Overview
From the 2.22.0 version, Magics will be using CMake for its compilation and installation. This is a first step towards an homogenisation of the installation procedures for all ECMWF packages.
Binary versions
Before you install from source code you might want to check that already compiled binary versions are available to you. Magics and third-party dependent software packages might be available as binary packages for you platform in form of RPMs or Debian packages. You might find them by going to the software search services, such as for OpenSuSE and SLES at http://software.opensuse.org/search (select "Search options" - "Include users' home projects"). Ubuntu maintains a Magics version in their system default repository.
Requirements
The following table lists the dependency Magics requires to be build from source. Please note, if you install these package from source you also might have to install the respective "-devel" packages.
| Compilers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| C++ | http://gcc.gnu.org/ | ||
| Fortran | http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/ | If Fortran or BUFR support needed | |
| Utilities | |||
make | http://www.gnu.org/software/make/ | ||
| cmake | http://www.cmake.org/ | version 2.8.4 minimum | |
| Python Support | |||
| swig | http://www.swig.org/ | to generate the python interface | |
| python | http://www.python.org/ | ||
| python-numpy | http://www.numpy.org/ | ||
| Third party libraries | |||
| proj | http://trac.osgeo.org/proj/ | Proj4 to handle projections | |
| boost | http://www.boost.org/ (Requires 1.5) | used for coastlines | |
| netcdf | http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/ | if netcdf support needed Please note: You also need to install the legacy C++ interface and HDF5 | |
| pango | http://www.pango.org/ | if png/pdf support needed | |
| expat | http://expat.sourceforge.net/ | for XML parsing | |
| Ecmwf libraries | |||
| grib-api | GRIB-API Home (Requires 1.9) | if grib support needed | |
| odb-api | ODB-API Home | if odb support needed | |
| emoslib | EMOSLIB | if bufr support needed | |
Compilation environment
At ECMWF, OpenSuSE 10.3/11.3 Linux systems (32 and 64bit) were used for testing. Any C++ Compiler which supports features required for the ANSI C++ standard from 1998 (STL, namespaces, templates) should work. At ECMWF we tested GCC’s g++ 4.x successfully. A Fortran compiler is not required for the compilation of Magics, but is needed if you want to use the Fortran interface or compile a dependent Fortran library (Emoslib).
Generating the Makefiles with CMake
After changing into the build Magics directory, the user has to run CMake with his/her own options. The command gives feedback on what requirements are fulfilled and what software is still required. Table below gives an overview of the different options of configure. The default (without any options) will compile a share library only and install it in /usr/local/.
| cmake options | doc | default |
|---|---|---|
| CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX | where you want to install your Magics library | /usr/local |
| CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE | to select the type of compilation:
| ? |
| CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS | More flags for the C++ compiler | |
ENABLE_GRIB | enable grib support | on |
| GRIB_API_PATH | where to find grib-api ( if non-standard installation ) | |
| ENABLE_NETCDF | enable netcdf support | on |
| NETCDF4_PATH | where to find netcdf ( if non-standard installation ) | |
| ENABLE_ODB | enable odb support | off |
| ODB_API_PATH | where to find odb ( if non-standard installation ) | |
| ENABLE_BUFR | enable bufr support The bufr support is done through emoslib . | off |
| EMOS_PATH | Where to find emos lib ( if non-standard installation ) | |
| ENABLE_PYTHON | enable python interface | auto |
| ENABLE_FORTRAN | enable fortran interface | on |
| ENABLE_METVIEW | enable metview support(and Qt support) | off |
| ENABLE_CAIRO | enable cairo support | on |
| BOOST_ROOT | where to find boost ( if non-standard installation ) | |
| PROJ4_PATH | where to find proj4 ( if non-standard installation ) |
If auto, CMake will try to enable the feature, but will not fail if it can not.
To make sure that a feature is really enabled, you will have to specify with the option ex: -DENABLE_GRIB=ON. In that case CMake will fail if the grib support can not be enabled.
The C, C++ and Fortran compilers are chosen by CMake. (This can be overwritten by setting the environment variables CC, CXX and FC, on the command line before you call cmake, to the preferred compiler). Further the variable CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS can be used to set compiler flags for optimisation or debugging. For example, it is recommended to use CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="-O2 -mtune=native" or any other optimisation to compile Magics.
The options to enable/disable output formats allow you to customise your installation. For example, if you have problems on your system with support libraries (see previous section), you might want to try to disable the raster output. Cairo libraries are responsible for most third-party dependencies.
Compiling the code
After the CMake command has run successfully, the user can compile the library by typing make in the build directory.
Testing your build
The Magics code contains a directory called test in which, in separate sub-directories, tests for the various interfaces of Magics are provided. Test programs in Fortran, C, Python and MagML are compiled and run if MAGPLUS_HOME=$PWD make check is invoked from the root directory. (Note that the MAGPLUS_HOME needs to be set!)
The output of the tests should verified before the library is installed. This setup does not check if the user setup is correct, but the code in test can be used to do so. More examples of source code can be found on the Magics web gallery
Installing the library
Once the build and tests have been successfully completed, the command make install copies the library into the correct location on the system. Administrator permission might be required, depending on the installation directory. You might want to run make -n install first, which will show you what will be installed where, without performing any changes to your system.
To free space, the temporary unpacked source directory can be cleaned of the object files with make clean after a successful installation.
Building RPMS
To ease installations over multiple systems or to enable easy re-installation, Magics allows the building of RPMS. By typing the command make rpms a tarball is build and the binary package generated this requires a full compilation. The generated RPMS can be installed with the command sudo rpm -i name.rpm and de-installed by sudo rpm -e name.
Installation FAQ
Why do I get the error message while loading shared libraries: libMagPlus.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory when running a Magics executable?
You need to alter your $LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable, as described in section “User setup”. The variable needs to contain the path to your Magics library.
Why do I get a message about a missing / not found libpgc.so when trying to run a Magics executable?
If your EmosLib is compiled with Portland’s Pgf90, it requires this library as shared library at run-time. You need to alter your $LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable.
How can I change the coastline files?
Coastline files are given in Shape file format. The GIS data was taken from http://www.naturalearthdata.com.
Can I add GIS information, such as rivers and borders to my plots?
Yes. Information about political borders and rivers have been added with the new coastline files.
Why have the Printercap file and the frame in my PostScript disappeared?
With version 2.4 of Magics we have changed the set-up of how the PostScript driver was internally organised. The Printercap configuration file was created in the past to accommodate differences between printers. This is nowadays no issue any more. Out of the same reason PostScript output was scaled down to 95% to allow room for Printer alignment problems. From version 2.4 onwards the scaling is, as in all other drivers, set back to 100% of the page size.
Why did version 2.6 of Magics was followed by version 2.8?
With Magics 2.4 we introduced a new numbering scheme where the sub version indicates how stable the version of Magics is. Odd numbers (2.5, 2.7, …) indicate unstable development versions and even numbers (2.4, 2.6, 2.8, …) indicate versions we think are stable and tested enough to be used in your applications.
How can I report bugs or ask for help?
Please write an email to magics@ecmwf.int . Please compress any larger files you might need to attach with gzip.
Quick installation guide
This is an example of a list of commands you could use to install Magics. It is assumed “>” is the shell prompt. The Magics version number may vary.
> tar -xzf Magics++-2.24.0.tar.gz
> cd Magics++-2.24.0
> mkdir build ; cd build
> cmake /path/to/magics-home-directory –DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/where/you/install/Magics++-2.22.0
> make
> setenv MAGPLUS_HOME /path/to/where/you/install/Magics++-2.22.0
> make test << running the test programs
> make install