Download BOSS for 32-bit Linux — Jorgensen Research Group, Yale

Download

BOSS is licensed software.

BOSS is written by William L. Jorgensen and licensed by Cemcomco LLC. It is free to use under the non-profit licence, but it is not public-domain software: installing it means accepting a licence. The form below records that acceptance and then starts your download.

Version: 5.1
Released: August 2024
Download: 53.8 MB
Price: Free, academic

i About this build

For 64-bit Intel/AMD systems. The programs are 32-bit, so one system package is needed first: sudo apt install libc6-i386 lib32z1 lib32stdc++6 csh. A native 64-bit build is on its way.

Manuals: BOSS 5.1 · BOSS 4.9, for older installations · MCPRO.

1. Who is downloading it?

Stored as the licence record. We do not use it for anything else.

Full name Academic email Ending in .edu, or your university's or research institute's own domain. Institution or company Type of organization

2. Which licence applies to you?

Please read the one that covers your use before accepting it.

Non-profit / academic Read the licence (PDF) Install and use on any computers in one department of a college, university or other non-profit organization. More than one department needs a multi-department or site licence. Commercial / for-profit Read the licence (PDF) For use in a commercial organization. Cemcomco LLC sells this licence — please read it before installing, and contact us if your use falls under it.

I have read the licence I selected and I accept it. I understand that ticking this box is my acceptance of these terms, with the same effect as a signature.

Installing it

Install it, step by step.

32-bit Linux build

Before you start, you need 32-bit runtime libraries (the BOSS executables are 32-bit i386)csh

Install the 32-bit runtime and csh

The BOSS 5.1 executables are 32-bit i386 binaries, so a 64-bit system needs the 32-bit compatibility runtime. Without it you get No such file or directory for a file that is plainly there — the missing piece is the 32-bit loader, not BOSS. The driver scripts are written in csh.
```
sudo apt install libc6-i386 lib32z1 lib32stdc++6 csh
```
Unpack it somewhere with a short path

BOSS silently truncates paths at 80 characters and then reports a missing file. Keep the install and your working directories short.
```
cd ~
tar xzf boss0824.tar.gz
```
Check for an old BOSS in your shell configuration

The scripts run under csh, which re-reads ~/.cshrc. An old setenv BOSSdir line there silently overrides your environment and runs the wrong BOSS.
```
grep BOSSdir ~/.cshrc
```
Point BOSSdir at the new install

Add this to your shell profile so it persists.
```
export BOSSdir=~/boss
```

Check it computes

This optimises ethylene glycol. If you see Optimized energy =, BOSS is working.

mkdir ~/bosstest && cd ~/bosstest
cp $BOSSdir/testjobs/consearch/etdiol.z .
csh $BOSSdir/scripts/xOPT etdiol
grep 'Optimized en' out

One thing no guide will tell you: BOSS's x* scripts do not check whether each step worked. A script can print a success message, exit cleanly and still leave you with an empty output file. Before trusting a run, check that the files you expected are actually there and not zero bytes.