[McIDAS #XGC-376201]: Update mcupdate file is zero length and v2018 installing fails

Hi Graeme,

re:
> thanks Tom for very quick response

No worries.

re:
> I started again and made a full load

Very good.

re:
> also I had to load extra X11 modules for
> X11/Xlib.h X11/Intrrinstic.h X11/extensions/XShm,h,
> curves software  etc

"curves" software?  I'm guessing that you mean curses :-)

re:
> because I also started the a the latest Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS out
> of the box

It is pretty much impossible to know what will and won't be installed
on a machine, so the easiest approach is to try builds; see where
they fail; and then load the packages that are missing.

re:
> Also i found in the  CC not defined in g2clib Makefile
> after adding extra software everything works

For future reference/to make future installations easier:

Unidata McIDAS contains shell specific definition files that are
designed to be "source"d before attempting a build. These files
contain the needed definitions for a wide variety of environment
variables like CC, CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, etc.

The procedure for setting up the 'mcidas' account for a build is
presented in the Unidata McIDAS-X User's Guide:

Unidata HomePage
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu

  Software -> McIDAS
  https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas

    Documentation -> User's Guide
    https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas/current/users_guide/toc.html

      Chapter 1 - Installing and Configuring McIDAS-X
      
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas/current/users_guide/InstallingandConfiguringMcIDAS-X.html

        Installing McIDAS-X on Unix or Mac OS X Workstations
        
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas/current/users_guide/InstallingMcIDAS-XonUnixorMacOSXWorkstations.html

          Preparing the mcidas Account
          
https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas/current/users_guide/PreparingthemcidasAccount.html

The only slight speed bump in the process for a brand new installation
is the need to unpack the McIDAS distribution before the changes
to 'mcidas's shell-specific settings can be active.  for instance, for
BASH users:

# McINST_ROOT and VENDOR conforming shell defines
# needed to bulid McIDAS
McINST_ROOT=$HOME
VENDOR=-gfortran
export McINST_ROOT VENDOR

# NOTE: uncomment the next two lines that set MySQL_ROOT if you
#       want to build with MySQL support:
#       - leave the value blank if MySQL is installed in a standard
#         location
#       - specify the value as the root directory of the MySQL
#         installation if MySQL is not installed in a standard
#         location
# MySQL_ROOT=TRUE
# export MySQL_ROOT

if [ -e $McINST_ROOT/admin/mcidas_env.sh ]; then
  . $McINST_ROOT/admin/mcidas_env.sh
fi

What I mean by the previous paragraph is the $McINST_ROOT/admin
directory will not exist or be populated until the distribution
has been unpacked.  This is why the instructions recommend that
the user makes the additions to his/her shell definition file,
then unpack the distribution and then log off and then log back on.
At that point, the environment variables need for the build will
be defined.

re:
> thanks again as I make a lot of use of mcidas in my research in NWP

No worries.

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: XGC-376201
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed
===================
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