Frequently Asked Questions

The platforms supported by Magma are:

• Linux
• Mac OS X

Magma is actively supported on all recent Macintosh computers; that is, for 64-bit Intel processors running OS X Leopard (10.5) or greater and for the M processors using Rosetta.

We can provide old versions of Magma for 32-bit Intel and PowerPC G4/G5 processors.

To determine whether your computer has an Intel processor, choose "About This Mac" from the Apple Menu.

If you have an Intel processor, you need to determine whether your machine is 32-bit or 64-bit. All currently shipping Macs have a 64-bit processor. If your processor name (as shown in "About This Mac") is "Intel Core Solo" or "Intel Core Duo" then you have a 32-bit system. Any other name (including "Intel Core 2 Duo") indicates a 64-bit system.

As the funding for Magma is provided by competitive research grants, it is important for us to be able to present evidence of the impact of the system by providing evidence of citations in the literature. If you use Magma in a non-trivial way in your research then we strongly encourage you to mention this in the text and also to include a citation in the bibliography. If your paper does not include some standard reference for Magma in its bibliography then it is much harder for us to locate it on the web since it will not show up in citation indexes.

The recommended citation is:

Wieb Bosma, John Cannon, and Catherine Playoust, The Magma algebra system. I. The user language, J. Symbolic Comput., 24 (1997), 235--265.

Alternatively, you could cite the Magma Handbook (a PDF copy is included with the Magma distribution):

W. Bosma, J. J. Cannon, C. Fieker, A. Steel (eds.), Handbook of Magma functions, Edition 2.16 (2010), 5017 pages.

If using this second form, you should replace the last portion with the appropriate details for the version of the Handbook that corresponds to the version of Magma used in your application.

@article {Magma,
    AUTHOR = {Bosma, Wieb and Cannon, John and Playoust, Catherine},
     TITLE = {The {M}agma algebra system. {I}. {T}he user language},
      NOTE = {Computational algebra and number theory (London, 1993)},
   JOURNAL = {J. Symbolic Comput.},
  FJOURNAL = {Journal of Symbolic Computation},
    VOLUME = {24},
      YEAR = {1997},
    NUMBER = {3-4},
     PAGES = {235--265},
      ISSN = {0747-7171},
   MRCLASS = {68Q40},
  MRNUMBER = {MR1484478},
       DOI = {10.1006/jsco.1996.0125},
       URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jsco.1996.0125},
}

On some architectures, Magma uses the MPFR multiprecision floating point library, the MPC multiprecision complex floating point library, and portions of the GMP multiprecision integer library (version 4.2, March 2006). All libraries are copyright the Free Software Foundation, Inc, and have no warranty.

On AMD64 processors (Opteron, Athlon 64), Magma also uses the AMD64 assembly code of Pierrick Gaudry for the base operations (which is is superior to the official GMP 4.2 code running on AMD64 processors).

Magma directly uses parts of GMP only from the low-level mpn module (principally some multiplication functions for high-precision integers). So Magma does not use GMP exclusively for its integer functions. In fact, Magma contains an implementation of the asymptotically-fast Schönhage algorithm for GCD, extended GCD and rational reconstruction computations (which reduce these problems to multiplication), while GMP 4.2 does not have an asymptotically-fast algorithm for these problems.

To comply with the GNU Lesser General Public License v2 (point 6), we will provide to licensed Magma users on request a shared-library version of Magma which will be linkable against any future versions of the MPFR or GMP libraries. Please note that use of this will be quite unnecessary for current licensed Magma users, since all versions of Magma which use these libraries will always be kept up-to-date with the latest applicable versions; this offer is simply to comply with the GNU Lesser GPL.

On some architectures, Magma uses portions of the ATLAS library for some fundamental matrix algorithms over machine-int-sized prime finite fields. ATLAS uses a BSD-style license (see the above link); the relevant copyright disclaimer is available here.

On some architectures, Magma uses the GMP-ECM library for the elliptic curve method of integer factorisation. This is also licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v2.

All relevant licenses are included with the standard Magma distribution, and can be found in the ThirdParty directory.

