E2E_PATH and the Dependence of ALFI on the e2e Modeler Package

ALFI Download/Installation Notes

The E2E_PATH and the Dependence of ALFI on the e2e Modeler Package

Technically, ALFI can be started and run without the need for access to the e2e modeler package, but it would essentially be useless without such access. The reason for this is that the construction of anything of use in ALFI requires the inclusion of the so-called primitive nodes which are defined in a set of files in the e2e modeler distribution.

In fact, the modeler software does not itself need to be working in order for ALFI to work, but the directory which contains the modeler's primitive files must be fed into ALFI in some manner. This is accomplished by setting ALFI's E2E_PATH, which is a search path for ALFI to locate the directories which contain these primitives (and sometimes libraries od pre-built boxes as well.)

When ALFI starts up, if the E2E_PATH has not been defined yet, a dialog will appear asking for directories to add to the E2E_PATH. At the very least, the E2E_PATH must contain the directory in the modeler distribution containing the primitive files. Currently, the files (ending in .prm) exist in the AdlibMM directory of the modeler distribution.

So, for example, if I untarred my modeler distribution (e2e-1.7.9.tar) in /home/dilbert/e2e/, then I would need to make sure the directory /home/dilbert/e2e/e2e-1.7.9/AdlibMM/ was in ALFI's E2E_PATH.

Note that ALFI's E2E_PATH is also often used for finding some general libraries of pre-built box files as well, but those files are not a part of the e2e modeler distribution (nor the ALFI distribution), and notes on the location of such libraries would be contained in the distribution those modeler systems which require them.