and ./atltar.sh will build the standard ATLAS tarfile from the ATLAS source tree.