MaxOSXInstallBrew

A note on Mac platform support

Please note that RNAStructViz has only been tested well on recent releases of Mac OSX, e.g., Apple releases versioned 10.14.x (codename Mojave). Older relases -- even those still supported by Apple -- are not guaranteed to be compatible with RNAStructViz. We also are still unable to guarantee support on the newest Mac OSX 10.15.x (codename Catalina), though we are working on support for this platform.

Mac OSX install method with the brew package manager -- highly recommended default

Using the Homebrew install procedure

A good reference for Homebrew on a Mac is this FAQ. Note that the following command should be all that you need to run on Mac OSX to install RNAStructViz with the userland brew utility already pre-installed on your machine:

$ brew tap gtDMMB/homebrew-core
$ brew install gtDMMB/core/RNAStructViz

Note that if you have previously installed an earlier version of RNAStructViz it may be necessary to run the following commands instead to upgrade to the latest release:

$ brew update
$ brew reinstall --verbose gtDMMB/core/RNAStructViz

Now to make sure that this application is always in your path, add the following to your local ~/.bash_profile configuration file and by running the following from your terminal instance:

$ echo -e "export PATH=/usr/local/opt/rnastructviz/bin:$(PATH)" >> $HOME/.bash_profile
$ source $HOME/.bash_profile
$ which RNAStructViz
/usr/local/opt/rnastructviz/bin/RNAStructViz

Assuming all went smoothly with the above instructions, you can now run the application by typing RNAStructViz at your terminal.

Alternate install procedure: Installing brew packages into a user's home directory

Run the following commands to install the core Homebrew formulas:

$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/uninstall)"
$ cd $HOME
$ git clone https://github.com/mxcl/homebrew.git
$ export PATH=${HOME}/homebrew/bin:${PATH}
$ echo "export PATH=${HOME}/homebrew/bin:${PATH}" >> $HOME/.bash_profile

We now need to re-install any previously installed brew packages (this could take a while):

$ export PREVPKGS=`brew list | tr '\r\n' ' '`
$ brew install $PREVPKGS

Finally, we can go back to the previous section and install RNAStructViz as before:

$ brew tap gtDMMB/homebrew-core
$ brew install --build-from-source --verbose gtDMMB/core/RNAStructViz

Debugging a problematic brew install

If you run into any problems with the above setup as well, try running:

$ brew update && brew upgrade && brew cleanup
$ brew doctor

Install errors or problems that still persist on your Mac OSX 10.14.xx (or above) system can be reported to the developers of RNAStructViz by opening a new bug report issue.