      README file for the `EDIM' mini GAP4 package (Frank Lübeck)
        
To get the newest version of this  GAP 4 package download one of the archive
files
    edim-x.x.tar.gz
    edim-x.x.zoo
    edim-x.x.tar.bz2
    edim-x.x.zip
    edim-x.x-w.zip      (with text files in DOS/Windows format)
and unpack it using 
    gunzip edim-x.x.tar.gz; tar xvf edim-x.x.tar
respectively
    unzoo -x edim-x.x.zoo
and so on.

(Note that if  you use a browser like  `netscape'  for downloading the
archive file the `gunzip'   step  above may already   be done  by  the
browser, although the name of your file  may still have the misleading
`.gz' extension.)

Do this preferably (but not necessarily) inside the `pkg' subdirectory
of your  GAP   4   installation. It  creates a    subdirectory  called
`edim'. 

To install this package do

    cd edim
    /bin/sh ./configure [path]

where  `path' is a path to  the main GAP root  directory (if not given
the default `../..' is assumed).

Afterwards call `make'  to  compile  a binary file. 

If you  installed GAP on  several architectures, you must execute this
configure/make step on  each  of the architectures  immediately  after
configuring GAP itself on this architecture.

The package  will  also work without  this  step  but then the  kernel
function `ElementaryDivisorsPPartRkExpSmall' will not be available.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATIC LINKING: You can also create  a new statically linked `gap' binary as
follows. Go into the main GAP directory and then into `bin/..bindir..'. Here
..bindir..  means  the  directory  containing  the  `gap'  executable  after
compiling `gap'. This directory also contains the GAP compiler script `gac'.
Assuming EDIM in the standard location you can then say

   ./gac -o gap-static -P "-static" ../../pkg/edim/src/ediv.c

Then  copy  your  `gap'  start  script to,  say,  `gapbig'  and  change  the
references  to the  GAP  binary to  `gap-static'. On  my  Linux system  with
2GB  RAM and  kernel  compiled with  4GB  memory support  I  can nicely  run
`gapbig  -m 1800m  -K  1800m' and  after loading  EDIM  the kernel  function
`ElementaryDivisorsPPartRkExpSmall' is available.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starting from version 1.1 EDIM has its documentation in GAPDoc format.
To access the documentation (in text-, PDF- and HTML-format) you must 
install the GAPDoc package.

If the terminal application you are using to run GAP supports ANSI color
sequences (most terminals will do), you may try to set 
  `ANSI_COLORS := true;' 
in your .gaprc file. Then the text version of GAPDoc books is shown with
color markup.

Recompiling the documentation is possible  by the command `gap makedoc.g' in
the EDIM directory. But this should not be necessary.

You can also run a test of the installation by `make test'.

[This becomes unnecessary with GAP 4.4:]
Add a  line  to  the `ALLPKG'  file  in the  parent  directory of this
package:
     echo edim >> ../ALLPKG

Then you have to load EDIM with the command 
     gap> RequirePackage("EDIM");
(respectively, LoadPackage("EDIM"); from GAP 4.4 on)
within your GAP 4 session to use its functionality. (The documentation is
always automatically loaded, provided GAPDoc is installed.)

E-mail me if  there are any questions,  remarks,  suggestions. Also, I
would like to hear about applications of this package.


Frank Lübeck, e-mail: Frank.Luebeck@Math.RWTH-Aachen.De 
