A.8.1 Mathematica Distribution Files

A full Mathematica installation consists of something over 2200 separate files, arranged in a total of about 280 directories under the main installation directory. The location of the main installation directory is determined at install time. From within a Mathematica kernel, its name is given by the value of $InstallationDirectory.

C:\ProgramFiles\WolframResearch\Mathematica\5.1
	Windows
/Applications/Mathematica 5.1.app
	Macintosh
/usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/5.1
	Unix

The executable programs that launch Mathematica are typically in the main installation directory. Sometimes there may also be links to them, or scripts accessing them, in other locations. From within a Mathematica kernel, First[$CommandLine] gives the full name of the executable program corresponding to that kernel.

Mathematica	Mathematica front end
MathKernel	Mathematica kernel, usually with its own text-based interface
math	Mathematica kernel to be run in a terminal or shell
mcc	script for preprocessing and compiling MathLink C source files

The main installation directory has three standard subdirectories that contain material distributed with Mathematica. Under normal circumstances, none of the contents of these directories should ever be modified, except, for example, if you choose to edit a shared style sheet.

AddOns	bundled Mathematica add-ons
Documentation	Mathematica system documentation
SystemFiles	Mathematica system files

Particularly on Unix systems, Mathematica often has executable files for different computer architectures and systems stored in a single overall directory structure. Each system is in a subdirectory with a name given by $SystemID. Some resource directories may also contain files specific both to particular languages and particular computing environments. These files are given in subdirectories such as Japanese/Windows.

Kernel/Binaries/system	kernel binaries or elements for each computer system
Kernel/SystemResources/system	system-specific .mx files used by the kernel
Kernel/TextResources	message and text files used by the kernel
FrontEnd/Binaries/system	front end binaries or elements for each computer system
FrontEnd/SystemResources	files used by the front end in each window system environment
FrontEnd/TextResources	message and text files used by the front end
FrontEnd/StyleSheets	default notebook style sheets
FrontEnd/Palettes	default palette notebooks
Libraries/system	MathLink and other libraries used by the kernel and front end
Fonts	Mathematica fonts, often copied to a central directory
CharacterEncodings	specifications of character encodings
SpellingDictionaries	spelling dictionaries
SystemDocumentation/env	Unix man pages and other environment-specific documentation
Graphics/Binaries/system	PostScript interpreters and graphics programs
Graphics/SystemResources	PostScript definitions and other resources for graphics
Graphics/Packages	packages for setting up graphics

Installation	various auxiliary programs used in installation, called automatically by the main installer program
IncludeFiles	files for inclusion in other programs
Java	files for the Java Runtime Environment (if needed)

Bundled with versions of Mathematica are various standard add-on items. These are placed in the AddOns subdirectory of the main installation directory.

StandardPackages	standard add-on packages distributed with Mathematica
MathLink	MathLink development material
JLink	J/Link material
NETLink	.NET/Link material

The default contents of the Mathematica Help Browser are stored in the Documentation directory. BrowserCategories files in each subdirectory set up the categories used in the Help Browser. BrowserIndex files provide data for the master index.

RefGuide	reference guide and examples for built-in functions
MainBook	the complete text of this book
AddOns	documentation for standard add-on items
GettingStarted	introductory documentation, and demos
OtherInformation	additional information