File Format

The software for LAPACK is distributed in the form of a gzipped tar file (via anonymous ftp or the World Wide Web), which contains the Fortran source for LAPACK, the Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms (the Level 1, 2, and 3 BLAS) needed by LAPACK, the testing programs, and the timing programs². Users who wish to have a non-Unix installation should refer to LAPACK Working Note 41, although the overview in section 4 applies to both the Unix and non-Unix versions.

The package may be accessed via the World Wide Web through the URL address:

http://www.netlib.org/lapack/lapack.tgz

Or, you can retrieve the file via anonymous ftp at netlib:

     ftp ftp.netlib.org
     login:  anonymous
     password:  <your email address>
     cd lapack
     binary
     get lapack.tgz
     quit

The software in the tar file is organized in a number of essential directories as shown in Figure 1. Please note that this figure does not reflect everything that is contained in the LAPACK directory. Input and instructional files are also located at various levels.

Figure 1: Unix organization of LAPACK 3.0

Libraries are created in the LAPACK directory and executable files are created in one of the directories BLAS, TESTING, or TIMING². Input files for the test and timing²programs are also found in these three directories so that testing may be carried out in the directories LAPACK/BLAS, LAPACK/TESTING, and LAPACK/TIMING ². A top-level makefile in the LAPACK directory is provided to perform the entire installation procedure.