OpenCog is very easy to build under Ubuntu. Just follow this page
http://wiki.opencog.org/w/Building_OpenCog_on_Ubuntu
Below is a just copy/paste of it (Nov 18 2010)
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Building OpenCog on Ubuntu
From OpenCog
There are two options if you are on Ubuntu, you can either use the setup scripts from the Cogbuntu release, or you can manually download and install the various depedencies...
Contents
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* 1 Use Cogbuntu scripts
o 1.1 Ubuntu 10.10
o 1.2 Ubuntu 10.04
o 1.3 Ubuntu 9.10
* 2 Manually installing depedencies
o 2.1 Install version control & build systems
o 2.2 Install the core libraries
o 2.3 Get the source code
* 3 Build the core
* 4 Build & run tests
* 5 Build the documentation
* 6 Build the Scheme interpreter
* 7 Build the Embodiment base system
* 8 Build the Embodiment proxy to Metaverse
* 9 Build the Embodiment question-answering support
Use Cogbuntu scripts
The Cogbuntu scripts are on launchpad at:
https://code.launchpad.net/~opencog-dev/opencog/cogbuntu
You'll need bzr to download them:
sudo aptitude install bzr
Ubuntu 10.10
If you checkout revision 29, you get all you need to install all dependencies for OpenCog on Ubuntu 10.10 So:
bzr branch -r29 lp:~opencog-dev/opencog/cogbuntu cogbuntu-10.10
cd cogbuntu-10.10
then run
mkdir temp
sudo ./add-apt-repo.sh && sudo ./install-packages-opencog-dep.sh temp
to install all that opencog needs. Beware that: add-apt-repo.sh is gonna add some Karmic packages repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.
Ubuntu 10.04
If you checkout revision 26, you get all you need to install all dependencies for OpenCog on Ubuntu 10.04 So:
bzr branch -r26 lp:~opencog-dev/opencog/cogbuntu cogbuntu-10.04
cd cogbuntu-10.04
then run
mkdir temp
sudo ./add-apt-repo.sh && sudo ./install-packages-opencog-dep.sh temp
to install all that opencog needs. Beware that: add-apt-repo.sh is gonna add some Karmic packages repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.
Ubuntu 9.10
If you checkout revision 1, you get all you need to install all dependencies for OpenCog on Ubuntu 9.10. So:
bzr branch -r1 lp:~opencog-dev/opencog/cogbuntu cogbuntu-9.10
cd cogbuntu-9.10
then run
sudo ./install-packages.sh
These are instructions for a progressive build of OpenCog on Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic) and Ubuntu 10.04 (lucid).
Please report any build issues on the #opencog channel at irc.freenode.net.
Manually installing depedencies
First insure your repository sources are up to date.
Open a command line, e.g. from Applications > Accessories > Terminal. The boxes below surrounded with dotted lines are commands to be pasted onto the command line.
Update your package repositories
sudo aptitude update
Install version control & build systems
The OpenCog project uses the git source code version control system, and the CMake build system (analogous to GNU autoconf).
sudo aptitude install git cmake
note: the command above will also install necessary dependencies, such as a C compiler and other libraries and tools. If your system hasn't been used before to build software, it may take many minutes to download and install all dependencies.
Install the core libraries
note: the command above will also install necessary dependencies, such as a C++ compiler and other libraries and tools. If your system hasn't been used before to build software, it may take many minutes to download and install all dependencies.
Get the source code
Do this in a convenient place, like your home directory or ~/src.
Build the core
Currently parts of OpenCog rely on a hard-coded relative build location, so create your build directory at ochack/bin.
mkdir build; cd build
Configure the build
cmake ..
Build OpenCog core
make
Currently the OpenCog build system chooses which components to build based upon the existence of certain development packages installed (or not installed) on your system.
Build & run tests
OpenCog uses the CxxTest framework (analogous to JUnit).
Only do the next two steps if you didn't install dependencies with the Cogbuntu scripts...
Download the cxxtest package:
wget https://launchpad.net/~dhart/+archive/ppa/+files/cxxtest_3.10.1-0ubuntu1~dhart1_all.deb
Install the cxxtest package
sudo dpkg -i cxxtest_3.10.1-0ubuntu1~dhart1_all.deb
Re-configure the build
cmake ..
Setup OpenCog tests
make
Make & run OpenCog tests
make test
note: tests can be run after building each following section.
Build the documentation
Also available online at http://buildbot.opencog.org/doxygen/
Install the doxygen packages.
sudo aptitude install doxygen
Configure the build
cmake ..
Build OpenCog documentation
make doxygen