You should report a bug by sending an e-mail to magma-bugs@maths.usyd.edu.au.

The more information you can provide, the easier it is for us to duplicate and attempt to solve your problem. At the very minimum we will require:

• A sample of code that will recreate the problem. If this requires external files, we will also need those.
• The output that alerted you to the bug.
• Your machine type and the version of Magma you are running.
• Approximately how long the code takes to run (seconds, hours, weeks?), and whether it requires unusual amounts of memory.

If the bug appears to be sporadic, it most likely depends on the initial seed of the random number generator. You should include this information in your report. The initial seed is printed when you start Magma, e.g.

Magma V2.16-11    Tue 13 2010 11:07:05 on fano     [Seed = 1431482434]

If the problem is mathematical, we appreciate suggestions about how we might fix it, references to papers and algorithms, and so on.

Only a very small number of users regularly report bugs. Obviously this causes us problems: bugs exist because we don't know that they're there, and we depend on reports from the Magma community in order to find and fix them. We really appreciate bug reports, and promise that any problems you submit will not be ignored.

In addition to actual crashes, we also encourage users to report possible problems with, and improvements to, the algorithms Magma uses. If you're finding a particular computation unexpectedly slow and have a suggestion about how your case could be improved, please let us know.

Each major release of Magma contains many new algorithms, and will often push the software in a completely new direction. Unfortunately, bugs are inevitable. We regard it as absolutely vital to be able to provide bug fixes and get them out to users as quickly as possible; we release approximately fifteen patch releases each year. In this way users who commit to undertaking large projects with Magma have the assurance that any major problems they encounter will usually be rapidly resolved. If the problem is particularly urgent, we can sometimes send you a temporary fix before the official patch release is ready.

The latest patch release can be obtained from the downloads page The release notes record the latest changes.

You can recover your Magma session by typing %P (followed by enter or return) on the Magma command line. This will output a list of all the commands you've entered; if you send us this output, we will hopefully be able to recreate your problem.

An Internal Error will generate output similar to the following:

Internal Error
Machine type: intel64-osx
Initial seed: 1431482434
Time to this point: 1.36
Memory usage: 23.07MB
A brief description of the error

This is a defensive error message. The Magma code regularly asserts that the situation it expects to be in is, in fact, how things stand. For example, it might expect to be working over an algebraically closed field but, upon checking, discovers that it's working over $\Q$. Generating an internal error is a way to report these problems before they lead to a more serious crash or, even worse, incorrect answers.

We encourage users to report all internal errors. They are often caused by an incorrect assumption or oversight on our part and, once we're made aware of them, can usually be fixed in time for the next patch release.

The members of the Computational Algebra Group use Magma every day as an essential tool in their research. Through this, many bugs are found and fixed before they are exported to the wider community.

The Magma group runs nightly tests of the latest development version of the code, and the logs are reviewed each morning. This helps catch problems arising from changes to existing algorithms and unexpected interaction between exported functions. A significant part of Magma's development is in optimizing and refining existing functionality; the nightly tests help keep new problems to a minimum. Most Magma developers also maintain private error-testing code that is not part of the general release (usually because it takes a significant length of time to run, or because it requires unusual amounts of memory). We also have tools to see which parts of the package code are covered by the tests, and run a special version of Magma which performs many more checks than the released version.

Before a new version (or patch release) of Magma is made available, we verify the executable against our standard test files. This helps reduce the chance of compiler error, and catch any last-minute problems that might have crept in. Major releases of Magma are also distributed to a group of external "beta testers" several weeks before the version is made public.

Finally, the public version of Magma comes with a collection of test files so that you can verify that Magma is working correctly on your machine. These files can be found in your Magma installation directory, in libs/test/. The test directory contains a README file explaining how you can run the tests for yourself.

The first step in ordering Magma is to read this page.

Magma is currently only available directly to institutions. If the institution is an educational institution, then students at that institution may (depending on the type of licence) be able to get home versions of Magma as described below.

