[daip] AIPS Installation on Intel Mac

Eric Greisen egreisen at nrao.edu
Fri May 1 10:17:21 EDT 2009


Michael Busch wrote:
> Michael Busch wrote:
>> I'm trying to install AIPS on my laptop (Intel MacBook Pro).  I 
>> followed the installation instructions as given, and the install seems 
>> to execute without problems.  However, when I try to run AIPS the TV 
>> will not start.  This holds with TV=local or with the default.
> I am told that this may be due to a setting involving shared memory.  In 
> a very cookbook fashion, how do I fix this, if it is indeed the 
> problem?  The xterm output when I run AIPS follows.
> 
> Thank you again.
> 
> Michael Busch
> 
> 
> AIPS $ ls
> 31DEC09         DA00            LOGIN.CSH       SETNAME         TVALT
> AIPS.BOOT       DATA            LOGIN.SH        SETUNAME        TVDEVS.SH
> AIPSASSN.CSH    FITS            OFM             START_AIPS      install.pl
> AIPSASSN.SH     HOSTS.CSH       PRDEVS.SH       START_TPSERVERS
> AIPSPATH.CSH    HOSTS.LIST      PRINT           START_TVSERVERS
> AIPSPATH.SH     HOSTS.SH        RUN             TEXT
> AIPS $ ./START_AIPS tv=local
> START_AIPS: Will use or start first available Unix Socket based TV
> 
> You have a choice of 5 printers.  These are:
> 
>    No. [ type  ] Description
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>     1. [PS-CMYK] Avery Center Black and White
>     2. [     PS] PDF
>     3. [     PS] PS
>     4. [     PS] S Mudd
>     5. [     PS] (no description supplied by installer)
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> START_AIPS: Enter your choice, or the word QUIT [default is 1]: 3
> START_AIPS: Your initial AIPS printer is the PS
> START_AIPS:  - system name _131_215_64_90, AIPS type PS
> 
> START_AIPS: User data area assignments:
>  (Using global default file /Users/busch/AIPS/DA00/DADEVS.LIST for 
> DADEVS.PL)
>   Disk 1 (1) is /Users/busch/AIPS/DATA/LOCALHOST_1
> 
> Tape assignments:
>   Tape 1 is REMOTE
>   Tape 2 is REMOTE
> 
> START_AIPS: Starting TV servers on localhost asynchronously
> START_AIPS:  - WITH Unix Sockets as requested...
> START_AIPS: Starting TPMON daemons on LOCALHOST asynchronously...
> Starting up 31DEC09 AIPS with normal priority
> Begin the one true AIPS number 1 (release of 31DEC09) at priority =   0
> AIPS 1: You are not on a local TV device, welcome stranger
> AIPS 1: You are assigned TV device/server   2
> AIPS 1: You are assigned graphics device/server   2
> AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
> ?UNIXSERVERS: TVSRV1 is already running on host localhost, user busch
> UNIXSERVERS: Start XAS1 on localhost, DISPLAY /tmp/launch-QuAQyc/:0
> XAS: ** TrueColor FOUND!!!
> XAS: ***  Using shared memory option for speed ***
> XAS: Using screen width 1430 height 800,
>     max grey level 8191 in 16 grey-scale memories
> Shared memory id failure: Invalid argument
> UNIXSERVERS: Start graphics server TKSRV1 on localhost, display 
> /tmp/launch-QuAQyc/:0
> UNIXSERVERS: Start message server MSSRV1 on localhost, display 
> /tmp/launch-QuAQyc/:0
> STARTPMON: [LOCALHOST] Starting TPMON1 with output SUPPRESSED
> ZVTPO3: tcp/aipsmt0 is not a service
> ZVTPO3: check /etc/services or NIS map!
> 
> AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
> ?2
> AIPS 1:                          31DEC09 AIPS:
> AIPS 1:      Copyright (C) 1995-2009 Associated Universities, Inc.
> AIPS 1:            AIPS comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY;
> AIPS 1:                 for details, type HELP GNUGPL
> AIPS 1: This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
> AIPS 1: under certain conditions; type EXPLAIN GNUGPL for d
> 
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Yes your problem is shared memory - see the FAQ information below

Eric Greisen

If you see this on a Mac, congratulations; you have one of the larger 
display screens. The default Mac system limits shared memory pages to 4 
Mbytes. When XAS starts it tells you that it is making a screen x pixels 
by y pixels. The memory you will need is at least  4 x y  bytes. For the 
new large screens this is more than 8 Mbytes. On 10.3 and 10.4 systems, 
you can change this limit by changing (as root or admin) the rc file in 
/etc, adjusting the kern.sysv.shm* line to

          #Setting the shared memory to something a bit more reasonable.
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=10485760
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmin=1
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmni=32
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmseg=8
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmall=4096


If you are really lucky and have a 30-inch screen (2550 by 1500 pixels) 
then you will have to make the shmmax line even larger

             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=16777216


On the latest "leopard" systems, /etc/rc is gone and creating it will 
have no effect. You need to create an /etc/sysctl.conf file and put the 
values in it,

             kern.sysv.shmmax=10485760
             kern.sysv.shmmin=1
             kern.sysv.shmmni=32
             kern.sysv.shmseg=8
             kern.sysv.shmall=4096


You should use the values you had when you were running tiger. Those 
could be in /Previous\ System/etc/rc, assuming you have "Previous 
System". So three different OS upgrades and three different ways to 
adjust the default shared memory. Note: You will need to reboot the 
system for the change in shared memory to take place. You can check if 
the shared memory changes happened by typing "sysctl kern.sysv" in a 
terminal or xterm window. Look for the kern.sysv.shm* values. If the 
values have not changed, make sure you haven't inadvertently left in 
"sysctl -w" in the /etc/sysctl.conf file or mis-typed one of the values. 
If the /etc/sysctl.conf file is not properly formatted, or shmmax is not 
an integer multiple of shmall, the shared memory will not be adjusted 
after the reboot.

On older Jaguar systems (X 10.2), you can change this limit by changing 
the SystemTuning file in


             /System/Library/StartupItems/SystemTuning


Look for the lines

             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=4194304
             sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmall=1024


Change the 4194304 to 10485760 (for 10 Mbytes) and change the 1024 to 
4096 (allows 16 Megabytes). You must then re-boot the computer to have 
these changes take effect.




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