Maple Library and Help Database Files

Maple library files come in pairs, and include an index file maple.ind, and the library file maple.lib. The help database file is maple.hdb. The following are generic instructions for accessing an add-on Maple library and/or help database

The way in which Maple library and help files are accessed is through the libname variable. The default for the libname variable for my Linux system is as follows:

libname;

"/usr/local/mapleR5/lib"

If the maple.ind and maple.lib files, or the maple.hdb file, or all three are located in /var/maple/tmplib, then the libname variable should be modified as follows:

libname:="/var/maple/tmplib",libname;

libname := "/var/maple/tmplib","/usr/local/mapleR5/lib"

Now Maple will search for any library functions, packages, or help pages in /var/maple/tmplib before searching the global library and help database. A similar procedure can be followed in Windows, but the libname would have something like "C:\\Maple~r1/lib" in it, and "C:\\maple/newlib" would need to be added in the same way.

Now reading libraries and accessing the new help files is just accompished by the same commands as is usual.



It may get tiring adding this in every time Maple is started, but you can set it up so this command is executed every time Maple is started:

Unix Platform
If there is a file .mapleinit in the users home directory, all commands in it are executed during startup of Maple. The commandlibname:="/var/maple/tmplib",libname: can be added at the start of the file. If the file is not there, then it just needs to be created with that one line put in.

Windows Platform
Similar to the Unix platform, but the file is now called maple.ini. If the file is not present, it can be created in the Maple working directory (check the shortcut).



Last updated May-17-99. wittkopf@cecm.sfu.ca