This page details how to install the pre-built package. For information on how to build the package, please refer to the Building Instructions and Building Requirements pages.

To install the JAVA graphical user interface (GUI), follow these steps:

1. You must be running Mac OS X 10.8.3 (Mountain Lion) or above.
2. Download the JAVA GUI from the Mathews Lab RNAstructure page.
3. The GUI is supplied as a DMG file, which you can simply double click to open..
4. You should see the RNAstructure app as well as a link to the Applications folder. You can either run the app directly from within the DMG or you can drag it to the link to the Applications folder or to another location of your choice.
5. Once you have moved the app to your desired installation location, you can double-click it to run the RNAstructure application. 
6. When you run the program for the first time, you will have the opportunity to extract example files, which is recommended if you are new to RNAstructure. This operation simply allows you to place the example files in a convenient location, such as your home folder, so you can access them easily as you test out the program. If you choose not to extract the files, you can do so at any time later from the "Help" menu.
7. A note on Mac OS X Mountain Lion or newer (10.8 and higher): When attempting to run the Java GUI, an error message may occur that says the executable is damaged. This error message is misleading, and actually means that security settings must be changed to run the GUI. If this message appears, follow these steps: Click on "System Properties." Go into "Security & Privacy." Click on the lock to allow changes to be made. Select "Anywhere" under "Allow applications downloaded from:."
8. The online help for the GUI is available here. It can also be found under the help menu item from within the program.

To install the text interfaces, follow these steps:

1. Download the text interfaces for Mac from the Mathews Lab RNAstructure page.
2. The text interfaces are supplied as a GZipped tarball, so the files must be extracted. Move the tarball to the desired directory and execute the command tar -xzvf RNAstructure_tar_file_name.
3. A folder called RNAstructure will now be in the same directory as the tarball. The tarball can be deleted if desired.
4. The text interface executables are in the RNAstructure/exe directory, and can be run directly from there.
5. Before running the text interfaces, please refer to command line help page for specifying the location of the thermodynamic parameters.
6. The online help for the command line programs is available here.