Installing RefactorErl

This page guides you in installing Erlang, Yaws and RefactorErl.

Dependencies

The following list enumerates required software.

Base system

• Erlang R14B04 or higher (currently WebInterface does not work with any higher version)

• GCC 4.2 or higher (for the graph based NIF back-end)
• graphviz 2.0 or higher (for graph drawing and dependency visualization)

WebInterface

• Server side: Yaws 1.89
• Client side: Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher / Google Chrome

EmacsInterface

• Emacs 23.3 or higher - with ​erlang-mode and widgets

EclipseInterface

• Eclipse (TODO)

VimInterface

• Vim 7.2 or higher

Local install instructions on Linux

You can install RefactorErl on a system where you do not own admin rights. Follow the instructions below.

You need some packages to be installed by the admin, but they likely can be found on almost all Linux systems. These are:

• gcc (>= 4.5)
• make
• tar
• bash
• m4
• ncurses

• libpam-dev (for yaws)
• openssl (for yaws)
• wx (optional)

We assume you would like to install the tool into a local root (e.g. /home/user/local). Modify the following path to your one:

export REFERL_ROOT=/path/to/localroot

The local "ghost" user will be 'referl' by default. Feel free to modify it.

export REFERL_GHOST_USER=referl

Run the next command in order to initialize the directory layout.

mkdir -p $REFERL_ROOT/home/$REFERL_GHOST_USER

If you have not installed Erlang yet, run the following commands to install Erlang/OTP R14B04:

cd $REFERL_ROOT/home/$REFERL_GHOST_USER
wget www.erlang.org/download/otp_src_R14B04.tar.gz
tar xvvf otp_src_R14B04.tar.gz
cd otp_src_R14B04
./configure --prefix=$REFERL_ROOT
make
make install
cd ..
rm otp_src_R14B04.tar.gz

To install RefactorErl:

cd $REFERL_ROOT/home/$REFERL_GHOST_USER
wget http://plc.inf.elte.hu/erlang/dl/refactorerl-0.9.12.01.tar.gz
tar xvvf refactorerl-0.9.12.01.tar.gz
cd refactorerl-0.9.12.01
bin/referl -erl $REFERL_ROOT/bin/erl -build tool
cd ..
rm refactorerl-0.9.12.01.tar.gz

Now you should be able to use your RefactorErl installation. If you would like to use the web based interface of the tool, you have to install the proper version (1.89) of Yaws.

cd $REFERL_ROOT/home/$REFERL_GHOST_USER
wget http://yaws.hyber.org/download/yaws-1.89.tar.gz
tar xvvf yaws-1.89.tar.gz
cd yaws
export ERL=$REFERL_ROOT/bin/erl
export ERLC=$REFERL_ROOT/bin/erlc
./configure --prefix=$REFERL_ROOT --localstatedir=$REFERL_ROOT/var --sysconfdir=$REFERL_ROOT/etc
make
make install
cd ..
rm yaws-1.89.tar.gz

To run the tool, execute the following commands:

cd $REFERL_ROOT/home/$REFERL_GHOST_USER/refactorerl-0.9.12.01
bin/referl -erl $REFERL_ROOT/bin/erl -db nif

If you have successfully installed yaws, you can start the nitrogen-based web UI with the following function call (mind to change the 'yaws_path'):

ri:start_nitrogen([{yaws_path, "/path/to/localroot/lib/yaws/ebin/"}]).