[netCDF #ZCZ-420791]: Installing netcdf fortran on linux

Hi Vitali,

> I need to install netcdf which to be used by a fortran program on a
> linux (ubuntu 11.04) machine.  Though I am an experienced computer user,
> I've got lost in those multiple options on your website.
> 
> So I downloaded netcdf-fortran-4.2.tar.gz. The package has README but
> the INSTALL file with instructions is missing.
> 
> I've tried to run ./configure, but it fails and complains about missing
> netcdf.f file
> 
> Do I need to install netcdf for C first?

Yes, see:

  Building netCDF-Fortran Libraries
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/netcdf-fortran-install.html

which is one of the links on this page that describes how to install the
netCDF C library first:

  Building NetCDF
  http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf/docs/building.html

> Could you just make a short example in the INSTALL file what steps are
> actually needed to install on a typical linux system:
> 
> like
> download netcdf-fortran-4.2.tar.gz, uncompress,
> $ ./configure
> $ make compile
> $ make install
> or something like this?

Yes, that's close.  To get all the defaults, you can just do:

  $ ./configure
  $ make check
  $ make install

and that will install the C libraries, utilities, and header files in the lib/,
bin/, and include/ directories under /usr/local (or whatever you specify as
the --prefix=... option to the configure script).

Then building the Fortran library is similar, except you need to the configure
script where you installed the netCDF C libraries, if it can't find them.

> Maybe I don't need to compile netcdf and there is already a binary which
> I can install with
> 
> sudo apt-get install netcdf or something like this?

Yes, but you won't necessarily get the most recent version from package
management systems.  For Fedora Linux, for example, you can use

  $ sudo yum install netcdf.x86_64

or 

  $ sudo yum install netcdf-devel.x86_64

depending on whether you just want the binaries or you also need the
sources.

> As your website indicates:
> 
> The easiest way to get netCDF is through a package management program,
> such as rpm, yum, adept, and others.
> NetCDF is available from many different repositories, including the
> default Red Hat and Ubuntu repositories.
> 
> Could you give just an simple example how exactly to use rpm, yum?
> 
> You really need to make simple instructions with a typical example in
> a single place.

Yes, things could be simpler.  But they couldn't be cheaper :-) ...

--Russ



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



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: ZCZ-420791
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed