# Installation of CCX\_2.23 fun **URL:** \ **Category:** Getting started\ **Created:** [March 19, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833 "2026-03-19T22:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/1 "2026-03-19T22:35:00Z")
Installation of CCX\_2.23 fun Thanks y’all for your help. I have been following the instructions from ccx\_2.23.readme.install. a. From page 1, I have downloaded the ccx — .tar.bz2 files and bunzip2 and untar them. b. From page 1, I have downloaded the SPOOLES.2.2 and ARPACk files. Do I need to compile or makefile to these files? If so, how. The instructions are not clear. The writing then says something about access to the SGI scientific library. Do I need this library? Is it worth having? If so, where can I get it? The complib-sgi appears to be active. > **[Complib – SGI – SUPERCOMPUTER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE](https://www.serc.iisc.ac.in/software/complib-sgi/)** The page then says to go to item 4. In the ccx\_2.23/src I typed make and there were various errors while it did whatever it did. At the end I got a whole bunch of stuff, ending in the following: cc -Wall -O2 -I ../../../SPOOLES.2.2 -DARCH=“Linux” -DSPOOLES -DARPACK -DMATRIXSTORAGE -DNETWORKOUT -c add\_rect.c cc -Wall -O2 -I ../../../SPOOLES.2.2 -DARCH=“Linux” -DSPOOLES -DARPACK -DMATRIXSTORAGE -DNETWORKOUT -c arpack.c In file included from **arpack.c:26** : **spooles.h:26:10:** **fatal error:** misc.h: No such file or directory 26 | #include **\** | **^ ~~~~~~~ ** compilation terminated. make: \*\*\* [Makefile:9: arpack.o] Error 1 **charlie@charlie-desktop** : **~/Downloads/CalculiX/ccx\_2.23/src** $ What do I need to do to fix this? Thanks, Charlie m ---
**Author:** ![Durbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8dc957/32.png) [@Durbul](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Durbul)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 4:15am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/2 "2026-03-20T04:15:47Z")
If you just want to get started, you can try the 2.23 executable on the [calculix.de](http://calculix.de) website. If you want to compile a custom version, but not care about the dependencies, you can use the libraries available in the Ubuntu packet manager: > libarpack2-dev libspooles-dev If you also want to compile the dependencies, there are good instructions on the preCICE website: [Get CalculiX | preCICE - The Coupling Library](https://precice.org/adapter-calculix-get-calculix.html) SGI is not required. If you want a faster solver, I would recommend PaStiX, but one after the other. ---
**Author:** ![fgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@fgr](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/fgr)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 7:59am UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/3 "2026-03-20T07:59:48Z")
@CharlieM I have delete this content because is was misinformation ---
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/4 "2026-03-20T19:09:54Z")
Hello Durbul, Many thanks for your advice and support. The [calculix.de](http://calculix.de) website has a line about Downloads which in turn leads to [https://www.dhondt.de/](https://www.dhondt.de/) which leads me to what I was trying to do. I have been trying to follow the instructions listed in ccx\_2.23.README.INSTALL. It is not clear on [www.dhondt.de](http://www.dhondt.de) which line leads to a simple executable program if there is an executable program. It is not clear in the ccx—README.INSTALL where or how to load an executable ccx\_2.23. I have safely managed without injury to myself or blowing up my computer to do steps 1,2, and 3 where 3 was giving me problems in particular trying to find SPOOLES and ARPACK. 1. copy ccx\_2.23.src.tar.bz2, ccx\_2.23.doc.tar.bz2, ccx\_2.23.test.tar.bz2 and ccx\_2.23.README.INSTALL to directory /usr/local 2. bunzip2 and untar ccx\_2.23.src.tar.bz2, ccx\_2.23.doc.tar.bz2 and ccx\_2.23.test.tar.bz2; the following directory tree is generated: /usr/local/CalculiX/ccx\_2.23/src /usr/local/CalculiX/ccx\_2.23/doc /usr/local/CalculiX/ccx\_2.23/test 3. get SPOOLES.2.2 and ARPACK from the internet The instructions then say: Else, go to item 4. There is a lot of detailed material and it is not clear what is item 4. I presumes item 4 is the following: 4. change to /usr/local/CalculiX/ccx\_2.23/src and type make; I was in the process of doing this and am not sure what is happening. The installation instructions assumes that the person is experienced and fluent Linux, if not Linux being their mother tongue. The installation instructions also are not clearly written and tend to jump around to other topics. I have barely started learning Linux this past December 2025. So, I have surprised myself. Is ccx\_2.23 the same as the Calculix program that is connected with / accessed through FreeCAD? If so, how do I access some of the examples that come with the ccx\_2.23 material? The whole point of this work is to be able to do some fracture mechanic analyses. FreeCAD is the entry point for me. From the Calculix pdf, there are special cards used in fracture mechanics requiring 8 pieces of information which are not fully identified nor described how these pieces are used. My next goal is to install the Calculix Graphix cgx\_2.23 software and these instructions are full of details like in ccx\_2.23. Many thanks for your patience and support. Charlie ---
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 8:21pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/5 "2026-03-20T20:21:19Z")
