[ncl-install] problem with AIX precompiled NCL binaries

[Mary Haley]

All,

An update on this problem: Becky had an IBM Pwr4 system, and the
binaries she downloaded were for a Pwr6 system.  Software is usually
not backwards compatible in this fashion, and the IBM folks always
recommend that you build software for a particular architecture on
that system, in order to get the best performance and compatibility.

In any case, I rebuilt the binaries using the special "-qarch=com"
option, which makes a "generic" set of binaries that should will run
on multiple PwrX systems. Becky said this new binary was working for
her. The software will not be optimized for that platform, but it
should run.

If you need NCL for a Pwr4 or Pwr5 system and you want the best
performance, then I recommend building NCL from source code.

If anybody wants the special generic version I built, send me an email
offline.

--Mary
`

On Thu, 16 Apr 2009, Selin, Rebecca D CTR USAF AFWA 2 WXG/WEA wrote:

> May,
>
> Sorry, I did indeed mean "ng4ex".  Yes, it makes no sense to me either why "ng4ex gsun01n.ncl" would work and "ncl gsun01n.ncl" would not.
>
> When I tried running "ng4ex xy01n -clean" I got the "Illegal instruction (core dumped)" error again.
>
> Interestingly, I am able to get both "ng4ex ap01n" and "ncl ap01n.ncl" to work.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Becky Adams Selin
> UCAR Visiting Scientist
> Air Force Weather Agency 2 WXG/WEA
> COMM: (402) 294-5273  DSN: 271-5273
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary Haley [mailto:haley at ucar.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:46 AM
> To: Selin, Rebecca D CTR USAF AFWA 2 WXG/WEA
> Cc: ncl-install at ucar.edu
> Subject: Re: problem with AIX precompiled NCL binaries
>
>
> On Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Selin, Rebecca D CTR USAF AFWA 2 WXG/WEA wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am attempting to use the precompiled NCL 5.1.0 binaries for an AIX 5.3
>> PowerPC 6 system.  Last year, I was able to download the NCL 5.0.0
>> binaries for an AIX 5.3 PowerPC 5 system, and they still work fine.
>> However, the 5.1.0 binaries didn't work.  When testing my installation,
>> the following would occur:
>>
>> nc4ex gsun01n : runs successfully, produces images
>>
>> ncl gsun01n.ncl : exits before plotting anything with the error Illegal
>> instruction(coredump)
>
> Becky,
>
> I'm not sure I understand the above.  By "nc4ex" did you mean "ng4ex"?
> If "ng4ex gsun01n.ncl" works, then I don't understand why "ncl
> gsun01n.ncl" wouldn't work, since "ng4ex" is doing this internally.
>
> Are you able to run:
>
>    ng4ex xy01n -clean
>
> ?
>
>> ncargex cpex08 :
>>
>> NCAR Graphics Fortran  Example <cpex08>
>>
>>  Copying cpex08.f
>>
>>  Copying cpexcc.f
>>
>
> For this problem, it looks like you may be using an old "ncargf77",
> because the new one should be including "-lpng -lz" on the compile
> line.
>
> You can try the compilation yourself with:
>
>   ncargex cpex08 -n
>   ncargf77 cpex08.c cpexcc.c -lpng -lz
>   ./a.out
>
> If you don't get any errors, then you should now have a "gmeta"
> file which you can view with "ctrans":
>
>    ctrans -d X11 gmeta
>
> --Mary
>
>>
>> Compiling and linking...
>>
>> xlf_r -q64 -O3 -qstrict -o cpex08 cpexcc.f cpex08.f
>> -L/sphome/adamsr/WRFLIB/NCL64/lib -lncarg -lncarg_gks -lncarg_c -lX11
>>
>> cpexcc.f:
>>
>> ** gendat   === End of Compilation 1 ===
>>
>> ** fran   === End of Compilation 2 ===
>>
>> ** capsap   === End of Compilation 3 ===
>>
>> ** labtop   === End of Compilation 4 ===
>>
>> ** bndary   === End of Compilation 5 ===
>>
>> ** dfclrs   === End of Compilation 6 ===
>>
>> 1501-510  Compilation successful for file cpexcc.f.
>>
>> cpex08.f:
>>
>> ** cpex08   === End of Compilation 1 ===
>>
>> ** colram   === End of Compilation 2 ===
>>
>> ** colrcl   === End of Compilation 3 ===
>>
>> ** colrll   === End of Compilation 4 ===
>>
>> ** colra2   === End of Compilation 5 ===
>>
>> ** colrc2   === End of Compilation 6 ===
>>
>> ** colrl2   === End of Compilation 7 ===
>>
>> 1501-510  Compilation successful for file cpex08.f.
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_create_write_struct
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_create_info_struct
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_destroy_write_struct
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_init_io
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_malloc
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_set_rows
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_set_IHDR
>>
>> ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .png_write_png
>>
>> ld: 0711-345 Use the -bloadmap or -bnoquiet option to obtain more
>> information.
>>
>>
>>
>> The compile and link failed.
>>
>>
>>
>> Of course, this last error makes me suspect that my libpng library is
>> not linking in correctly - it is not in the "normal" place.  But what is
>> the name of the environmental variable I need to set to define this?
>> I've tried PNG and LIBPNG.  And I have no idea what could be the problem
>> with regular NCL.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help.
>>
>>
>>
>> Becky Adams Selin
>>
>> UCAR Visiting Scientist
>>
>> Air Force Weather Agency 2 WXG/WEA
>>
>> COMM: (402) 294-5273  DSN: 271-5273
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>