• RouteOpt solves the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) and the vehicle routing problem with time windows ( VRPTW). Please cite our paper Two-Stage Learning to Branch in Branch-Price-and-Cut Algorithms for Solving Vehicle Routing Problems Exactly if you use RouteOpt for your research.

• RouteOpt for academic use only.

1. The solver consists of the following modules:

   1. Default Setting (Setting I): Full-fledged version with all functionalities enabled, offering the best overall performance.
   2. Setting II: For comparing different branching strategies.
   3. Setting for open instances: Requires access to supercomputing resources. Detailed explanations of these features can be found in our paper. For specific usage, please refer to the User Manual.

2. RouteOpt employs a novel two-stage learning-to-branch module. The current parameter configuration is suitable for most instances, except for ones where pricing is extremely challenging (e.g., CVRP instances with long routes). For such instances, the parameters need to be adjusted according to our recommendations in the User Manual.

3. The VRPTW module of RouteOpt is currently optimized for solving type-2 instances (ones with very loose capacity constraints) fast, and is not suitable for type-1 instances. This is due to the adaptive strategies mentioned in Bucket Graph.

4. The workflow design, computational techniques, and output style of RouteOpt pay a high tribute to VRPSolver. We are deeply grateful for Drs. Artur Pessoa, Ruslan Sadykov, Eduardo Uchoa, François Vanderbeck, and others who have contributed to the VRPSolver. Special thanks go to Dr. Ruslan Sadykov for providing us access to the VRPSolver and helping us tune it. Without the VRPSolver, RouteOpt would not have been possible.

• CMake version 3.16 or higher (required).
• Eigen version 3.4.0 or higher (required).
• XGBoost version 1.4.2 or higher (required).
• GUROBI version 10.0 or higher (recommended).
• Boost version 1.76.0 or higher (recommended).
• CVRPSEP

Please ensure these requirements are met before proceeding with the following steps.

Step 1: Clone the RouteOpt repository:

https://github.com/Zhengzhong-You/pub-RouteOpt.git

Step 2: Construct the project directory tree:

cd pub-RouteOpt && mkdir Zips Dependency && cd Dependency

Step 3: Build the cvrpsep library:

(obtain the code) && cd cvrpsep
make

Step 4: Download Eigen:

cd ../
wget https://gitlab.com/libeigen/eigen/-/archive/3.4.0/eigen-3.4.0.zip
unzip eigen-3.4.0.zip && mv eigen-3.4.0.zip ../Zips

Step 5: Set the GUROBI_HOME environment variable :

On Linux, use vim ~/.bashrc. On MacOS, use vim ~/.bash_profile to open the corresponding file. Then add the following line to it.

export GUROBI_HOME=<gurobi_root>/<gurobi_version>/<OS>

Example: export GUROBI_HOME=${HOME}/gurobi1000/linux64

After that, use source ~/.bashrc or source ~/.bash_profile to reload the update file.

Step 6: Revise FindGUROBI.cmake:

It's located in <path to solver>/pub-RouteOpt/Application/CVRP/CVRP/package

find_library(<package>_LIBRARY
        NAMES <lib>
        PATHS "$ENV{<package>_HOME}/lib"
        )

Replace the <lib> with the right lib.

For example, if you use gurobi1000, the lib will be libgurobi100.so on Linux and libgurobi100.dylib on MacOS.

Step 7: Revise CMakeLists.txt:

Revise path of Boost Library in the CMakeLists.txt.

The library accepts two kinds of parameters: (RouteOpt_VRPTW for VRPTW)

1. Use the idx/<ins_file.ins> (Recommended)

   ./CVRP -d idx/<ins_file.ins> -n -u
   

   In this command, -d is followed by .ins file, and -n gets the instance name in the n-th line of the file. Note that -u is an optional parameter to provide an initial upper bound (UB) if a valid one is available. It should directly follow -u without a space.

   For instance, you can type in:

   ./CVRP -d idx/OldIns.ins -n 33 -u27592
   

   This command will read the instance from the 33-rd line of the OldIns.ins file.

   Alternatively, you can just enter:

   ./CVRP -d idx/OldIns.ins -n 33 
   

   In this case, if the .ins file contains a UB, it will be automatically read from the file. If no UB is provided, it will be initialized to 1e9.

2. Specify the complete path

   ./CVRP ./../../../DataForCVRP/OldIns/X-n101-k25.vrp -u27592
   

For details on adjusting:

• Log files/outputs,
• Parameters,
• Branching strategies,

please refer to the User Manual.