Split-Dist

Split-Dist is a tree comparison software that calculates the number of splits (edges) differing from two trees. The program, sdist, reads a set of trees in Newick format and computes the edges/splits shared between them. The resulting output is a matrix where each entry i,j represents the number of edges in tree i present in tree j.

The user can also generate statistics on splits not shared between two trees. The statistics are based on the size of the smallest split-splits, with more than one leaf element on both sides of the edge, denoted by A|B. The program calculates the maximal, minimal, and average size of the smallest set in the splits not shared, indicating how "local" the differences are between the two trees. A smaller set indicates that the difference is in a small sub-tree, while a larger set implies a more global difference.

Additionally, the software allows users to calculate the set of splits found in any given tree and how often the split appears. The program can also define the set of splits shared by all trees in a set while still providing annotated tree information. This tree has an identical topology to the first tree, with edges expressed as sub-tree f: branch-length, where f represents the fraction of the trees that contains the edge; 1 if all trees, 0.5 if half of them.

Installation for Unix-like systems is relatively straightforward. Users can download the split-dist-a.b.c.tar.gz file and install it by running configure and make in the subdirectory split-dist-a.b.c. This will generate the split-dist program along with several test programs. After running make check and ensuring all tests pass, the user can install the sdist program by running make install. For more information, please read the INSTALL file.

The latest release features bug fixes, including a previously missing virtual destructor.