I tried installing version 4.0.5.tar.gz on an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server at school but it failed following instructions here that say:

shell$ gunzip -c openmpi-4.0.5.tar.gz | tar xf -

shell$ cd openmpi-4.0.5

shell$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local

<...lots of output...>

shell$ make all install

So I tried version 3.1.6 and it failed again.

The error was:

  make[2]: Nothing to be done for 'install-exec-am'.

 /bin/mkdir -p '/usr/local/share/openmpi/amca-param-sets'

 /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 amca-param-sets/example.conf '/usr/local/share/openmpi/amca-param-sets'

/usr/bin/install: cannot remove '/usr/local/share/openmpi/amca-param-sets/example.conf': Permission denied

Makefile:1806: recipe for target 'install-dist_amca_paramDATA' failed

make[2]: *** [install-dist_amca_paramDATA] Error 1

make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/T00057442/openmpi31/openmpi-3.1.6/contrib'

Makefile:1897: recipe for target 'install-am' failed

make[1]: *** [install-am] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/T00057442/openmpi31/openmpi-3.1.6/contrib'

Makefile:1896: recipe for target 'install-recursive' failed

make: *** [install-recursive] Error 1

for version 3.1.6 on the server and locally:

make[2]: Nothing to be done for 'install-exec-am'.

 /bin/mkdir -p '/usr/local/share/openmpi/amca-param-sets'

/bin/mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/usr/local/share/openmpi’: Permission denied

Makefile:1789: recipe for target 'install-dist_amca_paramDATA' failed

make[2]: *** [install-dist_amca_paramDATA] Error 1

make[2]: Leaving directory '/media/nobu/UbuntuFiles/Downloads/openmpi-4.0.5/contrib'

Makefile:1880: recipe for target 'install-am' failed

make[1]: *** [install-am] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory '/media/nobu/UbuntuFiles/Downloads/openmpi-4.0.5/contrib'

Makefile:1879: recipe for target 'install-recursive' failed

make: *** [install-recursive] Error 1

so both times it is install-am? What is that and has anyone successfully installed openmpi or mpich? I need it for Ray Surveyor: http://zorino.github.io/raysurveyor-tutorial/#/42

Edit:
I run

base) nobu@gold3forever:~/Desktop/BioInformatics/RA/kover/ray$ mpiexec --version

mpiexec: error while loading shared libraries: libopen-rte.so.40: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

then I tried:

(base) nobu@gold3forever:~/Desktop/BioInformatics/RA/kover/ray$ mpirun --version

mpirun: error while loading shared libraries: libopen-rte.so.40: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Finally

(base) nobu@gold3forever:~/Desktop/BioInformatics/RA/kover/ray$ mpicxx --showme:version

mpicxx: error while loading shared libraries: libopen-pal.so.40: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I thought I was okay, following directions from @NOrbert in his answer but when I try to install Ray Surveyor I get

(base) nobu@gold3forever:~/Desktop/BioInformatics/RA/kover/ray$ make PREFIX=`pwd`/BUILD MAXKMERLENGTH=64 HAVE_LIBZ=y HAVE_LIBBZ2=y ASSERT=n;

  CXX code/application_core/ray_main.o

mpicxx: error while loading shared libraries: libopen-pal.so.40: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Makefile:160: recipe for target 'code/application_core/ray_main.o' failed

make: *** [code/application_core/ray_main.o] Error 127