# Easel - a C library for biological sequence analysis [](https://travis-ci.org/EddyRivasLab/easel)  [Easel](http://bioeasel.org) is an ANSI C code library developed by the [Eddy/Rivas laboratory](http://eddylab.org) at Harvard. Easel supports our work on computational analysis of biological sequences using probabilistic models. Easel is used by [HMMER](http://hmmer.org), the profile hidden Markov model software that underlies several protein and DNA sequence family databases such as [Pfam](http://pfam.xfam.org), and by [Infernal](http://eddylab.org/infernal), the profile stochastic context-free grammar software that underlies the [Rfam](http://rfam.xfam.org) RNA family database. Easel aims to make similar applications more robust and easier to develop, by providing a set of reusable, documented, and well-tested functions. Easel is not (yet) released on its own. It is part of the HMMER and Infernal releases. To participate in Easel development, visit us at [github](https://github.com/EddyRivasLab/easel). ### to build Easel source code from github: ```bash % git clone https://github.com/EddyRivasLab/easel % cd easel % autoconf % ./configure % make % make check ``` This procedure gives you our `master` branch - the most recent Easel release that was packaged with a release of HMMER, Infernal, or other lab software. If you want a feature that we've put in more recently, you want our `develop` branch. After the `git clone` and `cd easel`, do: ```bash % git checkout develop ``` and proceed to `autoconf`.