The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control Systems (EPICS) is an extensible set of software components and tools with which application developers can create a control system. This control system can be used to control accelerators, detectors, telescopes, or other scientific experimental equipment. EPICS base is the set of core software, i.e. the components of EPICS without which EPICS would not function. EPICS base allows an arbitrary number of target systems, IOCs (input/output controllers), and host systems, OPIs (operator interfaces) of various types.
Please check the RELEASE_NOTES file in the distribution for description of changes and release migration details.
Please review the LICENSE file included in the distribution for legal terms of usage.
The list of platforms supported by this version of EPICS base is given in the configure/CONFIG_SITE file. If you are trying to build EPICS Base on an unlisted host or for a different target machine you must have the proper host/target cross compiler and header files, and you will have to create and add the appropriate new configure files to the base/configure/os/directory. You can start by copying existing configuration files in the configure/os directory and then make changes for your new platforms.
This version of EPICS base has been built and tested using the host vendor's C and C++ compilers, as well as the GNU gcc and g++ compilers. The GNU cross-compilers work for all cross-compiled targets. You may need the C and C++ compilers to be in your search path to do EPICS builds; check the definitions of CC and CCC in base/configure/os/CONFIG.<host>.<host> if you have problems.
GNU make
You must use the GNU version of make for EPICS builds, and we now recommend version 4.1 or later (version 3.82 may work on Linux, but doesn't on Windows).Perl
You must have Perl version 5.8.1 or later installed. The EPICS configuration files do not specify the perl full pathname, so the perl executable must be found through your normal search path.Unzip and tar (Winzip on WIN32 systems)
You must have tools available to unzip and untar the EPICS base distribution file.Target systems
EPICS supports IOCs running on embedded platforms such as VxWorks and RTEMS built using a cross-compiler, and also supports soft IOCs running as processes on the host platform.vxWorks
You must have vxWorks 6 installed if any of your target systems are vxWorks systems; the C++ compilers for vxWorks 5.x are now too old to support. The vxWorks installation provides the cross-compiler and header files needed to build for these targets. The absolute path to and the version number of the vxWorks installation must be set in the base/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.vxWorksCommon file or in one of its target-specific overrides.Consult the vxWorks 6.x EPICS web pages and the vxWorks documentation for information about configuring your vxWorks operating system for use with EPICS.
RTEMS
For RTEMS targets, you need RTEMS core and toolset version 4.9.2 or 4.10. The newer 4.11 or 5.x releases are not supported yet.Command-line editing libraries
GNU readline or other OS-specific libraries can be used by the IOC shell to provide command line editing and history recall. The default setting is different for each OS. On Linux the default is to use READLINE since most distributions include it. On MacOS the default is also READLINE since Apple provides a compatible library, although it isn't GNU. On RTEMS we support GNU readline and Tecla, although the default is to use neither since these have to be added to the RTEMS installation separately. On vxWorks we support the built-in ledLib library.
The compressed tar file is approximately 1.6 MB in size. The distribution source tree takes up approximately 12 MB. Each host target will need around 40 MB for build files, and each cross-compiled target around 20 MB.
EPICS documentation is available through the EPICS website at Argonne.Release specific documentation can also be found in the base/documentation directory of the distribution.
Distribution directory structure:
base Root directory of the base distribution base/configure Operating system independent build config files base/configure/os Operating system dependent build config files base/documentation Distribution documentation base/src Source code in various subdirectories base/startup Scripts for setting up path and environmentInstall directories created by the build:
bin Installed scripts and executables in subdirs cfg Installed build configuration files db Installed data bases dbd Installed data base definitions doc Installed documentation files html Installed html documentation include Installed header files include/os Installed os specific header files in subdirs include/compiler Installed compiler-specific header files lib Installed libraries in arch subdirectories lib/perl Installed perl modules templates Installed templates
base/documentation directory - contains setup, build, and install documents
README.1st Instructions for setup and building epics base README.html html version of README.1st README.darwin.html Installation notes for Mac OS X (Darwin) RELEASE_NOTES.html Notes on release changes KnownProblems.html List of known problems and workaroundsbase/startup directory - contains scripts to set environment and path
EpicsHostArch C shell script to set EPICS_HOST_ARCH env variable EpicsHostArch.pl Perl script to set EPICS_HOST_ARCH env variable Site.profile bourne shell script to set path and env variables Site.cshrc c shell script to set path and env variables cygwin.bat WIN32 bat file to set cygwin path and env variables win32.bat WIN32 bat file to set path and env variablesbase/configure directory - contains build definitions and rules
CONFIG Includes configure files and allows variable overrides CONFIG.CrossCommon Cross build definitions CONFIG.gnuCommon Gnu compiler build definitions for all archs CONFIG_ADDONS Definitions for <osclass> and DEFAULT options CONFIG_APP_INCLUDE CONFIG_BASE EPICS base tool and location definitions CONFIG_BASE_VERSION Definitions for EPICS base version number CONFIG_COMMON Definitions common to all builds CONFIG_ENV Definitions of EPICS environment variables CONFIG_FILE_TYPE CONFIG_SITE Site specific make definitions CONFIG_SITE_ENV Site defaults for EPICS environment variables MAKEFILE Installs CONFIG* RULES* creates RELEASE Location of external products RULES Includes appropriate rules file RULES.Db Rules for database and database definition files RULES.ioc Rules for application iocBoot/ioc* directory RULES_ARCHS Definitions and rules for building architectures RULES_BUILD Build and install rules and definitions RULES_DIRS Definitions and rules for building subdirectories RULES_EXPAND RULES_FILE_TYPE RULES_TARGET RULES_TOP Rules specific to a <top> dir (uninstall and tar) Sample.Makefile Sample makefile with commentsbase/configure/os directory - contains os-arch specific definitions
