The Phoronix Test Suite can be simply extracted from the downloaded .tar.gz file or it can also be installed system-wide. If you just wish to run the Phoronix Test Suite without installing it, open a terminal and run ./phoronix-test-suite <options> from the same directory.
The only required dependencies for the Phoronix Test Suite on Linux systems are PHP 5.x CLI (packages for it are commonly called php5-cli or php-cli or just php) and the PHP GD module (commonly called php-gd or php5-gd). It's important to note that only PHP 5 is needed and not a web server (Apache) or other packages commonly associated with PHP. The reasoning behind the use of PHP 5 for is the portability across platforms for this language, low impact on the overall system, a lower entrance barrier for new developers, and low number (if any) dependencies that PHP5 CLI requires. The PHP GD library is used for rendering the graphs within the PTS Results Viewer.
Notice #1: Depending upon your distribution's package configuration, you may also need php-posix package for providing the POSIX functions.
Notice #2: You may need to modify the php.ini file on your system in order to support uploading results to PTS Global or logging into your PTS Global account. The allow_url_fopen, file_uploads, and allow_url_include options must be set to true in the PHP configuration and curl must be supported by the PHP installation. Additional information.
While PHP and PHP GD are the only required dependencies, many of the test profiles do require the standard Linux development tools/libraries (GCC, etc). On a clean Ubuntu installation, it's as easy as first running sudo apt-get install build-essential php5-cli php-gd and then running the Phoronix Test Suite. In addition, /usr/bin/time is another dependency used by many of the tests.
The Phoronix Test Suite has a feature known as "External Dependencies" where the Phoronix Test Suite can attempt to automatically install some of the test-specific dependencies on supported distributions. If running on a distribution where there is currently no External Dependencies profile, the needed package(s) are listed.
If manually changing the location of the phoronix-test-suite file, the environmental PTS_USER_DIR variable must be adjusted inside the file to reflect the absolute location that leads to the root directory of the pts and pts-core folders. The pts folder houses the XML test profiles, XML test suites, test resource files, the External Dependencies files, and other important information. The pts-core directory is the "engine" of the Phoronix Test Suite.
Running install-sh from the root directory of the Phoronix Test Suite will install the software for system-wide access. By default the phoronix-test-suite exectable is in /usr/bin/, the Phoronix Test Suite files in /usr/share/phoronix-test-suite/, and the documentation in /usr/share/doc/phoronix-test-suite/. Root access is required. The default installation prefix is /usr/ but can be adjusted as the first argument (example: install-sh /home/user-name/ to install the Phoronix Test Suite in your home directory).
Debian/Ubuntu users are able to follow the Generic Installation instructions or optionally can generate their own Debian package. If dpkg-dev is installed, run php pts-core/scripts/build-package-deb.php and a Debian package will be generated which can be subsequently installed. This package contains the phoronix-test-suite exectable in /usr/bin/, the Phoronix Test Suite files in /usr/share/phoronix-test-suite/, and the documentation in /usr/share/doc/phoronix-test-suite/.
Gentoo ebuild's for the Phoronix Test Suite have been created by users and can be currently found in the Gentoo BugZilla.
Mandriva packages are being worked on by Stephane Teletchea and are expected for inclusion in Mandriva Linux 2009 development.