• Quote request form for institutions
• Institution order form

The order form gives you the opportunity to enter the MAC address of your computer(s). We need this information to generate your magmapassfile. This is a file that Magma requires in order to run on your computer. If you do not know the MAC address when placing your order, you can e-mail it to us at a later date.

Does your institution have a designated contact for a current subscription? Ask around! It's usually a faculty member or IT person. If you cannot find a designated contact, please contact us with your permission to pass on your email address to the designated contact; we will do so if there is an active subscription. Otherwise, we will help you to get a subscription started.

Once you have found your designated contact, write to them and provide them with the MAC address of your machine(s). They will provide you with access to installation files and a magmapassfile. (As there is a major release once a year and around 10 patch releases each year we recommend a reinstallation at least once per year.)

For more details, see section F of Simons agreement.

Much of the work of the Computational Algebra Group is funded by research grants. Unfortunately these grants often explicitly exclude covering the cost of turning algorithms into actual code: code that has been tested, optimized, and is suitable for general use. Furthermore, research funding does not cover the long-term maintenance of Magma, nor does it help with providing user support and documentation. The Magma licence fee goes some way towards covering this funding gap. We set our charges to be as low as possible, but they play a vital part in maintaining and developing the Magma system.

We set the licence fee to be as low as possible, and provide a wide range of discounts to encourage institutions to purchase a licence for their site. A three-year subscription for a single desktop machine to be used at an educational institution is FIXME, however we offer significant discounts for multiple machines, discounts for institutions located in developing and newly industrialised countries, and so on. Thus we encourage you to complete the online quote request form or contact us to discuss the licence fee for your institution.

Please provide as much information as possible:

• How many machines will you require a licence for?
• How many processors does each machine have?
• Will you be installing Magma in a student laboratory?
• Will Magma be used as part of a teaching programme?
• Will members of staff wish to purchase a personal licence for home use?

Once a fee has been agreed, you can use the secure online order form to make the payment.

We offer an attractive licence for student laboratories. You should contact contact us and provide details of what you would require.

If your institution already holds a licence for Magma, students taking relevant courses may be eligible for a free home version. The task of distributing and supporting this version of Magma will be handled by your institution; the Magma group simply cannot afford to provide support to individual students. Contact us to find out further details.

The Magma files and installers are available from the downloads page.

Magma requires a magmapassfile in order to run. This is a file specific to your computer. Your magmapassfile can be obtained by sending us your computer's MAC address.

If you are installing Magma on a Windows or Mac OS X computer for the first time then you will be prompted for your magmapassfile during the installation process. This is the most convenient way of installing your magmapassfile. However, if you haven't got one yet, you can always add your magmapassfile later.

Installing on Windows

It's most convenient if you have created a magmapassfile and stored it somewhere easy to find.

Double click on the setup file to launch the installer, which will guide you through the process. If you're asked whether "you want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer", answer "Yes".

Follow the prompts through the setup program to install Magma.

If you have not received a magmapassfile yet, remember to untick "Install new license file" once you are asked to "Select Additional Tasks".

If you have created a magmapassfile, please locate it using the "Browse..." button when asked.

Once the installation finishes, click on "Finish". You may now launch Magma via the Desktop shortcut or the Start menu.

Installing on Mac OS X

Double click on the package icon to run the installer. It will guide you though the process.

The installation will ask for your password. If you don't have permission to install new applications on your computer, you will need to contact your local computer support. The entire process takes about one minute.

At some point during the installation you will be asked to locate your magmapassfile. If you don't have one yet, click on "Cancel". Otherwise click on "Continue..." and locate your pass file.

Once the installation finishes, click on "Close". Magma will have been installed in your Applications directory.

Installing on Linux/UNIX

The download files are in gzip-compressed format, denoted by the .gz file ending. For these instructions we'll assume that the Magma files are to be installed in /usr/local/magma and that a link to magma is to be installed in /usr/local/bin/magma.

