Installation Guide

Download

Browse programs and course materials available from sourceforge, or skip straight to download the latest version of GridLAB-D.

The latest source code is available via SVN. For details on how to build the GridLAB-D, see Builds.

Windows

GridLAB-D has been prepared and tested for Windows XP, Vista, and 7. All daily build tests are performed on Windows 7. Although it hasn't been tested extensively, Windows 8 and 10 have shown no issues with backwards compatibility.

Installation is from an executable, with a name of the form gridlabd-system-major_minor_build.exe. The current values are:

• system represents the machine architecture, which can be
  • win32 for 32 bit Intel 686-based systems, or
  • x64 for 64 bit Intel Itanium-based systems.
• major represents the major release number, which is currently 2.
• minor represents the minor release number, which is currently 1.
• build represents the build release number, which changes with each build and usually in the 100s or 1000s.

File locations

The default directory tree for GridLAB-D on Windows is as follows:

c:\Program Files\GridLAB-D

This is the main GridLAB-D directory. It contains all the subdirectories as well as the readme and uninstall files.

c:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\bin

This contains all the executables. The PATH environment variable should include this directory.

c:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\etc

This contains all the runtime files. The GLPATH environment variable should include this directory.

c:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\lib

This contains all the module files. Both the PATH and GLPATH environment variables should include this directory.

c:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\samples

This contains sample data files.

Environment variables

Only two environment variables must be set for GridLAB-D to function properly.

PATH

The Windows PATH environment must include both the bin and lib directories. Users who want to include their own modules should add the directory that contains them as well, e.g., C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\path, where user is the user's login name, and path is the path to their own modules.

GRIDLABD

This should contain the path where GridLAB-D is installed.

GLPATH

GridLAB-D uses the GLPATH environment to find runtime files and module files. It should include at least the etc and lib directories. Users who want to include their own modules or runtime files should add the directory that contains them as well, e.g., C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\path, where user is the user's login name, and path is the path to their own modules.

GLTEMP

(optional) Set to the path where temporary files will be stored. If GLTEMP is not set, it will be automatically set depending on the environment variables defined in the following order:

1. %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\Local Settings\Temp\gridlabd if both HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH are defined.
2. %TMP%\%USERNAME%\gridlabd. If TMP is not defined, then TEMP will be tried in its place. If both TMP and TEMP are undefined, then C:\Windows\Temp will be used for %TMP%.

Note: If the GLTEMP directory does not exist and it is required, it and all its parent directories will be created.

Search Order

Searches for GridLAB-D files on GLPATH will be performed using the following order:

1. Current working directory
2. Directories in GLPATH environment variable in the order listed
3. GridLAB-D installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\GridLAB-D)
4. etc subdirectory of GridLAB-D install directory (C:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\etc)
5. lib subdirectory of GridLAB-D install directory (C:\Program Files\GridLAB-D\lib)

Linux and OS-X

File locations

Prior to Hassayampa (Version 3.0) installation on Mac OS/X could only be performed using the build process. Since Hassayampa (Version 3.0) a DMG build is available, but the installation file structure is different when using the DMG.

Build Installation

These folders are created by the build process. There is no official DMG installer before Hassayampa (Version 3.0).

/usr/bin/gridlabd

A symbolic link to /usr/lib/gridlabd/gridlabd, a bash script that sets up an appropriate environment to run gridlabd. /usr/lib/gridlabd/gridlabd is itself a soft link to gridlab.bin, the actual GridLAB-D binary.

/usr/lib/gridlabd

Contains all runtime files.

/usr/share/doc/gridlabd

Contains copyright notice and other documentation.

DMG Installation

/usr/local/bin

Executable folder contains the command line script and the main executable binary image.

/usr/local/lib/gridlabd

Library folder the modules and basic support files.

Note that the DMG installer does not alter you profile, so you may need to add the path to /usr/local/bin if it is not already included in your command shell path.

Environment variables

GRIDLABD

This should contain the path where GridLAB-D is installed. The gridlabd script sets this variable before calling gridlabd.bin.

GLPATH

A set of colon-separated paths used for searching for GridLAB-D configuration files, modules, and runtime files. At a minimum, this variable should contain the path to the directory where GridLAB-D is installed (/usr/lib/gridlabd). It may also be used to add additional search paths.

GLTEMP

(optional) Set to the path where temporary files will be stored. If GLTEMP is not set, it will be automatically set depending on the environment variables defined in the following order:

1. $HOME/.gridlabd/tmp if HOME is defined.
2. $TMP/$USER/gridlabd. If TMP is not defined, then TEMP will be tried in its place. If both TMP and TEMP are undefined, then /tmp will be used for $TMP.

Note: If the GLTEMP directory does not exist and it is required, it and all its parent directories will be created.

Search Order

Searches for GridLAB-D files on GLPATH will be performed using the following order:

1. Current working directory
2. Directories in GLPATH environment variable in the order listed
3. /usr/lib/gridlabd or /usr/local/lib/gridlabd
4. /usr/etc/gridlabd (not used after Grizzly (Version 2.3)

Note: The last two hard-coded paths should probably not be hard-coded or at least should be set using the install prefix.