[GRASS-user] AddOn or Script when compiling GRASS from source

[William Kyngesburye]

On Oct 12, 2011, at 3:32 PM, Johannes Radinger wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I used the modules-folder in the library already on OS X for GRASS 6.5 and 6.4. I can't remember but are
> this folder structure automatically installed when installing GRASS? Because after compiling and installing
> GRASS 7 SVN no such folders were created. Maybe I can just copy the folder structure from GRASS 6.5 and
> rename it with the new version.
> 
For a while I had the GRASS 7 location in Application Support, but just recently changed it back to match 6.x.  Make sure you have the latest SVN and it should be the location I described.  It is created automatically when you first run GRASS.

> Anyway I am interested in compiling and installing and AddOn or Script with the source code. This is on
> the one hand for me to learn how to do such things on different plattforms (and create my own binaries).
> On the other hand with when an AddOn or Script is compiled with a makefile also the html-help files
> are generated which I find also really useful.
> 
> So maybe someone can tell me what is the difference between an AddOn and a Script? What was the
> main purpose to include both in the source? Where does my little module fit better and is there
> any difference in working with it as AddOn or Script?
> 
There is no difference to GRASS, they are all modules that you run.  A script, if not installed as an addon, is just an arbitrary script that you might create or download and install manually.

I think the only reason GRASS keeps them separate is because Windows needs them that way, and on Linux and OS X scripts can be in the compiled "bin" folder without a problem.  And at least on OS X it's best that scripts be in the bin/ folder because it won't look in the addon scripts folder to run them (I could fix that, but there are other issues with multiple paths in GRASS_ADDON_PATH).

> best regards
> Johannes
> 
> Am 11.10.2011 16:17, schrieb William Kyngesburye:
>> On OS X there are defined addon folders so you don't have to put anything in the application or some random path.
>> 
>> ~/Library/GRASS/[grassver]/Modules
>> 
>> where [grassver] is the major.minor grass version.
>> 
>> This folder has a standard complement of bin/, docs/, etc/ and lib/.  bin/ doesn't care whether it's a script or compiled module, they all go here (unlike the main app that separates bin and scripts).
>> 
>> The startup will add anything in docs/html to an addon help page accessible from the Apple Help app (separate entry from the GRASS app help there).
>> 
>> The startup also creates an extension menu for the GUI.
>> 
>> This is all a part of the Mac build, and I don't know what, if anything, the Windows build does about this.


-----
William Kyngesburye <kyngchaos*at*kyngchaos*dot*com>
http://www.kyngchaos.com/

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