Re: 950927: questions about installing netCDF software

>From: address@hidden (Patricia Vornberger)
>Keywords: 199509272226.AA11433

Hi Patricia,

> I am trying to install netCDF software, as part of installing GMT (Generic
> Mapping Tools) software.  I am very inexperienced at system
> administration, software installation, etc.  I'm working on an SGI Iris
> personal workstation, running IRIX 5.3 operating system.  netCDF has never
> been installed on this machine before.
> 
> I am following directions on installing netCDF, that I got as a first step
> in obtaining GMT.  In building the netCDF software, these instructions
> give several steps, the last few of which are:
> 
>             make all
>             make test
>             make install
>             make clean
> 
> 
> Make all seemed to run OK, i.e. there were no obvious error messages.
> 
> Make test went fine, until the end when I got some errors:
>   
>     .....  a whole bunch of normal-appearing messages, then ...
> > 
> >      *** Testing ncattname ...       ok ***
> >      *** Testing ncattrename ...     ok ***
> >      *** Testing ncattdel ...        ok ***
> >      *** Testing nctypelen ...       ok ***
> >
> >      returning to directory /data/GMT/netcdf-232pl2
> >
> >
> >      making `test' in directory /data/GMT/netcdf-232pl2/fortran
> >
> >              ar rcuv ../libsrc/libnetcdf.a jackets.o
> >      s - creating archive symbol table. Wait...
> >      s - done
> >              ./fortc -L . -O irix ftest.src > ftest.f
> >              f77 -c  ftest.f
> >      f77 ERROR:  f77 is not installed in /usr/lib/f77
> >      *** Error code 1 (bu21)
> >      *** Error code 1 (bu21)
> >      *** Error code 1 (bu21)

This problem (ignoring Fortran if you don't want the Fortran interface
built) is one of the known problems with the current netCDF distribution.  A
workaround is described at the URL:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/known_problems.html

where the description reads:

    Ignoring FORTRAN

    Setting the variable FC (either in the environment or in the CUSTOMIZE
    file) to the empty string doesn't work as advertised: the FORTRAN
    component of the netCDF distribution is not completely ignored. The
    workaround is to set the FC macro in the master makefile
    (port/master.mk.in) to the empty string prior to running the configure
    script, i.e. change

        FC = @FC@

    to 

        FC =

    This will cause the FORTRAN side of the netCDF distribution to be
    completely ignored.

    This action will be unnecessary in the next release. 

> However this did not concern me because I don't have a fortran compiler.
> The GMT installation notes do not indicate that not have a fortran compiler
> is a problem.
> 
> 
> 
> Make install had a problem when it tried to run /sbin/install, but the
> error message suggested that there was an error in the syntax of the
> command.  However it appears that the syntax was correct.  Here are the
> messages I received:
> 
 ...
> >      /sbin/install: illegal option -c.

This problem is discussed in the netCDF FAQ at URL:

  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/packages/netcdf/faq.html#irix

where it says:

    14. How can I build netCDF for SGI under IRIX 5.x? 

         We tested the netCDF installation on IRIX 4.0 which used a
         BSD-style install, but with IRIX 5.2, the flags on the install
         utility changed. To get around this, you need to define the INSTALL
         configuration variable before building netCDF from the source
         distribution. How to do this is explained in the installation
         documents. INSTALL should be defined as

              /usr/bin/X11/bsdinst

         which, according to the IRIX 5.2 man pages is an install that uses
         BSD-style arguments. Then rerun the configure script and redo the
         make all.

______________________________________________________________________________

Russ Rew                                           UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                              http://www.unidata.ucar.edu