License

Most of the work in the current version (4.0) of the Cactus code infrastructure and computational toolkit layer has been funded by the Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik Albert-Einstein-Institut (AEI).

Getting the Code

Cactus is maintained using CVS (Concurrent Versioning System), which is the preferred mechanism for obtaining the Code, as well as its associated utilities.

The main Cactus CVS Server (cvs.cactuscode.org) hosts several different repositories (explained further in CactusRepositories-HOWTO)

/cactus
The last stable release of the Flesh and supported Thorns

/cactusdevcvs
The current development version of the Flesh and supported Thorns, including new Thorns under development.

/arrangements
Thorns from other authors, some of which are available for public checkout, others with restricted access

/packages
Associated packages and utilities, for example for visualization.

There are different methods for obtaining the Code and Thorns from the Cactus CVS Server, and from any other CVS servers containing the thorns you use:

GetCactus Script
The preferred method is to use our script along with a ThornList, either provided from our standard ThornList page, or from a customised ThornList of your own.

Web Form Interface
If you don't have a CVS client, use our web form interface, again with a standard or customised ThornList, which directly generates a tar file for you.

Direct CVS
CVS experts may wish to use direct commands for checking out the components they need.

Whichever method you use, please subscribe to the appropriate mailing lists which will keep you informed of news, updates and allow you to participate in discussions about future developments of the Cactus Flesh and Thorn sets.

Requirements

The Cactus Code is very portable. The latest version runs on supercomputers like the SGI Origin 2000, Cray T3E, Convex/HP Exemplar, in clusters of Linux and NT workstations, and in single machines with SGI, OSF, HPUX, Linux and Windows (using cygwin) Operating Systems.

The Requirements section of the Users guide contains a detailed list of the specific requirements on every architecture. Basically, the code needs some freely available utilities (gmake, Perl) and an ansi C/C++ compiler for building the flesh infrastructure. Most thorns also require a Fortran 90 compiler although you only need F77 to run the tutorial. The drivers shipped in the current release use the Message Passing Interface (MPI) for parallelization of the code accross multiple processors or machines. Both native and freely available (e.g. MPICH, LAM) implementations are supported. Check the Links page for software and vendor specific links.

Thorn Lists

Using ThornLists is a convenient method both for checking and compiling Cactus. Standard lists are provided on our ThornList page, for different ToolKits and applications. These lists can be directly used, or customised according to your own needs.

• Computational Infrastructure
• WaveToy Demonstration
• General Relativity Application
• Examples and Tests
• Benchmarking
• Everything