Prerequisites
This section explains how to install and configure the necessary programs SPFIT, SPCAT and LLWP.
Install SPFIT and SPCAT
SPFIT and SPCAT were originally written in Fortran, but were later converted to the C programming language. The first step to installing them, therefore, is to obtain a version compiled for your operating system.
Precompiled versions for various operating systems can be found here:
SPFIT for Windows
SPCAT for Windows
SPFIT for Ubuntu
SPCAT for Ubuntu
SPFIT for macOS (ARM)
SPCAT for macOS (ARM)
SPFIT for macOS (Intel)
SPCAT for macOS (Intel)
If none of the pre-compiled versions are compatible with your operating system, you can always compile SPFIT/SPCAT yourself.
Compiling SPFIT/SPCAT
To compile SPFIT and SPCAT, you only need the source code and a C compiler (e.g. GCC). Extract the source code, then navigate to the source code folder in the terminal and run the following commands
make spfit
make spcat
This will compile executables for both SPFIT and SPCAT.
Making the Executables Globally Accessible
Once you have obtained the correct executables, check that they are executable on your system. If not, make them executable. Then, copy or move them to a folder in your PATH environment variable, or add the folder they reside in to your PATH environment variable. To list all folders in your PATH, run
echo %PATH%
on Windows and
echo $path
on Unix systems (macOS and Ubuntu).
You should now be able to open a terminal and run
spfit
and
spcat
which should each result in the following prompt
Enter file name
Press Enter to exit the prompt. Well done! You have uccessfully installed SPFIT and SPCAT.
Install LLWP
Install a recent version of Python 3 on your system. When prompted during the installation, make sure to add Python to the PATH. You should then be able to access pip via the command line, which you can verify by running
pip --version
which should respond with the version and location of pip. On some systems you might have to replace pip with pip3. You can then install LLWP by running
pip install --upgrade llwp
You should now be able to start LLWP from anywhere in the terminal by simply running
llwp
This will open the graphical user interface of LLWP. Congratulations! You have now successfully installed LLWP.
Verify that Everything Works
This is a quick summary on how to verify that everything is installed correctly:
- Open a terminal
- Run llwp which should open the graphical user interface of LLWP
- Close the GUI of LLWP
- Run spfit which should prompt you Enter the file name
- Press enter
- Run spcat which should prompt you Enter the file name
- Press enter