DIFF doesn't work



I have fink on my Mac, which is the OS X equivalent of APT. By all 
means get it if you want free software on your mac.

"sudo apt-get install maxima" downloads and installs the maxima binaries
"sudo fink install maxima" downloads and compiles the maxima sources

A transcript:

+------------------------------------------------------------------
| [DHCP-166-84:~/Library/Mail] weel% sudo apt-get install maxima
| Reading Package Lists... Done
| Building Dependency Tree... Done
| Sorry, maxima is already the newest version.
| 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0  not 
upgraded.
| [DHCP-166-84:~/Library/Mail] weel% maxima
| [...]
| Maxima 5.9.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net
| [...]
| (C1) diff(x^2,x);
| (D1)                                  2 x
+------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're interested in Maxima development, you probably don't want to 
use fink, as it usually defaults to the latest "stable" release of a 
package. In general, though, it's the fool-proof way of installing free 
software on your mac. Try "sudo dselect" for a list of available 
packages.

	/jaap



On 17 Nov 2003, at 12:46, Joe Koski wrote:

> After a 20+ year break from using Maxima/Macsyma, I installed 
> Maxima-5.9.0
> on my home Mac running OS X 10.2.8. It was installed with the standard
> maxima "make" file, using a pre-compiled clisp-2.31 for Mac 10.2 that I
> found on a SourceForge download listing (not from Fink). I'm running 
> maxima
> in a terminal window, not X11.
>
> I quickly checked the maxima archives, but didn't see anything, so my
> apologies if this isn't a new problem.
>
> The "make" and "make install" seemed to work OK, with the usual 
> diversions
> (to install libiconv.dylib, etc.), but when I test maxima, it doesn't
> properly recognize the differentiate function "diff." It just returns 
> the
> input function with a d/dx in front. I remember from my previous usage 
> that
> this is the way maxima tells us that it can't do something. 
> Integration,
> factoring, etc. seem to be OK. When I run rtest3.mac, rtest6a.mac,
> rtestode.mac, etc., I get the error "Attempt to differentiate with 
> respect
> to a number." Here's an example of the problem:
>
> Maxima 5.9.0 http://maxima.sourceforge.net
> Distributed under the GNU Public License. See the file COPYING.
> Dedicated to the memory of William Schelter.
> This is a development version of Maxima. The function bug_report()
> provides bug reporting information.
> ;; Loading file /usr/local/share/maxima/5.9.0/share/maxima-init.lisp 
> ...
> ;; Loaded file /usr/local/share/maxima/5.9.0/share/maxima-init.lisp
> (C1) u:x^3;
>                                        3
> (D1)                                  x
> (C2) diff(u,x);
>                                     d    3
> (D2)                                -- (x )
>                                     dx
>
> What should be my next step? Do I need to recompile a .lisp routine? 
> Which
> one? I did have to force one recompile (limit.lisp => limit.fas) 
> during the
> build process when the make file kept exiting with the always helpful 
> Error
> 1. After that recompile, the make file and "make install" finished 
> without
> any complaints.
>
> By the way, is there a precompiled maxima for Mac OS X 10.2 floating 
> around
> that would avoid the build problem?
>
> Any help will be appreciated.
>
> Joe Koski
>
> _______________________________________________
> Maxima mailing list
> Maxima@www.math.utexas.edu
> http://www.math.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/maxima
>
>
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Jaap Weel                   Campus address:        | dorm (626) 795-9748
Caltech, Blacker '05        Caltech MSC #874, Pasadena, CA 91126, U.S.A.
www.its.caltech.edu/~weel   Permanent address:     | home +31-46-4337033
E-mail: weel@caltech.edu    Kelderstraat 2-4, 6171 GB Stein, Netherlands
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