Download the sources

First, download the source files:

# Make sure we're in the /home/<user> directory
cd
# Make a new directory - use what you want but be consistent
mkdir -p dump/neuron

# Another one for the installed files
# You can use /opt or /usr/local or any other directory
# Using a directory in your home folder doesn't require root access
mkdir -p dump/neuron-installation

# Keep the sources here
cd ~/dump/neuron

# Install mercurial to checkout the neuron source code
sudo dnf install hg
# Download the source code
# Can't build from the latest tar somehow.
# http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/download/getdevel
hg clone http://www.neuron.yale.edu/hg/neuron/nrn

# Check http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/download/getstd for correct links
wget http://www.neuron.yale.edu/ftp/neuron/versions/v7.4/iv-19.tar.gz

# Untar the source for iv - this seems to work
tar -xvf iv-19.tar.gz

Prep

We need to build iv first. On Fedora 24, the default gcc flags include -Wformat-security so a quick patch needs to be applied to iv to get it to build. The patch has been reported here:

diff -ur ../iv-18.orig/src/lib/IV-2_6/matcheditor.cpp ./src/lib/IV-2_6/matcheditor.cpp
--- ../iv-18.orig/src/lib/IV-2_6/matcheditor.cpp   2014-01-08 19:10:44.895487120 +1100
+++ ./src/lib/IV-2_6/matcheditor.cpp   2014-01-08 19:11:05.949315579 +1100
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@
         strncpy(buf, text->Text(), length);
         while (length > 0) {
             buf[length] = '\0';
-            if (sscanf(buf, pattern) == EOF) {
+            if (sscanf(buf, "%s", pattern) == EOF) {
                 break;
             }
             --length;

Copy the diff into a file and call it iv-format-security.patch. Place this in the directory where you have the neuron sources (~/dump/neuron). To apply the patch, enter the uncompressed iv directory:

cd iv
patch -p1 < ../iv-format-security.patch
# On success, it'll say:
# patching file src/lib/IV-2_6/matcheditor.cpp

Before we build either iv or neuron, we need to install the build dependencies:

# Install dependencies from the standard repositories
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-server-devel chrpath libtiff-devel imake libX11-devel automake autoconf libtool libXext-devel ncurses-devel readline-devel Random123-devel Cython openmpi-devel

I've left out Java - I have no intention of using the Java support. Instead of openmpi, you can also use mpich - that's up to you - replace openmpi-devel with mpich-devel.

Build

Follow the instructions here. First we build iv:

# we're already in the iv source directory
# ./configure --help for all available options
# I use the default Fedora CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS
# You needn't use these
# rpm -E %optflags will tell you what the default ones on your system are
# echo $CFLAGS
# -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic
# echo $CXXFLAGS
# -O2 -g -pipe -Wall -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fexceptions -fstack-protector-strong --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -grecord-gcc-switches -specs=/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/redhat-hardened-cc1 -m64 -mtune=generic

# iv doesn't build with -Wnarrowing which is also default, so we disable it
export CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-narrowing"
export CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Wno-narrowing"

# configure, make, make install
./configure --prefix=/home/asinha/dump/neuron-installation/ --with-x
# I have 24 processors, check to see how many you do
make -j24
make install

Then, we build neuron

cd ../nrn
# configure --help to see all options
# Enable MPI
module load mpi/openmpi-x86_64
# More change to flags to get the thing to build
export CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -Wno-narrowing -std=c99 -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L"
export CXXFLAGS="$CXXFLAGS -Wno-narrowing -D_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L"
./build.sh
./configure --prefix=/home/asinha/dump/neuron-installation/ --with-x --with-paranrn --with-mpi --with-multisend --with-nrniv --with-iv=/home/asinha/dump/neuron-installation
# I have 24 processors, check to see how many you do
make -j24
make install

Check

Follow the instructions here.

cd
cd dump/neuron-installation/
find . -name "neurondemo"
# You'll get something like: ./x86_64/bin/neurondemo
./86_64/bin/neurondemo
# Will give out something like:
# NEURON -- VERSION 7.5 (1454:2350fc838a79) 2016-08-01
# Duke, Yale, and the BlueBrain Project -- Copyright 1984-2016
# See http://neuron.yale.edu/neuron/credits
#
# loading membrane mechanisms from /home/asinha/dump/neuron-installation/share/nrn/demo/release/x86_64/.libs/libnrnmech.so
# Additional mechanisms from files
#  cabpump.mod cachan1.mod camchan.mod capump.mod invlfire.mod khhchan.mod mcna.mod nacaex.mod nachan.mod release.mod
# first instance of j
# first instance of itmp
# first instance of using_cvode_
# first instance of movie_frame_dur_
# first instance of realtime
# first instance of running_
# first instance of rtstart
# first instance of stdrun_quiet
# first instance of screen_update_invl
# first instance of tstop
# first instance of steps_per_ms
# first instance of nstep_steprun
# first instance of runStopAt
# first instance of runStopIn
# first instance of global_ra
# first instance of mapped_nrnmainmenu_
# first instance of v_init
# first instance of n_graph_lists
# first instance of i
# first instance of eventslow
# first instance of eventcount
# first instance of cnt
# oc>
#

Post

Last, we update the PATH and things so that everything works smoothly in the future. The docs suggest an nrnenv file that can be sourced in the .bashrc file. We'll just follow the suggested method.

cat >> ~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/nrnenv << EOF
export NRNINSTALLATION="\$HOME/dump/neuron-installation"
export NRNCPU="x86_64"
export PATH="\$PATH:\$NRNINSTALLATION/\$NRNCPU/bin"

EOF

and modify .bashrc to source it:

echo "source /home/asinha/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/nrnenv" >> ~/.bashrc

Log out and back in, or source the file again: source ~/.bashrc. All the binaries for neuron should then be available to you:

$ ls ~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/
bbswork.sh   iclass  idraw  memacs        modlunit  mos2nrn2.sh  nocmodl  nrngui  nrniv_makefile  nrnmech_makefile  nrnoc_makefile  nrnpyenv.sh  set_nrnpyenv.sh
hel2mos1.sh  idemo   ivoc   mkthreadsafe  mos2nrn   neurondemo   nrnenv   nrniv   nrnivmodl       nrnoc             nrnocmodl       oc           sortspike

$ which idraw
~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/idraw
$ which nrniv
~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/nrniv
$ which nrnoc
~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/nrnoc
$ which oc
~/dump/neuron-installation/x86_64/bin/oc

I think that should be it! I've tested the instructions on my Fedora 24 machine but if you run into issues, drop a comment and I'll look into it.