1) Make the magma directory

First you should make the directory /usr/local/magma. You may require administrator/root privileges to do this.

mkdir /usr/local/magma
cd /usr/local/magma

2) Install the main executable

The main executable is contained in the file magma.exe.gz. Uncompress the executable and set the permissions:

gunzip magma.exe.gz
chmod a+rx magma.exe

3) Install the common files

If you downloaded the shared_complete.tar.gz file, uncompress it:

tar -xf shared_complete.tar.gz

All the files need to be readable by everyone who will be using Magma:

chmod -R a+rX .

4) Edit the magma script

Using a text editor, edit the magma file and change the first "....." to the path of your Magma installation:

ROOT=/usr/local/magma

Then make it executable:

chmod a+rx magma

5) Adding a link to magma

Place a symbolic link to magma in the /usr/local/bin directory:

ln -s /usr/local/magma/magma /usr/local/bin/magma

6) Running Magma and troubleshooting

Try running Magma by typing: magma

If you get a message about needing a pass file, you need to install your magmapassfile. If you have any problems, please contact us with as much information as possible.

Mac OS X

Mac OS X will unpack a .tar.gz, .tar, or .zip file automatically when you double-click on its icon. (Note that it may be necessary to unpack some files twice.)

If you would rather follow the UNIX-style instructions below you can use the Terminal command-line application, which can be found in your Utilities folder.

Linux/UNIX

Unpacking .tar.gz files

First, ensure that you have a shell running and cd to the same directory as the downloaded file. To unpack a .tar.gz file, say foo.tar.gz, use the following command:

gunzip -c foo.tar.gz | tar xopf -

The newly extracted files will be created in the current directory. If you also wish to see a list of the files as they are extracted, instead use the command

gunzip -c foo.tar.gz | tar xopft -

Unpacking .tar files

First, ensure that you have a shell running and cd to the same directory as the downloaded file. To unpack a .tar file, say foo.tar, use the following command:

tar xopf foo.tar

The newly extracted files will be created in the current directory. If you also wish to see a list of the files as they are extracted, instead use the command

tar xopft foo.tar

Unpacking .zip files

Most modern Windows environments already know how to unpack .zip files. If this is the case, the icon for the .zip file should look like a normal folder icon with a zipper on it. To extract the files within, right click on the file and select the ``Extract All'' option.

If using a version of Windows without inbuilt support for .zip files, you will need to download a zip file extractor.

If, for some reason, you wish to unpack the .zip files on a non-Windows platform, this is possible. Your operating system may already have a copy of the unzip program (or similar). Since the files in the .zip archives use Windows-style line terminators, you will need to pass the -a option to unzip in order to extract them with UNIX-style line terminators (also needed for Mac OS X). For instance, to extract files from the file foo.zip, use the following command:

unzip -a foo.zip

First note that a MAC address has nothing to do with Mac OS X or Macintosh computers. It is an abbreviation of "Media Access Control" and is supported by all modern computer hardware.

A MAC address is an essentially unique number associated with a network card in a machine; it serves as a convenient way to distinguish between two different computers. A MAC address consists of 48 bits, usually represented as a string of 12 hexadecimal digits (0 to 9, a to f, or A to F); these are often grouped into pairs separated by colons or dashes. For example, the MAC address 001B638445E6 may be given as 00:1b:63:84:45:e6 or as 00-1B-63-84-45-E6.

The MAC address is used to generate the magmapassfile, so that Magma will run on the appropriate machine.

Windows Vista/7/8/10:

Click on the Start menu, type cmd.exe in the search box, and press Enter. This will open up a command shell.

In the command shell, type:

getmac

This command will print information on all network cards in the system. The XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX part, where each X is a hexadecimal digit (0 to 9 or A to F), is the MAC address. If more than one line is printed, any nonzero address should do.

Alternative method (older Windows):

If getmac doesn't work, try:

ipconfig /all

Look for the line:

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . . : XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX

1. Open "System Preferences" from the Apple menu
2. Select "Network"
3. Choose your network connection from the list (e.g., "Ethernet", "AirPort")
4. Click the "Advanced..." button in the bottom-right corner
5. Click on either the "Ethernet" or "AirPort" tabs as appropriate

The relevant line will look like:

Ethernet ID:  XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

AirPort ID:   XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

The XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX part is the MAC address.

