jrl-mal

This library has been designed to allow algorithms to communicate with different frameworks using different matrix types without the cost of a copy to convert from one type to another one.

Please note that the direct use of Boost.uBLAS is prefered to the use of this compatibility layer when possible. Boost.uBLAS is the reference matrix library at JRL and in the GEPETTO group at LAAS-CNRS.

It is released under the LGPL-3 license.

Warning: this repository contains Git submodules. Please clone this repository using the git clone --recursive command. If you already have cloned the repository, you can run git submodule init && git submodule update to retrieve the submodules.

Documentation

To get started with this library, please read the online Doxygen documentation.

It can also be generated locally by running the make doc command. After the package is installed, the documentation will be located in the $prefix/share/doc/jrl-mal directoy where $prefix is your installation prefix (/usr/local by default).

Getting Help

Support is provided through:

• the HPP mailing-list: hpp@laas.fr
• the following HipChat room: http://www.hipchat.com/gh4wQrZeV

How can I install jrl-mal?

Installing dependencies

The matrix abstract layer depends on several packages which have to be available on your machine.

• Libraries:
  • Boost (>= 1.40) Its detection is controled by the BOOST_ROOT variable, see next section for more information.
  • Eigen Eigen can be used instead of uBlas but is currently an experimental feature.
  • Lapack library Use the generic purpose CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS and CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS to insert the flags required for the compiler to find your Lapack library if it is installed in a non-standard directory.
  • jrl-mathtools or [t3d][] are two small-matrices libraries which can be used by jrl-mal. You will have to install either one of these two libraries. We recommend you to use jrl-mathtools.
• System tools:
  • CMake (>=2.6)
  • pkg-config
  • usual compilation tools (GCC/G++, make, etc.) If you are using Ubuntu, these tools are gathered in the build-essential package.

Compiling and installing the package

The manual compilation requires two steps:

1. configuration of the build and generation of the build files
2. compilation of the sources and installation of the package

jrl-mal uses CMake to generate build files. It is recommended to create a separate build directory:

mkdir _build         # (1) Create a build directory
cd _build            # (2) Go to the newly created build directory
cmake [options] ..   # (3) Generate the build files

Options which can be passed to CMake are detailed in the next section.

make                 # (4) Compile the package
make test            # (5) Execute the package tests
make install         # (6) Install the package into the prefix (see step 3)

Options

Additional options can be set on the command line through the following command: -D<option>=<value>.

For instance: cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo .. will set the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE option to the value RelWithDebInfo.

Available options are:

• CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE set the build profile that should be used (debug, release, etc.). We recommend RelWithDebInfo as it will provide performances while keeping debugging symbols enabled.
• CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX set the installation prefix (the directory where the software will be copied to after it has been compiled).
• SMALLMATRIX defines which small matrix library will be used. Values can either be jrl-mathtools or t3d.
• LINEAR_ALGEBRA_LIB defines which linear algebra library will be used. Values can either be boost or eigen. eigen version is currently in development and is not recommended currently. It will, however, replace the Boost version using uBals eventually.

Running the test suite

The test suite can be run from your build directory by running:

   make test

Please open a ticket if some tests are failing on your computer, it should not be the case.

Contributing

If you want to contribute, please refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md file

Credits

This package authors are credited in the AUTHORS file.