Soar Version 8.4 Release
The upgrade from Soar 8 to Soar 8.4 should be transparent for most
users. However, under the hood, there are a number of improvements in
the Soar 8.4 release. These modifications are described in the Soar 8.4 Release Notes.
For help getting started writing Soar 8 code, start with The Soar 8 Tutorial.
Soar 8.4 requires that Tcl and Tk be installed on all systems (Mac,
Windows and Unix). It is recommended that users install
Tcl/Tk
8.0. The pre-built binaries below require Tcl 8.0. If
you are upgrading from Soar 7.0.*, or don't have Soar at all yet, you
will have to check to see if you have Tcl, and if so, what version
you have. If you are upgrading from Soar 7.1 or Soar 7.2, then you
already have Tcl 7.6 and Tk 4.2 installed. Soar 8.4 is also compatible
with Tcl 7.6 and Tk 4.2, but it may require that you rebuild Soar,
linking with Tcl7.6/Tk4.2. The binaries provided below were built for
Tcl/Tk8.0. The Linux binary will work under either Tcl 8.0 or Tcl 7.6, but I
don't think the Windows and Mac binaries are compatible with Tcl 7.6.
The README.(systype) files in the distribution will tell
you how to check for Tcl on your system, and what to do if you don't
have it.
Documentation for the C-Level api, can be found both as
html and as
a .tgz archive
Soar 8.4 for Windows
Soar84.EXE.
(1.8 Mb) The self-extracting source and binaries for
Windows 9x / 2000 / Windows NT
The standard installation location for Tcl/Tk on Windows is in "C:\Program
Files\TCL" If you don't see Tcl there, first do a File Find on your
system to see if someone installed Tcl somewhere else. If you don't
have Tcl8.0 already installed on your system, grab the Windows
95, and Windows NT self-extracting installer (tcl804.exe):
(about 1.75Mbytes) The file is a self-extracting executable. It will
install the Tcl and Tk libraries, the wish and tclsh
programs, and documentation.
If at all possible, use the defaults for file locations and installation
settings. Soar-8.4 will require no reconfiguration for your Windows
system if you have installed Tcl/Tk on the C: drive (specifically in
"C:\Program Files\TCL"), and if Soar is unzipped to c:\ (it will default
to a folder called Soar-8.4). Just open the Soar-8.4 folder and dbl-click
on the Soar icon (a feather, for now) to start Soar. You my have to
first edit the "properties" of the Soar shortcut to make sure the pathname
of the executable is valid for your machine. If you need to use locations
other than the defaults, or if you aren't able to run Soar by dbl-clicking
on the Soar icon, see the README.Win
file for information about what you will need to change to run Soar.
Soar 8.4 for Unix
Soar84.tgz.
(1.4 Mb) A gnu-zipped tar file which includes the precompiled Soar libraries
for Linux. See the README.Unix file
for information on running Soar and on building Soar for other Unix
systems. If there is enough demand, we can possibly build and post
libraries for SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris 5.5.1, Linux 2.0.30, and IRIX 5.3.
If you need to install Tcl8.0, you can obtain the code and follow the
instructions found on the Scriptics
Tcl 8.0 Download Page. About a third of the way down that
page you'll find the info for Unix sources.
Soar 8.4 for Macintosh
The combination of upgrading to Code Warrior Pro 3 and to Tcl 8.0.4
is causing fits for building Soar-8.4 on the Mac. Everything compiles just
fine, but the linker cannot find the standard library functions, eventhough
the libraries are specified in the build instructions. Several people have
made good suggestions, but I still can't build Soar-8.4 with Tcl 8.0.
However, Soar-8.4 WILL build with Tcl 7.6. So for the Macintosh, Soar-8.4
is being released with Tcl 7.6 / Tk 4.2. There is no loss in functionality
for Soar, but Mac users will not have the added advantages of using Tcl 8.0.
If anyone has suggestions for linking Soar with Tcl 8.0, or would like to try
the build at their site, please send email to soar-requests@umich.edu .
Soar84.sea.hqx.
(6.1 Mb) A BinHex self-extracting archive that includes the binary
distributions for Power PC Macs. This archive also includes the Tcl/Tk
Installer for installing Tcl7.6/Tk4.2. (If you already have this version
of Tcl/Tk installed, you can just dump the Installer program in the trash.)
Download and extract the Soar archive file (by dbl-clicking on the
Soar-84.sea icon), which will create a folder called "soar-8.4".
The standard installation location for Tcl/Tk on Macs is in "System
Folder/Extensions/Tool Command Language/" If you don't find a "Tool
Command Language" folder there, or you don't have Tcl 7.6 / Tk 4.2,
open the soar-8.4 folder and double-click on the Tcl installer. Once
Tcl has been installed, go back to the soar-8.4 folder and click
on the "SoarMac" icon to start Soar. See the
README.Macintosh
file for more details on how to get started.
