Quick_Start_Instructionsx Quick Start Instructions

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QUICK-START INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTALLING AND RUNNING AMPL &

SOLVERS

Windows systems

To install: Download the distribution zipfile, ampl_mswin32.zip for the 32-bit version or

ampl_mswin64.zip for the 64-bit version. Double-click the zipfile icon, or apply an unzip utility, to

extract the folder named ampl_mswin32 or ampl_mswin64 from the zipfile. This will be your

AMPL folder; optionally you may rename it and you may move it to any convenient location on

your computer.

To run in an integrated application: Inside your AMPL folder, double-click the amplide folder icon

to open that folder, and then double-click the amplide.exe file (with the black cat's-head icon) to

start the AMPL IDE application. A small "AMPL IDE" window will appear while the program is

being loaded, and then the full IDE application window will open. To get started, choose Help

Contents from the Help menu at the top of the application window.

To run using a simple command-line interface: Double-click "sw.exe" in your AMPL folder, and

type "ampl" at the prompt in the window that appears. Then you will see an "ampl:" prompt and can

proceed to type AMPL commands. AMPL model and data statements will refer to files that you

have saved in your AMPL folder; use any plain-text editor to create and edit these files.

To optimize using either interface: Be sure to choose a solver, by giving a command of the form

"option solver xxx;" with xxx replaced by the name of a solver that you have been instructed to use.

Linux systems

To install: Download the distribution zipfile, ampl_linux-intel32.zip for the 32-bit version or

ampl_linux-intel64.zip for the 64-bit version. Then "unzip" this file, using a Linux unzip command

or the decompression option of the zip command, to extract the folder named ampl_linux-intel32 or

ampl_linux-intel64 from the zipfile. This will be your AMPL folder; optionally you may rename it

and you may move it to any convenient location on your computer.

To run in an integrated application: Inside your AMPL directory, you will find a directory named

amplide. Use the cd command to make amplide your current directory, and then start AMPL IDE

with the command ./amplide. A small "AMPL IDE" window will appear while the program is being

loaded, and then the full IDE application window will open. To get started, choose Help Contents

from the Help menu at the top of the application window.

To run using a simple command-line interface: In a command window, use the cd command to go

to your AMPL directory, and type "./ampl" at the system prompt. Then you will see an "ampl:"

prompt and can proceed to type AMPL commands. AMPL model and data statements will refer to

files that you have saved in your AMPL folder; use any plain-text editor to create and edit these

files.

To optimize using either interface: Be sure to choose a solver, by giving a command of the form

"option solver xxx;" with xxx replaced by the name of a solver that you have been instructed to use.

MacOS systems

To install: Download the distribution zipfile, ampl_macosx64.zip. Double-click this file’s icon to

extract its contents. When the extraction is complete you will see a folder named ampl_macosx64.

This will be your AMPL folder; optionally you may rename it and you may move it to any

convenient location on your computer.

To run in an integrated application: In your AMPL folder, double-click the Amplide file (with the

black cat's-head icon) to start the AMPL IDE application. A small "AMPL IDE" window will

appear while the program is being loaded, and then the full IDE application window will open. To

get started using AMPL IDE, choose Help Contents from the Help menu at the top of the

application window.

IF YOU GET A MESSAGE that the amplide program "can’t be opened" because it "was not

downloaded from the Mac App Store" or it "is from an unidentified developer," then you will need

to tell MacOS that the program is from a trusted source, by following these steps: (1) Control-click

or right-click the amplide icon. (2) Select Open from the top of contextual menu that appears. This

step will only be necessary the first time that you open the AMPL IDE. After that you can open it in

the usual way, by double-clicking the amplide application icon.

SPECIAL NOTE for users of MacOS 10.12 Sierra: As a side-effect of a new security feature

introduced with this version, you may see an error message beginning "The IDE cannot find the

AMPL executable." To fix this problem, quit the IDE application and then follow these steps: (1) In

your amplide.macosx64 folder, find the Amplide file (with THE cat's head icon). (2) Drag the

Amplide file to your desktop. (3) Drag the Amplide file back into the amplide.macosx64 folder.

Then double-click the file icon to start the AMPL IDE again.

To run using a simple command-line interface: Click on the magnifying glass at the top right of

your screen, enter "terminal" in the Spotlight window, and click on the Terminal icon to open a Mac

Terminal window. Use "cd" to go to your AMPL folder; for example if your AMPL folder is

ampl_macosx64 on your desktop, type "cd Desktop/ampl_macosx64". Then type ./ampl; you will

see an ampl: prompt and can proceed to type AMPL commands. AMPL model and data statements

will refer to files that you have saved in your AMPL folder; use any plain-text editor to create and

edit these files.

To optimize using either interface: Be sure to choose a solver, by giving a command of the form

"option solver xxx;" with xxx replaced by the name of a solver that you have been instructed to use.

Note for Linux and MacOS users

In order to be able to run the solvers, you will have to change the $PATH environment variable.

You can do so by editing the $HOME/.profile file. You can do this by opening a terminal and

running the command

nano $HOME/.profile

An editor will now appear on the .profile file. Add the following line:

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/AMPL_directory

which tells your operating system to (also) look for a program in the $HOME/AMPL_directory, and

save the file. After the editing, just run the command

source $HOME/.profile

which tells the operating system to take into account those changes. This procedure needs to be

done only once. Every terminal you open after this will be aware of these changes. After that, you’ll

be able to open a terminal and run AMPL without all this.