19991228: building ldm-mcidas with no Fortran compiler

>From: address@hidden
>Organization: NOAA
>Keywords: 199912282104.OAA10215 ldm-mcidas Fortran LDM netCDF fort77 mcfc

Hongming,

>       Sorry for that. We try to get the real-time profiler data, therefore
>we want to use your profiler decode program. Now we have contacted with FSL
>to get the FTP site. That means we can get profiler data in netCDF format.

Sorry that I didn't remember this!

>       But we don't want to download the binary code of LDM-MciDAS directly
>from your site.

OK.  This would be the quickest way for you to produce some McIDAS MD
files from netCDF profiler files, but I understand the reluctance to
use executables produced on systems that you have no control over.

>Thus we should install netCDF, LDM and LDM-McIDAS package
>in our Solaris machine.

Right.  Or, you could install binary versions of the netCDF and LDM in order
to get the include files and libraries you need to link against.  Since you
would not be running foreign executables, you might feel comfortable enough
doing this.

>But the problem is that we have no fortran compiler
>when istalling these packages. You know, I tried to install netCDF step by
>step following the INSTRUCTION (I got it from your web site). The only
>problem is that we have no fortran compiler, but we have f2c and gcc.

OK, so you have pretty much all that is needed to do the builds from scratch.
What you need in addition to gcc and f2c is the Perl script, fort77.  fort77
simply runs f2c to convert Fortran code to C and then gcc to compile it.
fort77 is available at a variety of places on the net, and is also available
from out anonymous FTP site:

server: ftp.unidata.ucar.edu
user: anonymous
pass: your_full_email_address
directory pub/mcidas

In order to run fort77, however, you will need to have Perl installed on
your machine.

Another alternative if you have a recent version of McIDAS-X installed
is to use the mcfc script that is sent out with McIDAS-X.  mcfc is a Bourne
shell script that also runs f2c and then gcc in acting like a Fortran
compiler.

>Do
>you think that we can use the f2c instead of f77?

The gcc/f2c combination, yes.

>I also tried this point,
>but it is stopped in configure step when I use FC= f2c. It seems not work.

You would define FC as fort77 if you go that route or as mcfc if you
choose the McIDAS method.  I would specify the fully qualified pathname
in the FC definition just to make sure.  For instance, if fort77 was
in the /home/mcidas/bin directory, FC would be defined as:

FC=/home/mcidas/bin/fort77

Likewise for mcfc:

FC=/home/mcidas/bin/mcfc

>      The install can go ahead if I don't set up FC environment variable.
>But the problem is if there is the bad effection in installing another two
>package.

You _will_ need either a Fortran compiler or gcc/f2c/fort77 (or gcc/f2c/mcfc)
to build several of the ldm-mcidas decoders.

>      In addition, I wan to know if it is necessary to install the LDM
>package.

No, all you need are the LDM header files and library so that you can compile
and link the ldm-mcidas package.  This is also the only thing needed for
the netCDF.

>Thanks,

You are welcome.

>Hongming

Tom
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