ECMWF is updating the default versions of its software packages and libraries used across all user platforms at the centre as part of the regular update cycle.

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Table of contents

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With the upcoming Implementation of IFS cycle 46R146r1, this set of defaults is ready to handle the data produced, including all the new parameters introduced in this cycle.

Default GNU compiler updated

The GNU GCC compiler is used by default in our Linux Clusters. After this session, version 7.3 of this popular compiler will be used by default, instead of the old 6.3.

Python 3 Ready

A more complete Python 3 deployment has been made, with all major ECMWF packages supporting it: Magics, Metview, ecFlow and ecCodes (in beta). We encourage all Python users to start migrating their programs to Python 3, as the official support support for Python 2 will cease at the end of 2019. Please have a look at the Migration to Python 3 documentation page for more details on how to do this migration.

Metview new features

The new Metview 5.5 features a new set of thermodynamic functions and lots of new functionality for the Geopoints format.  It also uses the new interpolation package MIR by default, replacing the old EMOSLIB interpolation library.

See the Magics and Metview latest news for a more detailed list of changes.

Default GNU compiler updated

Improved ecFlowUI

This ecFlow release introduces the Timeline View in ecFlowUI. This is available as a tab in the Info Panel and provides a graphical view of node state history taken from the log file, allowing greater overview and analysis of node start and run times. It also supports a Duration view mode, displaying the submission and active times. This mode allows you to filter the nodes of your choice. The Timeline View provides the ideal tool to help you identify and optimise the tasks that are taking too much time.The GNU GCC compiler is used by default in our Linux Clusters. After this session, version 7.3 of this popular compiler will be used by default, instead of the old 6.3.

Update of main third-party software package defaults across all platforms

Once a year we take the opportunity to update not only the software we develop at ECMWF, but also the core 3rd party packages and libraries in our software stack. Amongst the affected packages we can find popular tools and libraries like Python, R,  cdo or netCDF 4. See below for the complete list.

Discontinuation of old PGI compilers

Up to now, we have been providing our software libraries built with a legacy PGI 14 compiler for the FORTRAN parts of the code. This helped with the migration from older platforms to new ones where our default compiler of choice has been the GNU GCC. The new versions becoming default now are no longer available for the PGI environment on those platforms where it is present. If you still use it, please consider moving to the default environment. Note that older versions of our software stack will still be available for a bit longer in case you cannot migrate immediately.

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Users that experience problems with the new default software packages after the update of 10 May will be able to revert to the old default versions. These can be selected with the commands:

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Ecflow change: possible impact after upgrading

This release corrects some faulty triggers expression, that may require validation:

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•  If you use python to generate your suite definitions, then simple make sure you run(defs.check())

  module load ecflow/ new ... # build your python suite definitions def = ... print defs.check()  #  this will print any problems with triggers and inlimit

  
  

• Alternatively you can use:

  module swap ecflow/ 4.12.0 ecflow_client --get > tmp.def ecflow_client --load tmp.def check_only #  this will print any problems with triggers and inlimit

  
  

If you have migrated to the new release, to check all your suites run:

You have all the details in the ecflow release 4.12.0.

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This table summarises the changes in the version of the different packages:

Please see the Release notes for full details of the changes implemented in each package.

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