Open a terminal window and type:

/sbin/ifconfig -a

This command will print information on all networks in the system. Look for a line like:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

The XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX part is the MAC address.

You can try using our simple Linux program to determine the MAC address:

• macaddr for x86/x86_64 machines [3KB]
• macaddr for IA64 machines [9KB]

Download it to your current directory and run:

chmod a+rx macaddr
./macaddr

This will print the MAC address and hostname. For example:

00:1b:63:84:45:e6 [fano]

Mail the output of this program to us and we will reply with your magmapassfile.

If you have followed the steps above and still been unable to determine your machine's MAC address, you can always get Magma itself to tell you what MAC address your machine has.

When you try to start Magma without an appropriate magmapassfile, it should print an error message and exit. Part of this message will be the MAC address(es) that it detected for your machine. Any one of these should work.

Note: You will have to run Magma from a shell or command window in order to see this message. Otherwise the window will close before you have time to read it!

The drawback of this approach is that you will then have to send us your MAC address and wait for the magmapassfile to be generated.

Any should work, as long as it is nonzero. As a general rule it is best to use the first one outputted by the methods above.

Email us and we will see what we can work out.

You can specify it in the appropriate section of the order forms, or simply email it to us.

The order form expects the MAC address to be specified in one of a few ways. The MAC address must be specified using hexadecimal digits (0 to 9 or A to F), possibly with separators between them. The formats understood are:

• Exactly twelve hexadecimal digits: XXXXXXXXXXXX, e.g. 001B638445E6
• Six components separated by colons or dashes: Y:Y:Y:Y:Y:Y or Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y, e.g.
• 00:1b:63:84:45:e6
• 00-1B-63-84-45-E6

Note that it doesn't matter whether lower case or upper case letters are used, and when separators are used a leading zero may be omitted from any component.

If you think that you have followed the format but are still getting an error message, re-type the entry carefully; it may be that you have accidentally used a letter instead of a number (or vice versa).

Send us the new MAC address and we will send you an updated magmapassfile for use with your new hardware configuration.

The magmapassfile is required before Magma can run on your machine. To obtain a magmapassfile for your computer, you must send us your MAC address. We shall reply with an e-mail containing lines such as these:

20756086455966814011423625867371812342158442332608349424623140533790046958
28602435385975314370052078838043700436679135290161620294137039097759295707

Each line of approximately 75 digits is a code, and in combination these codes encode information about the provided MAC address(es). You need to copy-and-paste these codes into a file called magmapassfile in your Magma installation directory.

On Windows

1. Open Notepad from Start menu → All Programs → Accessories → Notepad
2. Copy-and-paste the codes you received from the Magma group into the document
3. You should have exactly one line per code (approximately 75 digits each)
4. Select "Save As..." from the File menu
5. Important: Enter the name magmapassfile. (with the trailing dot) and set "Save as type" to "All files"
6. Save the file somewhere easy to find
7. Copy your magmapassfile to your Magma installation folder

On Mac OS X

1. Open TextEdit from Applications folder
2. Copy-and-paste the codes into a new document
3. From the Format menu, choose "Make Plain Text"
4. Select "Save As..." from the File menu
5. Important: Enter the name magmapassfile (without quotes) and delete any .txt suffix
6. Save the file and copy it to your Magma installation folder (Applications/Magma)

On UNIX/Linux

1. cd into your Magma installation directory
2. Create the file using a text editor: vi magmapassfile
3. Paste your codes into the document (one line per code)
4. Save and exit
5. Make sure the file is readable: chmod +r magmapassfile

Important: Take care to avoid inserting any extra line breaks or spaces; the file should have exactly one line per code.

Solaris

To determine the MAC address of a machine running Solaris, begin by creating a shell or terminal window, if you do not already have one.

If you have superuser access to the machine, run su to become the superuser and type the following command:

/usr/sbin/ifconfig -a

ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Unfortunately, the previous approach does not work without superuser access (all information except the MAC address is displayed in that case). If your machine's network interface is currently up (i.e., it is connected to a network) you may be able to use arp instead. Type the following command:

arp `hostname`

foo (xx.xx.xx.xx) at XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX permanent published

The XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX part from the above is the MAC address.

