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# 2 Installing and Loading the ACE Package

### Sections

1. Installing the ACE Package
2. Loading the ACE Package

## 2.1 Installing the ACE Package

To install, unpack the archive file, which should have a name of form `ace-`XXX`.zoo` for some package version number XXX, as a sub-directory in the `pkg` hierarchy of your version of GAP 4. This might be the `pkg` directory of the GAP 4 home directory; it is however also possible to keep an additional `pkg` directory in your private directories, see Section Installing a GAP Package in your home directory. (The only essential difference with installing ACE in a `pkg` directory different to the GAP 4 home directory is that one must start GAP with the `-l` switch, e.g. if your private `pkg` directory is a subdirectory of `mygap` in your home directory you might type:

`gap -l ";`myhomedir`/mygap"`

where myhomedir is the path to your home directory, which may be replaced by a tilde in GAP 4.3. The empty path before the semicolon is filled in by the default path of the GAP 4 home directory.)

After unpacking the archive, go to the newly created `ace` directory and call `./configure` path`` where path is the path to the GAP home directory. So for example if you install the package in the main `pkg` directory call

    ./configure ../..

This will fetch the architecture type for which GAP has been compiled last and create a `Makefile`. Now simply call

    make

to compile the binary and to install it in the appropriate place.

Note that the current version of the configuration process only sets up directory paths. If you need a different compiler or different compiler options, you need to edit `src/Makefile.in` yourself, prior to calling `make`.

If you use this installation of GAP on different hardware platforms you will have to compile the binary for each platform separately. This is done by calling `configure`, editing `src/Makefile.in` possibly, and calling `make` for the package anew immediately after compiling GAP itself for the respective architecture. If your version of GAP is already compiled (and has last been compiled on the same architecture) you do not need to compile GAP again, it is sufficient to call the `configure` script in the GAP home directory.

The manual you are currently reading describes how to use the ACE Package; it can be found in the `doc` subdirectory of the package. If your manual does not have a table of contents or index, or has these but with invalid page numbers please re-generate the manual by executing

    ./make_doc

in the `doc` subdirectory.

The subdirectory `standalone-doc` contains the file `ace3001.ps` which holds a version of the user manual for the ACE standalone; it forms part of Ram99). You should consult it if you are going to switch to the ACE standalone, e.g. in order to directly use interactive facilities.

The `src` subdirectory contains a copy of the original source of ACE. (The only modification is that a file `Makefile.in` was obtained from the different `make.xyz` and will be used to create a `Makefile`.) You can replace the source by a newer version before compiling.

If you encounter problems in installation please read the `README`.

## 2.2 Loading the ACE Package

To use the ACE Package you have to request it explicitly. This is done by calling

    gap> RequirePackage( "ace" );
    #I      The ACE (Advanced Coset Enumerator) Package
    #I    C code by George Havas <havas@itee.uq.edu.au> and
    #I              Colin Ramsay <cram@itee.uq.edu.au>
    #I                   ACE binary version: 3.001
    #I    GAP code by Greg Gamble <gregg@itee.uq.edu.au> and
    #I           Alexander Hulpke <hulpke@math.colostate.edu>
    #I                   ACE package version: 3.003
    #I
    #I                   For help, type: ?ACE
    true

The `RequirePackage` command is described in Section RequirePackage in the GAP Reference Manual.

If GAP cannot find a working binary, the call to `RequirePackage` will fail.

Since ACE's banner is `Info`-ed at `InfoWarning` level 1, it will not be observed if the `InfoLevel` of `InfoWarning` is 0.

The banner is also suppressed if the global GAP variable `QUIET` is `true` or `BANNER` is `false` (these conditions occur if GAP is invoked with the `-q` or `-b` command line switches, respectively). If you want to load the ACE package by default, you can put the `RequirePackage` command into your `.gaprc` file (see Section The .gaprc file in the GAP Reference Manual).

Yet one more way of suppressing ACE's banner is to supply the option `pkgbanner` with value `"none"` to the `RequirePackage` command:

    gap> RequirePackage( "ace" : pkgbanner := "none" );
    true

Finally, the full banner is replaced by a ``short'' 1-line loading message (`Info`-ed at `InfoWarning` level 1) if, instead, `pkgbanner` has the value `"short"`:

    gap> RequirePackage( "ace" : pkgbanner := "short" );
    #I  Loading ACE Package Version 3.003
    true

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