3.3. How to get the software

3.3.1. Requirements

DIRSIG is distributed only to users that meet the following requirements:

3.3.2. Software Distribution

DIRSIG is distributed as a set of compressed archives. These archive files can be acquired from one of two sources:

Whether you are installing from a CDROM or from a distribution that was downloaded from the DIRSIG website, the process is essentially the same. The distribution is broken down into a set of four (4) components: (i) the base files, (ii) the executables, (iii) the distributed scenes and (iv) the user documentation. All the component filenames contain the release number in the name (for example, 3.6.1). This release number is represented as the string M.N.R in the following sections.

3.3.2.1. The Base Files

The file dirsig-M.N.R-base.tgz is a gzip'ed tar archive that contains the base set of DIRSIG support files. This file is responsible for the establishing the basic directory framework of the installation. In addition, it contains the default databases used by many of the distributed scenes. These databases include weather files, sensor response files, emissivity files, etc. The top-level directory of the DIRSIG installation is usually referred to by the environment variable DIRSIG_HOME.

3.3.2.2. The Program Executables

The DIRSIG model is distributed as binary executables in the form of a compressed archive for the specific architecture and operating system. Each set of executables includes a parallel version of the DIRSIG renderer that can be used on parallel computing machines. Generally, the following distribution files are available:

  • dirsig-M.N.R-Linux-i586.tgz is for x86 compatible machines running the Linux operating system (Kernel 2.4+, Glibc 2.2+ or higher)

  • dirsig-M.N.R-Solaris-sun4u.tgz is for Sun Sparc and UltraSparc machines running the Solaris operating system (Solaris 2.9+)

  • dirsig-M.N.R-Irix-mips.tgz is for SGI MIPS machines running the IRIX operating systems (IRIS 6.x+)

Each of these distribution files is a gzip'ed tar archive that contains at a minimum the $DIRSIG_HOME/bin directory containing the program executables and a $DIRSIG_HOME/lib directory containing supporting libraries.

3.3.2.3. The Distributed Scenes

The file dirsig-M.N.R-scenes.tgz is a gzip'ed tar archive that contains the set of distributed DIRSIG scenes. This file contains the contents of the $DIRSIG_HOME/examples directory.

3.3.2.4. The User Documentation

The file dirsig-M.N.R-doc.tgz is a gzip'ed tar archive that contains the set of DIRSIG supporting documents. This file contains the contents of the $DIRSIG_HOME/doc directory. In this directory you will find several documents including a copy of this manual.