Installing Gurobi 7 on Linux

Disclaimer: What I did here might work on Windows or OSX, but I give no guarantee.

Request by Clóvis Gonzaga.

First, create an account here and login.

Secondly, download the appropriate Gurobi version clicking on Gurobi Optimizer. In my case, it is Linux 64 bits. Where to download this is optional, but you have to remember, as we’ll use later. I use a folder packages on my home folder.

Third, unpack the file. For linux, you might have a file-roller that allows clicking and unpacking trivially, but I’ll use the command line. Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where you downloaded the file.

tar -zxf gurobi7.0.2_linux64.tar.gz

This creates folder gurobi702. Inside is folder linux64. Inside are many folders, one being docs which include the quick start guide you might want to read (or not).

Fourth, your system needs to see this installation. On bash (the usual terminal on Ubuntu), you have to open file .bashrc on your home folder, to input some variables.

gedit $HOME/.bashrc

input the following at the end of the file:

export GUROBI_HOME="/FULL/PATH/gurobi702/linux64"
export PATH="${PATH}:${GUROBI_HOME}/bin"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${GUROBI_HOME}/lib"
export GRB_LICENSE_FILE="$HOME/gurobi.lic"

Notice the /FULL/PATH part. This is where you downloaded the package, but it has to be the full path there. You can use $HOME to reference your home folder. For instance, your Desktop is in $HOME/Desktop. My packages folder is $HOME/packages. Also notice the GRB_LICENSE_FILE variable. If you intend to put your license somewhere else, you’ll need to change that part.

After that is done you need to either (a) close and reopen the terminal or (b) input source $HOME/.bashrc.

To know that it’s working enter grbgetkey on the terminal. If it’s working, a message like

Gurobi license key client (version 7.0.2)
Copyright (c) 2017, Gurobi Optimization, Inc.

Enter the Key Code for the license you are activating
(format is xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx):

will appear. Press “CTRL+C” or close the terminal, because you need to get the license.

Getting the LICENSE

If you already applied for a license before installing Gurobi, you can go to this page to see your available licenses. Otherwise, you need to (a) buy a license; (b) apply for an academic license or (c) ask for a trial license. I’m gonna focus on the academic license.

Get your academic license clicking on “Academic Licenses”. Accept the conditions and agreements and click “Request License”. Notice that you need to fulfill some requirement to ask for an academic license, like being a student or professor.

After requesting your license, you will get to a page showing your license information and a line saying

grbgetkey xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Copy all that line and paste on your terminal.

The software will connect to Gurobi and check that it’s a valid serial number, and then will download a file gurobi.lic. (Press ENTER or choose a different folder). If you choose a different folder, remember to change .bashrc accordingly.

To check that it’s working, enter

gurobi.sh

on a terminal. It will a “Gurobi Interactive Shell” message and a prompt “gurobi> “. It if gives any error, check the Quick User Guide.

Gurobi with JuMP in Julia

For the advanced students, if you know the Julia Language, and the JuMP Modelling Language, you should be able to install Gurobi with the julia command Pkg.add("Gurobi") now. Make sure you’re in a terminal with all variables set.

The following examples solves a simple problem with JuMP and Gurobi:

using JuMP, Gurobi

m = Model(solver=GurobiSolver(Presolve=0)) # Presolve=0 otherwise it will be trivial
@variable(m, x[1:2] >= 0, Int)
@objective(m, Max, x[1] + 2*x[2])
@constraint(m, x[1] + 10*x[2] <= 30)
@constraint(m, 10*x[1] + x[2] <= 29)
solve(m)
getvalue(x)

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• gurobi
• linux