lapack/blas/openblas proper installation from source - replace system libraries with new ones

Question

I wanted to install BLAS, CBLAS, LAPACK and OpenBLAS libraries from source using available packages you can download here openblas and lapack, blas/cblas.

Firstly I removed my system blas/cblas and lapack libraries, but unfortunately atlas library couldn't be uninstalled (I can either have both blas and lapack or atlas - can't remove them all). I didn't bother and started compiling downloaded libraries cause I thought that after installation I would be able to remove atlas.

Building process was based on this tutorial. For completeness I will list the steps:

1. OpenBLAS. After editing Makefile.rule (NO_CBLAS=1, NO_LAPACK=1, NO_LAPACKE=1) file I run the following code:

   make FC=gfortran
   sudo make PREFIX=/usr/local/ install
   

2. CBLAS. After editing Makefile.in (apart from -lpthread I needed to add -pthread flag):

   make
   cd lib
   ar -x libcblas.a
   gfortran -lopenblas -shared -o libcblas.so *.o
   sudo cp libcblas.* /usr/local/lib/
   

3. LAPACK. After editing make.inc file:

   make lapacklib
   mkdir tmp
   cd tmp
   cp ../liblapack.3.6.0.a .
   ar -x liblapack.3.6.0.a
   gfortran -lopenblas -lcblas -shared -o liblapack.3.6.0.so *.o
   sudo cp liblapack.3.6.0.* /usr/local/lib
   
   
   cd /usr/local/lib
   sudo ln -sn liblapack.3.6.0.a liblapack.a
   sudo ln -sn liblapack.3.6.0.so liblapack.so
   

4. LAPACKE. I edited make.inc file for gcc in the following way:

   CC = gcc
   CFLAGS = -O3 -march=native -m64 -fomit-frame-pointer -fPIC
   

   Then I run:

   make lapackelib
   mkdir tmpe
   cd tmpe
   cp ../liblapacke.a .
   ar -x liblapacke.a
   gfortran -lopenblas -lcblas -shared -o liblapacke.so *.o
   sudo cp liblapacke.* /usr/local/lib
   

5. BLAS. I edited make.inc file:

   FORTRAN  = gfortran
   OPTS     = -O3 -march=native -m64 -fomit-frame-pointer -fPIC
   DRVOPTS  = $(OPTS)
   NOOPT    = -O0 -fPIC
   LOADER   = gfortran
   LOADOPTS = -lopenblas -lcblas
   

   and run:

   make
   gfortran -lopenblas -shared -o libblas.so *.o
   sudo cp libblas.* /usr/local/lib/
   

Now I have my static and shared libraries all placed in /usr/local/lib directory and I want to tell somehow my linux mint 17.2 system that I have them installed so I can finally uninstall atlas. Any ideas how to do it?

My general goal was to properly set OpenBLAS so I wanted to compile from source all other libraries also. I also want to check if my libraries are working or maybe I did something wrong.

Also my long term goal is to install Arpack and SuperLU working with OpenBLAS and then finally install Armadillo library (C++).

Answer 1

You can use LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. Just added in your ~/.bashrc. i.e.

$ echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH' >> ~/.bashrc

Note: notice double >> not to delete the previous content.

Second option is to add the path in the /etc/ld.so.conf.d. i.e.

$ echo /usr/local/lib > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/myblas.conf

You can check this question also for more details.