Steps for building MX:

1.  Change the value of the MX_ARCH variable below to match the platform you
    are compiling the MX system for.  The available platforms are:

      cygwin      - Compile for Cygwin 1.3.2
      djgpp       - Compile for DOS extender with DJGPP 2.0.2
      hpux        - Compile for HP 9000/7xx under HP-UX 10.20
      irix        - Compile for SGI under Irix 6.3 or 6.5
      linux       - Compile for i386 under Linux 2.0, 2.2, or 2.4
      macosx      - Compile for PPC Macintosh under MacOS X.
      solaris     - Compile for Sun Sparc under Solaris 2.5 or 2.6
      solaris-gcc - Compile for Sun Sparc under Solaris 2.6 using GCC 2.8.1
      sunos4      - Compile for Sun Sparc under SunOS 4.1.4
      win32       - Compile for Microsoft Win32 with Visual C++ 4, 5, or 6

    At present, you must have Gnu make installed on Win32 platforms in
    order to build MX.  The "nmake" program that comes with Visual C++
    is not sufficient.  The easiest way to get this is to install the
    Cygwin environment from http://www.cygwin.com/.

    At some point in the future, I may well require Gnu make on all platforms
    so that my makefiles can use the conditionals available in Gnu make.
    For now though, the vendor supplied "make" still works on the supported
    commercial Unix platforms.

2.  Set MX_INSTALL_DIR to the directory that you want to install MX in.

3.  Check "mx/libMx/mxconfig.h" to see if any of the defines need to be
    changed.  These defines indicate the presence or absence of optional
    external packages such as EPICS.  Setting a define to "1" indicates
    the presence of the package, while setting it to "0" indicates its
    absence.

4.  Modify the definitions of the makefile variables INCLUDES, LIB_DIRS,
    and LIBRARIES in the file "mx/libMx/Makehead.$(MX_ARCH)" to reflect the
    optional packages configured in step 3.  For example, if MX_ARCH = linux,
    then the file to modify is "mx/libMx/Makehead.linux".  Other defines
    relating to particular external packages may have to be modified as
    well, but you should not modify anything in the makefile after the
    line that says

      "Generally, you should not have to modify anything after this point."

5.  Do a "make clean" command.

6.  Do a "make depend" command.

7.  Do a "make" command.

8.  If MX builds correctly, do "make install" to install the binaries
    in the requested location.  The directory $(MX_INSTALL_DIR) must exist
    before you do "make install".

    On Win32, $(MX_INSTALL_DIR) should use forward slashes like / rather
    than backslashes.

9.  Now you must edit the configuration files in $(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/etc.
    This process is sufficiently long-winded that it deserves its own
    manual.  I haven't written that manual yet, but for the moment you
    can use the program "mxdriverinfo" as a guide to figuring out the
    correct format for a given record type.  Read the file 
    "mx/doc/mxdriverinfo.man" for more information.  Also, there are
    a variety of test databases in the "mx/test" and "mx/testserv"
    directories that can be used for inspiration.

10. Set up the environment variable MXDIR equal to the value defined
    for $(MX_INSTALL_DIR) above.  Many tools will default to MXDIR = "/opt/mx",
    but it is better to just set up the define.

11. Add the directory "$(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/bin" to the PATH.

12. Add the shared library directory "$(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/lib" to the shared
    library path.  On most unix systems, this is LD_LIBRARY_PATH, but on
    MacOS X it is DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH, while on HP/UX it is SHLIB_PATH.
    On Win32, the necessary DLLs automatically get copied to the directory
    $(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/bin, so Win32 users can skip this step.

13. If you are setting up an MX server on a Unix system with System V style
    startup scripts (Linux, Solaris, etc.), then you can use the file
    "$(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/sbin/mx" as a startup and shutdown script.  All that
    should be necessary is to create the appropriate links in the /etc/rc?.d
    directories.  On other Unix systems, you can use the script as a guide
    to what to do.

    If you are setting up an MX server on a Win32 system, then you can use
    the file "$(MX_INSTALL_DIR)/sbin/mx.bat" as a guide for what needs to be
    done to start up the MX server.

14. The source code for MX extension packages should be unpacked in the same
    directory that you unpacked the MX tar file in.  Thus, you should end
    up with a directory containing subdirectories like "mx", "mp", "mxtcl",
    and so forth.  In general, the procedure for building and installing them
    is the same procedure of configuring the Makefile followed by "make clean",
    "make depend", "make", and "make install", but you should read any bundled
    instructions for more information.  In particular, the MxTcl package has
    an extra file "mxtcl/libMxTcl/Makehead.$(MX_ARCH)" that must be modified.

If it all fails, then contact me (Bill Lavender) at the email address of
lavender@agni.phys.iit.edu and I will see what I can do for you.