CONFIG.<host>.<target> Specific host-target build definitions CONFIG.Common.<target> Specific target definitions for all hosts CONFIG.<host>.Common Specific host definitions for all targets CONFIG.UnixCommon.Common Definitions for Unix hosts and all targets CONFIG.Common.UnixCommon Definitions for Unix targets and all hosts CONFIG.Common.vxWorksCommon Specific host definitions for all vx targets CONFIG_SITE.<host>.<target> Site specific host-target definitions CONFIG_SITE.Common.<target> Site specific target defs for all hosts CONFIG_SITE.<host>.Common Site specific host defs for all targets
Unpack file
Unzip and untar the distribution file. Use WinZip on Windows systems.Set environment variables
Files in the base/startup directory have been provided to help set required path and other environment variables.EPICS_HOST_ARCH
Before you can build or use EPICS R3.15, the environment variable EPICS_HOST_ARCH must be defined. A perl script EpicsHostArch.pl in the base/startup directory has been provided to help set EPICS_HOST_ARCH. You should have EPICS_HOST_ARCH set to your host operating system followed by a dash and then your host architecture, e.g. solaris-sparc. If you are not using the OS vendor's c/c++ compiler for host builds, you will need another dash followed by the alternate compiler name (e.g. "-gnu" for GNU c/c++ compilers on a solaris host or "-mingw" for MinGW c/c++ compilers on a WIN32 host). See configure/CONFIG_SITE for a list of supported EPICS_HOST_ARCH values.PERLLIB
On WIN32, some versions of Perl require that the environment variable PERLLIB be set to <perl directory location>.PATH
As already mentioned, you must have the perl executable and you may need C and C++ compilers in your search path. For building base you also must have echo in your search path. For Unix host builds you also need ln, cpp, cp, rm, mv, and mkdir in your search path and /bin/chmod must exist. On some Unix systems you may also need ar and ranlib in your path, and the C compiler may require as and ld in your path. On solaris systems you need uname in your path.LD_LIBRARY_PATH
R3.15 shared libraries and executables normally contain the full path to any libraries they require. However, if you move the EPICS files or directories from their build-time location then in order for the shared libraries to be found at runtime LD_LIBRARY_PATH must include the full pathname to $(INSTALL_LOCATION)/lib/$(EPICS_HOST_ARCH) when invoking executables, or some equivalent OS-specific mechanism (such as /etc/ld.so.conf on Linux) must be used. Shared libraries are now built by default on all Unix type hosts.Do site-specific build configuration
Site configuration
To configure EPICS, you may want to modify the default definitions in the following files:configure/CONFIG_SITE Build choices. Specify target archs. configure/CONFIG_SITE_ENV Environment variable defaults configure/RELEASE TORNADO2 full path locationHost configuration
To configure each host system, you may override the default definitions by adding a new file in the configure/os directory with override definitions. The new file should have the same name as the distribution file to be overridden except with CONFIG in the name changed to CONFIG_SITE.configure/os/CONFIG.<host>.<host> Host build settings configure/os/CONFIG.<host>.Common Host common build settingsTarget configuration
To configure each target system, you may override the default definitions by adding a new file in the configure/os directory with override definitions. The new file should have the same name as the distribution file to be overridden except with CONFIG in the name replaced by CONFIG_SITE. This step is necessary even if the host system is the only target system.configure/os/CONFIG.Common.<target> Target common settings configure/os/CONFIG.<host>.<target> Host-target settingsBuild EPICS base
After configuring the build you should be able to build EPICS base by issuing the following commands in the distribution's root directory (base):gnumake clean uninstall gnumakeThe command "gnumake clean uninstall" will remove all files and directories generated by a previous build. The command "gnumake" will build and install everything for the configured host and targets.It is recommended that you do a "gnumake clean uninstall" at the root directory of an EPICS directory structure before each complete rebuild to ensure that all components will be rebuilt.
A perl tool, makeBaseApp.pl is included in the distribution file. This script will create a sample application that can be built and then executed to try out this release of base.Instructions for building and executing the 3.15 example application can be found in the section "Example Application" of Chapter 2, "Getting Started", in the "IOC Application Developer's Guide" for this release. The "Example IOC Application" section briefly explains how to create and build an example application in a user created <top> directory. It also explains how to run the example application on a vxWorks ioc or as a process on the host system. By running the example application as a host-based IOC, you will be able to quickly implement a complete EPICS system and be able to run channel access clients on the host system.
A perl script, makeBaseExt.pl, is included in the distribution file. This script will create a sample extension that can be built and executed. The makeBaseApp.pl and makeBaseExt.pl scripts are installed into the install location bin/<hostarch> directory during the base build.
You can build using a single EPICS directory structure on multiple host systems and for multiple cross target systems. The intermediate and binary files generated by the build will be created in separate subdirectories and installed into the appropriate separate host/target install directories. EPICS executables and perl scripts are installed into the $(INSTALL_LOCATION)/bin/<arch> directories. Libraries are installed into $(INSTALL_LOCATION)/lib/<arch>. The default definition for $(INSTALL_LOCATION) is $(TOP) which is the root directory in the distribution directory structure, base. Created object files are stored in O.<arch> source subdirectories, This allows objects for multiple cross target architectures to be maintained at the same time. To build EPICS base for a specific host/target combination you must have the proper host/target C/C++ cross compiler and target header files and the base/configure/os directory must have the appropriate configure files.