![misc-h modification 20Mar26](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/4/40b0ba9d96f423607f127595999e5ddc3a683b78.jpeg) ![SPOOLES-h modification 20Mar26](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/1/14aad63a20136cce2f4d7b3aed907df6c12017f9.jpeg) > [@fgr](#): > > Hello fgr, Thank you for your advice and support. I managed to find the document spooles.h and modified it with Notepad++. > > I found cascade.c in the ccx\_2.23/src but was not able to open it with Notepad++. > > I modified misc.h with the information above. > > Please see attached screengrabs. > > I will shortly try to see if this works. > > Looking at the SPOOLES website: [https://www.netlib.org/linalg/spooles/spooles.2.2.html](https://www.netlib.org/linalg/spooles/spooles.2.2.html) > > the program was created in the 90’s and the last date that appears it 1999. This is old. > > Thanks again > > Charlie ---
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 10:56pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/6 "2026-03-20T22:56:36Z")
Hello fgr, I have been applying your fix technique in spooles for //#include \, //#include \ and //#include \ Now there are some new errors. What is next? Also, I do not understand what this technique does. Thanks for your help. Charlie ![20Mar26 more fixes for misc-h FrontMtx-h and SymbFac-h part2](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/e/e1f649c4b6eb1d913644eb22c09694bb32619d22.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![rsmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/rsmith/32/1684_2.png) [@rsmith](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/rsmith)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 8:36pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/7 "2026-03-21T20:36:41Z")
When I was building CalculiX with the PaStiX solver on FreeBSD, I put the whole process (including applying patches where needed) into a number of shell-scripts. The combination of shell-scripts, tarballs of known-good versions of the softwares used and patches can be found [here](https://github.com/rsmith-nl/calculix-build-pastix). It might be of use to you. The whole procedure **will** require some changes to work with Linux, For example changing the names of the compilers used, and replacing `gmake` with `make`. ---
**Author:** ![fgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@fgr](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/fgr)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/8 "2026-03-21T22:28:38Z")
@CharlieM **I’ll need** **to apologize for my misinformation** the “\ is really needed when using the Spoole solver on linux and not legacy as I posted. I tested it on my windows installation and didn’t find any problem by putting \ in comment and compiling with mingw but it is needed on a linux system when using the Spoole solver. So I need to ask you remove the changes you have done in “spoole.h” and “cascade.c”. You will need put them back to original. In the folder for the ccx source and where you execute the make you should get the following result when you execute the find command because this what is written in your Makefile but since \ is missing I don’t expect you will get this result. ```auto xxx@fgr:~/Calculix/ccx_2.23/src$ find ../../.. -name misc.h -print ../../../SPOOLES.2.2/misc/misc.h ../../../SPOOLES.2.2/Utilities/misc.h ../../../SPOOLES.2.2/misc.h ``` So you will need to find the relative correct location of the SPOOLES.2.2 folder and correct the include path in you Makefile ```auto CFLAGS = -Wall -I ../../../SPOOLES.2.2 -DARCH="Linux" -DSPOOLES ^^^^^^^^ this relative path needs to point exactly to the spooles.2.2 ``` be aware of filenames and folders are case sensitive in linux/unix You’re welcome to ask again or following the recipe from @rsmith ---
**Author:** ![Durbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8dc957/32.png) [@Durbul](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Durbul)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 7:07pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/9 "2026-03-23T19:07:04Z")
> It is not clear on [www.dhondt.de](http://www.dhondt.de) which line leads to a simple executable program if there is an executable program. Under “Available downloads for the solver (CalculiX CrunchiX)” there is a clear link “[a Linux executable](https://dhondt.de/ccx_2.23.tar.bz2)”. An executable is also available for the graphical interface (CalculiX GraphiX). > Is ccx\_2.23 the same as the Calculix program that is connected with / accessed through FreeCAD? I have no experience with FreeCAD, but as far as I know, FreeCAD’s Linux releases do not contain CalculiX per se, but require a path to the CalculiX binary (so it depends on your setup). > The installation instructions assumes that the person is experienced and fluent Linux, if not Linux being their mother tongue. The installation instructions also are not clearly written and tend to jump around to other topics. For sure the instructions are not perfect, but compiling any program on Linux requires some experience and, unfortunately, these instructions can vary between different distributions. > If so, how do I access some of the examples that come with the ccx\_2.23 material? The CalculiX sources on GitHub contain a couple of crackprop related test examples (search for crack\*.inp). These examples can also be downloaded [here](https://dhondt.de/ccx_2.23.test.tar.bz2). Make sure to check the relevant section in the manual as well. ---
**Author:** ![CharlieM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@CharlieM](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/CharlieM)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/10 "2026-03-23T19:18:11Z")
Hello fgr, I modified / corrected the spoole.h and cascade.c files. I found the Make file and modified it to include the corrected path in the Make file. I have attached a picture of the changes I made. ![image-1774292870610-9wa7anilx](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/calculix/original/2X/5/59949e3877ef64d8edd141706b2d8b3d907f6a10.jpeg) I also read and copied the output from the Make process from the terminal and onto a plain text file. There were some statements of various errors. I have to figure out how to send this to you. Many thanks, Charlie ---
