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.
When?
The changes will take place on 22 May 2018 11:00 - 11:30 UTC
What platforms are affected?
All user platforms at the centre will see their default additional software stack updated:
- All clusters in our High Performance Computing Facility, mainly CCA and CCB
- ECGATE
- Linux Clusters
- Linux Desktops
Table of contents
Highlights
Software stack ready for CY45R1
TBA
Magics 3 and Metview 5
Magics
Visualisation of the Netcdf-CF has been simplified
- Improvement of the new colour setting gradients
- Python3 Ready
Metview
- Uses Magics 3
- New interactive layer management inside the plot window, allowing for faster plot revisions
- Per-colour transparency
- New colour gradients shading option
- FLEXPART support added
- Macro Editor has new colour schemes
Codes_ui first stable release
TBA
Consolidation of main third-party software package defaults across all platforms
TBA
- Python 2.7.12 and R 3.3.1
Version changes
The next defaults are tagged as "may18" in modules. After the session the previous defaults will be tagged as "old"
ECMWF Software
This table summarises the changes in the version of the different packages:
| Package | Default version | Release notes | Download page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | |||
| ecCodes | 2.5.0 | 2.7.3 | ecCodes Releases | |
| ecFlow | 4.7.1 | 4.9.0 | ecFlow Releases | |
| Magics | 2.34.3 | 3.0.3 | Latest News | Magics Releases |
| Metview | 4.9.0 | 5.0.2 | Metview Releases Metview Bundle | |
| ODB API | 0.17.3 | 0.17.6 | Change history | ODB API Release |
ecCodes is now the official ECMWF encoder and decoder for GRIB and BUFR formats. It superseds GRIB-API, for the GRIB format, and EMOSLIB, for the BUFR. If you still use any of those, we encourage you to migrate to ecCodes.
| Package | Default version | Release notes | Download page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | |||
| EMOSLIB | 4.5.2 | 4.5.5 | History of EMOSLIB changes | EMOSLIB Releases |
| GRIB-API | 1.24.0 | 1.26.0 | GRIB-API Releases | |
Please see the Release notes for full details of the changes implemented in each package.
Third-party software
There is some divergence in the 3rd party software defaults that we are trying to address by this change.
Some of the versions in this list may already be the default for a specific package in one of the platforms, but not the others.
| Package | Next default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| boost | 1.61.0 | |
| cdo | 1.8.2 | |
| cmake | 3.10.2 | |
| gdal | 2.1.1 | |
| geos | 3.5.0 | |
| git | 2.16.2 | |
| gsl | 2.2.1 | |
| hdf | 4.2.12 | |
| hdf5 | 1.8.17 | |
| nag | 24 | |
| ncl | 6.4.0 | |
| nco | 4.6.7 | |
| netcdf4 | 4.4.1 | |
| proj4 | 4.9.2 | |
| python | 2.7.12-01 | |
| R | 3.3.1 | |
| udunits | 2.2.17 |
How to use the new versions for testing BEFORE the update
The new versions of the software packages can be selected by using the may18 tag in modules. For example:
module swap metview/may18 module load Magics/may18 module swap eccodes/may18 module swap python/may18
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 of 10 May will be able to revert to the old default versions. These can be selected with the commands:
module swap metview/old module load Magics/old module swap eccodes/old module swap python/old