====== Dependencies for 3.0 and earlier versions ======
Before you start you should check whether you have got all the building tools and prerequisite packages:
  * C and C++ compilers (one of the following):
    * ''gcc'' and ''g++'', version 4.2+ (Note that these might come in several packages) 
    * ''clang'', version 3.2+
  * C++ Library (one of the following):
    * [[https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/|GNU C++ Library]]. (On Linux this is usually already in the base system, or comes with ''gcc'') 
    * [[http://libcxx.llvm.org/|libc++]], might come with LLVM/clang (supported since polymake version 3.0)

  * XML processing tools: ''libxml2'', ''libxslt'' (both being standard components of Gnome environment)

  * GNU Readline & History library v5.0+

  * Perl 5.10.0+, with all of the following modules:
    * ''ExtUtils::Embed'', which some distributions ship separately as ''perl-ExtUtils-Embed''
    * ''XML::LibXML'', ''XML::LibXSLT'', and ''XML::Writer''
    * ''Term::ReadLine::Gnu''
    * ''Term::ReadKey'' (only for the development version of polymake)

  * [[http://gmplib.org/|GMP library]] 4.2.0+ . Some Linux vendors split the GMP in two packages, shared libraries and development stuff.  Please install both. You also need to enable/install the C++ bindings for polymake version 2.11+.
  * [[http://www.mpfr.org/|MPFR library]] 3.0.0+ . Again both shared libraries and development stuff are required.

==== Configuration of Version 2.9.8 ====
The next step after unpacking the tar ball is <code>make configure</code>.  polymake is **not** based on autoconf, it rather tries to gain as much information as possible from the system ''perl'' configuration; for the rest it will ask you.  The questions can be divided into three groups:
  - installation locations
  - C/C++ compiler choice and options
  - Java related stuff

The location chosen for the ''polymake'' start script should be one contained in your (and your colleagues') ''PATH'' . If you don't like this, you can later define a shell alias pointing to the start script.  Unlike old versions, there are no other executables in polymake that should be accessible via ''PATH'', as the whole former clients have been transformed into library functions.

//Beware// that the directory which you build ''polymake'' in and the one which you want ''polymake'' to install to must be distinct and not contained in one another.

Having run ''make configure'' once, you get a new subtree ''build.ARCH'', where ''ARCH'' is usually an abbreviation of your hardware platform as reported by ''uname -m'' .  There resides a file ''conf.make'' which can be manually edited, if necessary.  If you subsequently repeat the configuration step on several hardware platforms (e.g. 32-bit and 64-bit Intel/AMD CPU), polymake will reuse most of the answers given for the first platform as default settings.