FAST INSTALL
============

Downloading FAST
----------------

The latest development version of FAST can be downloaded usin subversion:

  svn checkout https://software.sandia.gov/svn/public/fast/fast/trunk fast


Installing FAST
---------------

If you have downloaded the FAST source tree, then no additional
installation is necessary to use the code in the download directory.
However, you will need to set the PYTHONPATH environmental variable to
enable imports FAST packages.

You can install FAST in the system Python installation to avoid the need
to update the PYTHONPATH.  This installcation can be performed by typing

  python setup.py install

If you have the MSI installer, then on a MS Windows machine you can
execute this command and follow the installation menu.

NOTE: FAST will install on recent versions of Python, but Python 2.5 or
newer is required to apply most FAST packages.


Third-Party Software
-------------------

Most of the functionality of FAST is available without third-party
software.  Thus, installation of FAST is not strictly dependent on these
additional tools.The following list describes the third-party software
tools that can be used within FAST:

- Python 'nose' package

This is needed to perform unit testing in fast/test.

  See http://www.somethingaboutorange.com/mrl/projects/nose/ for details.

- Python 'coverage' module

This is needed to generate coverage reports in the FAST tests.  Tests can
be run without this module, but an error message will be generated.

  See http://nedbatchelder.com/code/modules/coverage.html for details.


Running FAST
------------

FAST contains both Python packages and command-line executables.  Each
package can be directly used in Python with the Python import command.
For example, in Python you can execute

  import fast.exact

to import the FAST exact library.

FAST's command-line executables are located in the fast/scripts directory.
Each command prints help information when passed the '--help' option.
Further information about running these commands is available in the
fast/doc directory.

Note that there is a DOS script for some of the commands.  For example,
there is a 'exact' Python script for Unix, and a 'exact.cmd' DOS script
for MS Windows.  The DOS scripts are installed by the MSI installer to
avoid the need to specify the PYTHONPATH for a local installation.