**Author:** ![fgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@fgr](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/fgr)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/11 "2026-03-23T20:20:44Z")
@CharlieM I have sent you a personal message so we can communicate without involving the complete forum,.then I will try to help/guide you to compile the ccx in Linux. ---
**Author:** ![feacluster](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/calculix.discourse.group/feacluster/32/394_2.png) [@feacluster](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/feacluster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/12 "2026-03-24T14:48:10Z")
You can try my installation script which should automate all this. If it it works, then use intelone api compiler and install with pardiso option. Much faster as nobody uses spooles anymore.. > **[Installation script for MPI CalculiX using Intel's cluster sparse solver - FEA...](https://www.feacluster.com/calculix.php#4)** > > This is an excellent way to learn CalculiX without having to download or install anything. To get started click the button below to edit and run a simple cantilever beam. ---
**Author:** ![JuanP74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JuanP74](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/JuanP74)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/13 "2026-10-20T18:19:41Z")
hello, have you tried building arpack parallel version? Also, I have done \*FREQUENCY analysis using linux version built with i4 and i8 integers and found that the i8 version is significantly slower…in windows 11 there is slight difference. Do you know what the reason could be? ---
**Author:** ![johanngil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@johanngil](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/johanngil)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/14 "2026-10-20T20:18:29Z")
I tried parpack some time ago. Parpack seems to be created and optimized for distributed memory systems which wasn’t a frequently used hardware architecture in past years when RAM was significantly cheaper than today. ---
**Author:** ![JuanP74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JuanP74](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/JuanP74)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/15 "2026-10-20T20:34:12Z")
My question would be if parpack is faster when used with multiple threads ---
**Author:** ![johanngil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@johanngil](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/johanngil)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/16 "2026-10-20T20:53:56Z")
I stopped my parpack related activities when I realized that I needed to install the required distributed memory systems related libraries on my shared memory computer which does not sound to make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Stefano4000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@Stefano4000](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Stefano4000)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/17 "2026-10-21T14:52:56Z")
See spooles correction for large models at calculix page > **[CalculiX: A Three-Dimensional Structural Finite Element Program](http://www.dhondt.de/)** See files which must be copied at spooles area. [http://www.dhondt.de/ccx\_2.23.SPOOLEScorrection.tar.bz2](http://www.dhondt.de/ccx_2.23.SPOOLEScorrection.tar.bz2) I8 (8x8bit=64bit) is slower than i4 (4x8bit=32bit), but i4 is limited to models with about half Million nodes. ---
**Author:** ![JuanP74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JuanP74](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/JuanP74)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/18 "2026-10-21T17:00:34Z")
could you elaborate a bit more on your answer…what I found about it is this: ["correction to SPOOLES.2.2 for large input decks" - #3 by feacluster](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/correction-to-spooles-2-2-for-large-input-decks/1047/3) and the bottleneck I identified isn’t PARDISO but ARPACK. I case you were talking about the i4 and i8 issue, both versions I have have PARDISO as solver, one compiled as i4 and another as i8 (both from @feacluster), in my linux system i8 version runs slower for the same problem, in windows 11 it’s almost the same ---
**Author:** ![Stefano4000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@Stefano4000](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/Stefano4000)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/19 "2026-10-21T18:34:01Z")
For ARPACK also i8 possible with old ARPACK. ARPACK-ng is also possible. Compilerflag -Darpack is here needed. The experts and google ki knows how to do. In calculix 2.24 an i4-32bit-version for small models and an i8-64-Bit-version for large models should be available. So only choice to do for user. ---
**Author:** ![johanngil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@johanngil](https://calculix.discourse.group/u/johanngil)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://calculix.discourse.group/t/installation-of-ccx-2-23-fun/3833/20 "2026-10-21T21:25:10Z")
My compiler environment (Which is cygwin under Windows) uses Arpack-ng automatically when you specify the -DARPACK flag. I assume the same applies for other compiler environments as well.