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#95 Where is the program

pending-accepted
5
2012-04-11
2012-03-03
Steve Shor
No

I ran the installer BRL-CAD 7.12.2.pkg on Mac using OS 10.6.8 The installation was apparently successful, but now I am unable to locate the program. I cannot find it under any name, anywhere, and I have no idea what it means to:

Remember to add /usr/brlcad/bin to your path.
For Bourne-shell-based shells (sh, bash, ash, zsh) add the following to your~/.profile
PATH=/usr/brlcad/bin:$PATH ; export PATH

Is there some way I can learn to utilize this program without first understanding the how to use Unix commands in the terminal. Pretty discouraging, that a Mac program could be so un user friendly. I am assuming that outside of simple commercial programs, the rest of us non tech savvy people are likely to be able to use these programs. and if that is the case, please tell me how to remove this program from my hard drive. I cannot find it, I cannot remove it. And apparently I cannot use it. Also please note I believe someone tried to ask this question a year ago and I may be wrong but when I looked on the support page where they generated the ? they never apparently got an answer.

Discussion

  • Sean Morrison

    Sean Morrison - 2012-04-11
    • labels: --> Compilation & Installation
    • assigned_to: nobody --> brlcad
    • status: open --> pending-accepted
     
  • Sean Morrison

    Sean Morrison - 2012-04-11

    Sorry to hear about your difficulties running the software, Steve. Alas, BRL-CAD has very deep roots in Unix philosophy and does require some basic knowledge of using command-line environments. It's historically been characterized as "expert friendly". That said, it generally doesn't take a new modeler any more time to become proficient with BRL-CAD than it does for them to become proficient with similarly complex commercial solid modelers such as NX, Pro/E, CATIA, etc. Moreover, we're actively working on making it easier to install, explore, and use, but that's a VERY long process (years) that will take considerable time to improve in that regard -- all the while still developing new features being requested by our existing users.

    Given your experiences, should you decide to uninstall BRL-CAD from your Mac, it's a somewhat simple process. Run /Applications/Utilities/Terminal and in the window that opens, type this:

    sudo rm -rf /usr/brlcad

    Be sure to type it exactly, or copy-paste it. It should prompt you for your password and remove the installation entirely.

    You mentioned someone else asking a question that wasn't answered. Do you have a reference or link to this unanswered question?

     

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