Getting started

You want to install and use Dune on your machine and you are a complete novice? Then this is the right place to start!

We will guide you through the installation process, and show you a first example program.

Installing Dune

It is important to note that installation of Dune requires a computer system with a relatively recent operating system, either Linux or Apple MacOS. Windows is not officially supported, but installation can be done via virtualization, see installation on Windows. There are a number of different ways how to install and use Dune on your computer (click on the links to follow the instructions):

Dune C++ binary packages

This is the most convenient way to get started if you do not want to modify the Dune sources.

The details depend on the system you are using:

Python packages via PyPI

Installation of Dune from the Python Package Index (PyPi). This is another very convenient way to install Dune which does not require root access and works on a broad range of systems including MacOS for which binary packages might not be available.

Full installation from source

Sooner or later you will most likely want to use the latest Dune features or even add new features to the Dune code modules. This will require you to build Dune from source.

Running a first example

Your first example with C++

You can find a more detailed description of these first steps with some background in the first chapter of Oliver Sander’s Dune book. It describes installation from binary packages, installation from the source repository, how to create your own Dune module, and also how to solve a simple PDE with the Dune core modules.

Your first example with Python

You can test the installation by constructing a simple structured grid. Call python and then execute

from dune.grid import structuredGrid
grid = structuredGrid([0,0],[1,1],[10,10])
print( grid.size(0) ) # should return 100
grid.plot() # requires the installation of `matplotlib`

For a more detailed description of the Python bindings take a look at the section on the DUNE grid interface as part of the dune-fem tutorial.