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# How to quickly install and setup NASA HEASoft on Ubuntu (or any Debian based) Linux
- URL: https://jatan.space/how-to-quickly-install-and-setup-nasa-heasoft-on-ubuntu-or-any-debian-based-linux/
- Published: 2017-05-16T18:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-09T11:59:35.000Z
- Author: Jatan Mehta

The official Installation guide for “heasoft” is overwhelming and confusing for many users so I'm writing this tutorial to show each step very simply.

**Note:** This is for installing HEASoft from source, not using a binary file.

**Step 1**

[Download the HEASoft software](https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/lheasoft/download.html) from the official page.

**Step 2**

Cut paste the file to the `Home` folder and right-click `Extract here` in the same folder.

**Step 3**

Open Terminal and input the following:

```
sudo apt -y install libreadline6-dev libncurses5-dev xorg-dev gcc g++ gfortran perl-modules python-devThese are the dependencies that are needed by heasoft to function.
```

**Step 4**

Navigate to the build directory where you will install your software.

```
cd heasoft-6.21/BUILD_DIR/
```

Note that the heasoft version number in the above command should match with the one you downloaded.

**Step 5**

```
./configure 2>&1 | tee config.out
```

This may take a few minutes.

**Step 6**

```
make 2>&1 | tee build.log
```

This will take ***a lot*** of time. It took me more than an hour! Go have a Pizza and come back.

**Step 7**

```
make install 2>&1 | tee install.log
```

Heasoft is now installed. But there are two more steps left to make it easy to use.

**Step 8**

Close the terminal and open it again. Then input the following one after the other:

```
export HEADAS=heasoft-6.21/(PLATFORM)

. $HEADAS/headas-init.sh

alias heainit=". $HEADAS/headas-init.sh"
```

(PLATFORM) is a placeholder for the platform- specific string denoting your machine's architecture. It will be something like this:

- i686-pc-linux-gnu-libc2.5
- x86\_64-unknown-linux-gnu-libc2.23

**Step 9**

Open your bashrc file using the following command:

```
sudo gedit .bashrc
```

Note: Replace `gedit` with your text editor name if you are using something else.

Once the file is open, go to the end of it. And **copy paste the same commands from your terminal as Step 8** below the last line of the text file.

Save it, close it and you are done!

Now you can run heasoft by just the following terminal command:

```
heainit
```

---

That’s it. I hope you found the tutorial simple and helpful.

Note that this is just a quick install and setup tutorial, which should work for most of your needs. But if you require some advanced options while installing HEASoft, [the Official Guide](https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/lheasoft/) is where you go.