As the most widely used MD analysis tool, VMD is distributed the pre-compiled version for almost all kinds of platform. However, if we would like to use advanced module of VMD such as running python script or render scene with alternative engine, the pre-compiled versions are most likely to fail for those purposes.
In this regard, compile VMD from source code would be necessary for some users. Here are some some steps for how to compile it under SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP2 OS.
2. compile plugin untar the source code into somewhere you like : /soft/vmd-1.9.1.src cd /soft/vmd-1.9.1.src/plugins
make LINUXAMD64 make ARCH=LINUXAMD64 PLUGINDIR=/soft/vmd-1.9.1.src/vmd-1.9.1/plugins distrib
3. compile VMD main code cd /soft/vmd-1.9.1.src/vmd-1.9.1/ edit
/soft/vmd-1.9.1.src/vmd-1.9.1/configure file, and setup proper
environment for all possible plugin such as: python, tcl/tk, tachyon,
libsball, stride, cuda and so on.
./configure LINUXAMD64 OPENGL FLTK TK CUDA IMD LIBSBALL XINERAMA XINPUT LIBTACHY ON VRPN NETCDF TCL PYTHON PTHREADS NUMPY SILENT
cd src make veryclean make
if it goes well, you should see
"
No resource compiler required on this platform."
make install you should see
"Make sure /soft/vmd-1.9.1/bin/vmd is in your path.
VMD installation complete. Enjoy!"
now you can enjoy your VMD now with command:
/soft/vmd-1.9.1/bin/vmd
be sure that there is no any complain for missing modules n the terminal.