Starting Statistics Applications

Applications on Linux

Where are the Linux Software Applications?

Most software applications on Linux are found under either the /s or the /unsup directories. For example, the latest version of R is found in /unsup/R/bin/R

You can get an idea of which applications are available by listing the contents of the /s and /unsup directories. You must use a trailing / to get the directory contents rather than just a listing of a directory link. For example, using public06:

public06% ls /s/
or
public06% ls /unsup/

The directories are large, so it takes some time to get the listings.

Executable applications located in the /s directory are automatically available on the your search path (through /s/std/bin). They can automatically be found by simply executing the appropriate command to invoke the application. For example, to start SAS:

public06% sas

Executable applications in the /unsup directory are not typically on your search path. They can be invoked by including the path in the command. For example, for executing R:

public06% /unsup/R/bin/R

Or, you can permanently add the /unsup/R/bin path to your default search path by adding the following line at the end of your .cshrc.local file in your home directory:

set path = ( $path /unsup/R/bin )

You can then invoke R with the simpler command:

public06% R

For the current accelerated version of R (for use only on 64 bit Intel servers), you can use:

public06% /unsup/Ra/bin/R

More information about supported and unsupported software can be found in the The CSL Software Installation Scheme Section and the Unsupported Software FAQ respectively

More Applications

You already have seen how to start SAS and R. Here is a list of command lines for other applications:

Matlab

The number of licenses of Matlab available in Statistics is very limited. Therefore, individual users should run no more than one copy of Matlab at a time. There is a chance that you may be denied access to run Matlab if all licenses are already checked out. WARNING: Do NOT use Matlab with Condor.

public06% matlab

Octave

Octave is a public domain equivalent to Matlab. It can directly execute many of the Matlab commands and .m files. However, the Statistics routines and calls are different, so Matlab code for Statistics applications must often be changed to generate equivalent code and results in Octave.

Since there is no limitation on Octave licenses, it is possible to run many copies of Matlab equivalent code through Octave on Statistics computers. This is particularly useful when executing Matlab equivalent code on many Condor nodes.

public06% octave

Minitab

Minitab is not available on Statistics Linux computers.

Mathematica

Mathematica is not available on Statistics Linux computers

Condor

Condor is described in detail in the section Using Condor Batch Cluster Processing In Statistics. The Condor utility commands are located in the /unsup/ area. For example, to get the status of Condor usage, you can execute:

public06% /unsup/condor/bin/condor_status

If you plan to use Condor often, you will want to permanently add the /unsup/condor/bin path to your default search path by adding the following line at the end of your .cshrc.local file in your home directory:

set path = ( $path /unsup/condor/bin )

Yet More Applications on Linux

If you are interested in what other Linux applications may be available for you to use for solving Statistics problems, please join the Stat-Forum List and Email your topic to the Stat-Forum <nop>Discussion.

Applications on Windows

Where are the Windows Software Applications?

Software applications that are installed in the Windows environment, either by default, or by user request through the CSL Configuration Utility (see the CSL Windows FAQ), will be located in the C:\Program Files directory. Software applications that can be invoked through a Windows Command Line can be located in the C:\Program Files directories, the S:\std\bin directory or are scattered around the W:\unsup directories. For example, the latest version of R for Windows is found in W:\unsup\R-2.1.1\i386_w2k\bin\R

You can see which programs are already part of the Windows environment by following Start->Programs. Windows applications that are not in the Programs list may be available for user installation with the CSL Configuration Utility.

You can get an idea of all possible command-line applications that might be available for Windows by opening the C:\Program Files folder, the S: disk, or the W:\unsup folder. The applications listed on the S: disk and in the W:\unsup folder don't tell you much since most are only available on Linux. If you look in the S:\std\bin folder from a Windows computer, the applications listed will be those specifically available for Windows. There is no current equivalent on the W:\unsup folder. This will hopefully be corrected in the future. For now, here is the list of applications in W:\unsup that have Windows versions:

1. antlr-2.7.2 (parser and translator generator)
2. antlr-2.7.4
3. doxygen-1.3.5 (Doxygen is a documentation development and management system)
4. eclipse-2.1 (platform-independent software framework)
5. eclipse-3.0
6. gtl-1.2.0 (GTL is a graph library based on STL)
7. icon-9.4 (programming language for processing data structures and character strings)
8. jdk1.5.0rc (java development kit)
9. log4cplus-1.0.2 (a C++ logging API that is modeled after the Java log4j)
10. ocaml-3.08.1 (an object-oriented programming language)

More information about supported and unsupported software can be found in the The CSL Software Installation Scheme Section and the Unsupported Software FAQ respectively

-- MikeRedmond - 17 Jun 2009