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Source Code for UCSF Chimera

Browse the source code at the Chimera SVN repository. To check-out a copy of the Chimera source code use 

	svn checkout http://svn.cgl.ucsf.edu/svn/chimera/trunk chimera

Compiling Chimera requires building over 40 third-party packages and is not recommended. See below for the problems you will face.

Python Code

Most of Chimera is written in Python and that code is included in all distributions in 

	chimera/share

or on Mac computers in 

	Chimera.app/Contents/Resources/share

On Mac OS 10.5 ctrl-click on the Chimera icon and choose Show Package Contents to see the folders inside Chimera.app.

C++ Header Files

The Chimera C++ header files are included in Chimera distributions in 

	chimera/include

Uses of the Source Code

The links on this page provide software developers interested in writing extensions to Chimera with access to all of the UCSF-developed Chimera source code. This allows extension writers to see exactly how Chimera works. Note, however, that most of Chimera (~85%) is written in Python, and the Python source is automatically included with every Chimera distribution (see subdirectories of chimera/share or, on OS X systems, Chimera.app/Contents/Resources/share).

It is currently not possible to re-compile a fully functional Chimera from the source code distributed here because we do not include the proprietary solvent-accessible molecular surfacing library, MSMS, developed by Michel Sanner and licensed separately by Scripps Research Institute. In addition, creating a full build-from-source copy of Chimera is a lot of work and depends on getting a bunch of things in the build environment set up just right for your particular platform. Currently we do not have any documentation describing the build environment or procedure.

The distributions below with "headers" in the name contain the C++ and C header files for Chimera and third party packages used to build Chimera. The Python header file pyconfig.h depends on the operating system while all others are the same for all operating systems. Note that header files are now included with Chimera distributions. Headers are in the include directory of the distribution. The distributions with "source" in the name include both the Python and C++ Chimera source code. The distributions with "foreign" in the name consist of approximately 40 third party packages used by Chimera. You will probably not need these foreign packages to understand how Chimera works.

Chimera source code is covered by the same license agreement as our Chimera binary distributions.

Questions about the source code should be sent to the Chimera Developer's mailing list.

The table below contains old versions of the Chimera code, headers and third-party packages used by Chimera.

Source Date Size Notes
chimera-1.2540-source.tar.gz July 9, 2008 35 Mb Chimera C++ and Python code
chimera-1.2540-foreign.tar.gz July 9, 2008 170 Mb Third party packages used by Chimera
chimera-1.2516-source.tar.gz May 20, 2008 36 Mb Chimera C++ and Python code
chimera-1.2516-foreign.tar.gz May 20, 2008 170 Mb Third party packages used by Chimera
chimera-1.2349-osx_x11_intel-headers.tar.gz March 2, 2007 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages. For compilation on Mac 10.4.
chimera-1.2349-osx_x11_ppc-headers.tar.gz March 2, 2007 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages. Used for compilation on Mac 10.4 targeting 10.3.9.
chimera-1.2349-linux-headers.tar.gz March 2, 2007 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2350-linux64-headers.tar.gz March 2, 2007 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2318-source.tar.gz December 12, 2006 23 Mb Chimera C++ and Python code
chimera-1.2318-osx_x11_ppc-headers.tar.gz January 4, 2007 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2318-linux-headers.tar.gz December 12, 2006 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2318-foreign.tar.gz December 12, 2006 118 Mb Third party packages used by Chimera
chimera-1.2199-source.tar.gz February 17, 2006 22 Mb Chimera C++ and Python code
chimera-1.2199-foreign.tar.gz February 17, 2006 120 Mb Third party packages used by Chimera
chimera-1.2199-osx_x11-headers.tar.gz February 17, 2006 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages. Used for compilation on Mac 10.4 targeting 10.3.9.
chimera-1.2199-linux-headers.tar.gz February 17, 2006 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2197-osx10_3_x11-headers.tar.gz January 6, 2006 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2186-osx_x11-headers.tar.gz November 10, 2005 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2184-osx_x11-headers.tar.gz November 3, 2005 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2183-linux-headers.tar.gz October 25, 2005 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2181-tru64-headers.tar.gz October 24, 2005 1 Mb Header files for Chimera and third party packages
chimera-1.2129-source.tar.gz June 2, 2005 25 Mb Chimera C++ and Python code
chimera-1.2129-foreign.tar.gz June 2, 2005 200 Mb Third party packages used by Chimera