Update some installation-related docs

[alexxy/gromacs.git] / install-guide / install-guide.md

diff --git a/install-guide/install-guide.md b/install-guide/install-guide.md
index 2b19bcf0dfda9d9e0a20187698b826680e4be7da..d780c6be2f8c556da49fc7fa21d2b9075fdd2bc4 100644 (file)
--- a/install-guide/install-guide.md
+++ b/install-guide/install-guide.md
@@ -360,9 +360,8 @@ general advice on what you are seeing and how to navigate and change
 things. The settings you might normally want to change are already
 presented. You may make changes, then re-configure (using `c`), so that it
 gets a chance to make changes that depend on yours and perform more
-checking. This might require several configuration stages when you are
-using `ccmake` - when you are using `cmake` the
-iteration is done behind the scenes.
+checking. It may take several configuration passes to reach the desired
+configuration, in particular if you need to resolve errors.
 
 A key thing to consider here is the setting of
 `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX`. You will need to be able to write to this
@@ -374,9 +373,11 @@ home directory for your GROMACS installation. Even if you do have
 super-user privileges, you should use them only for the installation
 phase, and never for configuring, building, or running GROMACS!
 
-When `cmake` or `ccmake` have completed iterating, the
-cache is stable and a build tree can be generated, with `g` in
-`ccmake` or automatically with `cmake`.
+When you have reached the desired configuration with `ccmake`, the
+build system can be generated by pressing `g`.  This requires that the previous
+configuration pass did not reveal any additional settings (if it did, you need
+to configure once more with `c`).  With `cmake`, the build system is generated
+after each pass that does not produce errors.
 
 You cannot attempt to change compilers after the initial run of
 `cmake`. If you need to change, clean up, and start again.
@@ -633,6 +634,36 @@ programs and libraries, one might specify:
 Thus the names of all programs and libraries will be appended with
 `_mod`.
 
+### Changing installation tree structure ###
+
+By default, a few different directories under `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` are used
+when when GROMACS is installed. Some of these can be changed, which is mainly
+useful for packaging GROMACS for various distributions. The directories are
+listed below, with additional notes about some of them. Unless otherwise noted,
+the directories can be renamed by editing the installation paths in the main
+CMakeLists.txt.
+
+`bin/`
+  : The standard location for executables, some scripts, and some symlinks.
+    Some of the scripts hardcode the absolute installation prefix, which needs
+    to be changed if the scripts are relocated.
+`include/gromacs/`
+  : The standard location for installed headers.
+`lib/`
+  : The standard location for libraries. The default depends on the system, and
+    is determined by CMake.
+    The name of the directory can be changed using `GMX_LIB_INSTALL_DIR` CMake
+    variable.
+`share/gromacs/`
+  : Various data files and some documentation go here.
+    The `gromacs` part can be changed using `GMX_DATA_INSTALL_DIR`. Using this
+    CMake variable is the preferred way of changing the installation path for
+    `share/gromacs/top/`, since the path to this directory is built into
+    `libgromacs` as well as some scripts, both as a relative and as an absolute
+    path (the latter as a fallback if everything else fails).
+`share/man/`
+  : Installed man pages go here.
+
 ## Building GROMACS ##
 
 Once you have configured with `cmake`, you can build GROMACS. It is