Standalone Blast+ file specifically for OS X

Question

[cllezark]

I recently installed ncbi-blast-2.4.0+.dmg, but it did not contain the file "ncbi_package_info" that previous versions contained. I had some difficulty setting the path needed to run makeblastdb at first, as it would return the error "command not found" when I attempted to execute the command. Afterward solving that issue, it returned the error "/PATH/blast+/bin/makeblastdb: cannot execute binary file" – it turns out that I had multiple versions of blast+ installed (due to using ViroBLAST) and the version I was calling was for 32bit linux systems.

Is there a way to ensure that ncbi-blast-2.4.0+.dmg is meant to be used on an OS X system, besides the ncbi_package_info file?

Answer 1

[GenoMax]

If you downloaded the .dmg file then that should provide all you need to run blast. You may want to uncompress it in a specific folder and then put that folder in your $PATH. To make the change permanent follow the instructions here.

Also remove the linux blast binaries from your system (or at least from your $PATH). Those are not going to work on OS X.

[cllezark]

Nailed it. Thanks for the link!