[GAP Forum] The Bob package to help compiling GAP from source on linux no longer works

[Alexander Konovalov]

Dear Marcelo, dear Forum,

> On 21 Aug 2015, at 14:22, Marcelo B. Barboza <marcelobbarboza at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> In a not so distant time in the past I used to have success when compiling GAP from source on linux, in general, either on Ubuntu or Fedora, with the package created by Mr Max Neunhoffer to do that. That package used to work like a charm and that's not the case anymore (at least for two of us, in any of our machines!). We both have emailed Mr Neunhoffer but nothing (I'm pretty sure he does not have the time -- I know, I know ;). I would like to know from you if this is temporary? Are the owners of the website going to keep the link to the package anyway?

I've tried to remove the misleading link but then got diverted... 
As a result, I've provided at least a partial fix for BOB. 

The page 

	http://gap-system.github.io/bob/ 

now offers:

* bob-linux-64bit.tar.gz archive with BOB for 64-bit Linux 

and

* bob-osx.tar.gz archive with BOB for OS X (Intel). 

Download the relevant archive, unpack it and run the 'bob' binary to install GAP.

Why the fix is partial - formerly, Max (N.) was providing also BOB for 32-bit Linux,
and another couple of BOB binaries compiled on some older machines. I don't have
such opportunity, so I've prepared only the two versions above. Also, there is no 
dmg file for OS X any more. Finally, your mileage may vary with respect to packages: 

Filtered(RecNames(GAPInfo.PackagesInfo),x->LoadPackage(x)=fail);

checks how many packages are not loadable and returns

[ "itc", "json", "linboxing", "pargap", "xgap" ]

on Ubuntu, but a larger list on OS X:

[ "polymakeinterface", "cohomolo", "float", "itc", "json", "kbmag", 
  "linboxing", "pargap", "xgap" ]

Nevertheless, most of the packages that require compilation will be available.
Please test it and submit any questions, comments or bug reports using BOB 
issue tracker at https://github.com/gap-system/bob/issues

Hope this helps,
Alexander

P.S. Out of the non-available packages, itc, pargap and xgap are actually fine, 
because itc needs xgap, and both pargap and xgap are not loaded via LoadPackage. 
Linboxing package is not working at the moment. Json normally compiles, but is
not yet supported by BOB, so if one needs json, one could build it manually after 
running BOB.