The OpenCog utilities is a miscellaneous collection of C++ utilities use for typical programming tasks in multiple OpenCog projects. These include:
- thread-safe queues, stacks and sets
- asynchronous method caller
- thread-safe resource pool
- thread-safe backtrace printing
- high-performance signal-slot
- random tournament selection
- OS portability layers.
The main project site is at http://opencog.org
Version 2.2.0. Notable changes since January 2025:
- Enhanced barrier support for async_buffer: every worker can be given the barrier message, thus synchornizing all workers.
- Replacment of (minor) busy-waits by c++-20 std::atomic::wait() This reduces latency during congestion and improves performance.
- Remove all dependency on boost. Unfortunately, boost causes more headaches than it solves, and just making it obsolete works best.
- Removal of a large number of unused, stale files and functions. Decades of work allowed arcane cruft and litter to accumulate. That has been removed. Assorted single-user files have been moved to that single user (almost entirely to as-moses; some to miner)
To build the OpenCog utilities, the packages listed below are required. With a few exceptions, most Linux distributions will provide these packages. The Docker containers located at https://github.com/opencog/docker simplify the entire install and build process, and casual users are encouraged to try those first.
Build management tool; v3.12 or higher recommended. http://www.cmake.org/ | cmake
Unit test framework https://cxxtest.com/ |
apt-get install cxxtest
The following are optional, but are strongly recommended, as they result in "pretty" stack traces, which result in far more useful and readable stack traces. These are requires, and not really optional, if you are a regular OpenCog developer.
The GNU binutils linker-loader, ahem, cough, "Binary File Description". http://gnu.org/s/binutils | binutils-dev The linker-loader understands calling conventions.
The GNU GCC compiler tools libiberty component. http://gcc.gnu.org | libiberty-dev The GCC compiler, and iberty in particular, know stack traces.
Documentation generator under GNU General Public License http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/ | doxygen Generates code documentation
Perform the following steps at the shell prompt:
cd to project root dir
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
Libraries will be built into subdirectories within build, mirroring the structure of the source directory root.
To build and run the unit tests, from the ./build directory enter (after building opencog as above):
make check
After building, you MUST install the utilities!
sudo make install