Other Operating Systems

For UNIX systems, try running ifconfig as described in the Linux instructions. If that does not work, it is possible that the output from running dmesg will include the MAC address (amongst a lot of other information). Of course, if you have a local sysadmin they can probably determine this information for you. If all else fails, you can always get Magma to tell you the MAC address.

On UNIX systems (including Mac OS X) you can specify the name and location of your magmapassfile via the MAGMAPASSFILE environment variable.

This is set in your magma script. The default configuration is:

if [ "$MAGMAPASSFILE" = "" ]; then
    export MAGMAPASSFILE="${ROOT}/magmapassfile"
fi

You can edit this file directly, or export the location of your magmapassfile before launching Magma.

Rarely, an operating system upgrade will change its security policy in a way that prevents magma from working as it should. Any known issues are listed here, together with workarounds.

macOS 15 (Sequoia)

Upgrading to Sequoia makes private MAC addresses and MAC address rotation the default behaviour on all networks. This may cause Magma to fail to run on such a machine, as the MAC addresses no longer match those that were used to generate the magmapassfile.

This issue can be fixed by upgrading to Magma V2.28-14 or later. If you are unable to do so immediately, then a workaround is to turn off this setting for your computer's network, as described in Apple's article about this feature.

OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

Upgrading to El Capitan removes the link to magma from /usr/bin, with the result that typing magma into a terminal window will no longer find it. To fix this, create the file /etc/paths.d/Magma containing the single line /Applications/Magma.

After doing so, magma should once again be runnable by typing magma in a terminal window.

When you visit a secure page on the Magma website (such as the Downloads section or one of the secure order forms), a message may appear stating that "This Connection is Untrusted".

Firefox

Click on "I Understand the Risks", and then on "Add Exception...". A dialog box pops up.

Wait for a few moments while the certificate loads (or click "Get Certificate"). Ensure the reason that the certificate is not trusted is "Certificate is not trusted, because it hasn't been verified by a recognized authority", ensure that the checkbox "Permanently store this exception" is checked, and click "Confirm Security Exception".

Safari

A message may appear stating that "Safari can't verify the identity of the website". Click on "Continue" to proceed to the page.

Chrome

A message may appear stating that "The site's security certificate is not trusted!". Click on "Proceed anyway" to continue to the page.

Internet Explorer 8

In the case of Internet Explorer 8, we need to add the Magma domain to the "Trusted Sites" before we can add a security exception for the SSL certificate.

1. Navigate to the Magma homepage. Click on "Tools", then "Internet Options".
2. In the settings window, click on the second tab labeled "Security", and select "Trusted sites". Click on the "Sites" button.
3. Make sure to change "http" to "https" and "Add".
4. After adding, the Magma website should be in the "Websites" list. Click "Close" to close the Trusted sites window, and then "OK" to exit Internet Options.
5. You should be back to the Magma homepage. Visit any secure page. Internet Explorer will report that "There is a problem with this website's security certificate".
6. Click on "Continue to this website (not recommended)".
7. On the question "Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely", answer "Yes".
8. You will be taken to the secure page, and the address bar will be colored red to indicate that the certificate is not trusted. Click on "Certificate Error" in the address bar, so that a small window pops out.
9. Click on "View certificates". A window with Certificate information will pop up.
10. There should be a button "Install Certificate...". Click it.
11. On the "Welcome to the Certificate Import Wizard" that pops up click "Next".
12. In the next window, select the radio button "Place all certificates in the following store", and click "Browse...".
13. Select "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and press "OK".
14. Press "Next" back in the Certificate Import Wizard window.
15. Verify that "Certificate Store Selected by User" is "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and Click "Finish". A warning will pop up.
16. Answer "Yes" and click "OK" on the message that the import was successful.
17. Finally, click "OK" in the Certificate window. The address bar should no longer be red, and a closed padlock should be shown.