ECMWF is updating the default versions of its software packages and libraries used across on Atos HPCF and ECS as part of the regular update cycle.
When?
The changes will take place on Wednesday 31 May 2023 09:00 UTC
Do I need to do anything?
We strongly recommend you test that your programs, scripts and suites work with the new versions of any software or library affected before the change happens.
Table of contents
Highlights
Software stack ready for next operational IFS cycle
With the upcoming Implementation of IFS Cycle 48r1, this set of defaults is ready to handle the data produced.
Python 3.10 becomes default
For our Python users, we offer now a more recent version of Python 3.10 with the usual extra modules found on the previous default 3.8. Note that new versions of other packages with python bindings may only come with support for the new Python 3.10.
ECMWF software improvements
There. have been a vast number of improvements on our ECMWF software and libraries since our last default change in 2021. See the blog posts for all the software releases since then to learn about what is new in ecCodes, Magics or Metview.
- December 2021 software release
- March 2022 software release
- May 2022 software release
- August 2022 software release
- December 2022 software release
- January 2023 software release
- April 2023 software release
ecCodes changes encoding for certain GRIB2 parameters
Since version 2.28.0, ecCodes has changed the way it encodes certain GRIB2 parameters, in preparation for our Migration to GRIB edition 2. The complete list can be found in Migration to GRIB2 - new in ecCodes . If you encode those particular GRIB2 fields with ecCodes 2.28 or newer, you will not be able to decode them properly with an older ecCodes. We strongly recommend to make sure all your production chain uses an up-to-date ecCodes version for better results.
A lot of other bugfixes and improvements
All the new versions, both ECMWF and 3rd Party, come with a number of bug fixes and improvements, since it has been 2 years since our last change of default software. You may see the Change logs for any individual package or library in the list below if you want to have all the details.
How to use the new versions for testing BEFORE the update
Users are strongly encouraged to test their software applications and data processing chain with the new versions of the various software packages before the date of the change to the default versions.
The new versions of the software packages can be selected by using the may23 tag in modules. For example:
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How to revert to the old versions in case of problems AFTER the update
Users that experience problems with the new default software packages after the update will be able to revert to the old default versions. These can be selected with the commands:
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Please let ECMWF know if you need to revert to the old version of any of the packages after the update of the defaults has taken place.
Change list
ECMWF Software
The new version of the ECMWF Toolbox (ecmwf-toolbox module) is 2023.04.1.0, replacing 2021.08.3.0. This table summarises the changes in the version of the different packages within the bundle:
| Package | Default version | Release notes | Download page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | |||
| CodesUI | 1.5.4 | 1.7.4 | CodesUI - Change History | CodesUI - Releases |
| ecCodes | 2.23.0 | 2.30.2 | ecCodes Releases | |
| Magics | 4.9.4 | 4.13.0 | Latest News | Magics Releases |
| Metview | 5.13.0 | 5.19.1 | Metview Releases | |
| ODC | 1.4.1 | 1.4.6 | Readme | ODC Releases |
Besides ecmwf-toolbox, the following ECMWF packages with their corresponding module also see their default changed:
| ecFlow | 5.7.0 | 5.10.0 | ecFlow Releases |
|---|
Please see the Release notes for full details of the changes implemented in each package.
Third-party software
Some of the versions in this list may already be the default for a specific package, so no changes will be made in those cases.