Instructions for 3.3 prebuilt in GCL
------------------------------------

If you want to use O-Plan version 3.3 but do not have a suitable
implementation of Common Lisp, you may be able to use a version that
has been compiled and built in advance using GCL (GNU Common Lisp)

It is packaged in a gzipped tar file together with statically linked
versions of the two C programs used with O-Plan: xmenu and xuim.

Since the GCL O-Plan is already in executable form, you do not
need a separate Lisp system in order to use it.

The statically linked programs are useful if you are, for some
reason, unable to build them from the sources supplied with
O-Plan.

To use the prebuilt release, you will need to

 1. Get a copy of the ordinary O-plan release tar file from

      http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~oplan/release/

 2. Get a copy of the "prebuilt" release tar file for the machine/OS
    combination you are using by going to

      http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~oplan/release/3.3/prebuilt/

    and looking in the appropriate subdirectory for a file that
    has a name that looks like

      oplan-3.3-bin-DATE.tar.gz

    but with "DATE" replaced by some actual date such as "25May00".

    AT present, there are versions for pc-linux and sun-solaris.

 3. Make a (new) directory to contain the O-Plan files and
    unpack the release tar file there, e.g. as follows:

      zcat oplan-3.3-25May00.tar.gz | tar xpf -

 4. In the same directory, unpack the prebuilt release.

      zcat oplan-3.3-bin-DATE.tar.gz | tar xpf -

    where again "DATE" is replaced by some particular date.

    This will accomplish something equivalent to what "make all install"
    does in the normal install procedure.  (See the INSTALL file in
    the O-Plan distribution.)  Do not follow the instructions in
    that file.

 5. Edit the file bin/oplan to indicate the directory in which
    you have unpacked the files.  For instance:

      base_dir=/home/oplan/3.3/

 6. If you want to be able to use O-Plan in HTTP mode (see the
    file source/doc/http-mode), create a directory called "web-tmp"
    at the top level of the directory created in step 3, and make it
    writable by everyone who will be using O-Plan.  This directory is
    used for log files.  If you would like the directory to be in a
    different place, change the symbolic link source/web/demo/tmp.

The script bin/oplan is what you should use to run O-Plan.  Put a copy
of it, or a symbolic link to it, in an appropriate directory in your
PATH.  To test the system after step 4 above, just type

     bin/oplan

A number of windows should appear, and the prompt "form> " will be
printed in the window in which you typed bin/oplan.

Here is a minimal test:

In the upper left of the screen there will be a window with the title
"O-Plan Task Assignment".  In that window should be a textual menu
with some numbered items followed by the prompt "Please choose a
number:- ".  Item 1 should be labelled "Initialise Planner".  There
will be an asterisk ("*") in front of the "1", but not in front of
the "2" in the line below.

Go to that window and type the character "1" followed by return.
Small changes should happen in some of the windows and after that
there will be a "*" in front of the "2" as well as the "1".

Now exit O-Plan by clicking on the "QUIT" button in the control
panel (which should be at the top center of the screen).  O-Plan
should exit and all the windows it created should disappear.

Further information on using O-Plan can be found in the "documentation"
and "source/doc" subdirectories of the O-Plan release.  Note that O-Plan
can operate in several different "modes".  Some are designed for cases
where O-Plan is controlled by other software (see source/doc/ta-interface),
while others are for interaction with a human user.  A recent addition
is "HTTP mode" in which O-Plan provides an HTML-based interface suitable
for use with a Web browser (see source/doc/http-mode).  O-Plan can also
be run as a Task Formalism (TF) syntax-checker.  (see source/doc/
tf-syntax-checking).  A manual for the TF language used to define
planning problems can be found in documentation/tf-manual.

The choice of mode is determined by command-line arguments when O-Plan
is run.  (See source/doc/command-line-arguments and source/doc/parameters.)

If there are some command-line arguments that you repeatedly use, a
convenient solution is to create a short shell script that supplies
them automatically while still allowing other parameters to be
specified on the command line.  For example:

#!/bin/sh
exec oplan -http -browser netscape -domain house-4 "$@"

The "$@" is used to pass along any command-line arguments given
when the script is run.

If you have problems with O-Plan, you can ask for help by sending
e-mail to oplan@aiai.ed.ac.uk.  You should also check the O-Plan
release page, http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~oplan/release/.