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.

Table of contents

Highlights

A number of bug fixes and performance improvements have been introduced on the different versions to become default. Here are some of the most relevant new features:

• ecCodes, the heart of GRIB and BUFR handling, brings its usual support for new GRIB parameters along with numerous fixes for extra stability. There are performance improvements for decoding/encoding GRIB data in a multi-threaded program as well as new options for the grib_ls and grib_dump tools.
• Metview, ECMWF's interactive and batch software for manipulation and plotting of data, brings several new Macro/Python functions, including ml_to_hl(), which converts GRIB data from model levels to height above ground or sea level. Also in this release is an improved inline Help sidebar in the Code Editor.
• CodesUI, the standalone combination of Metview's GRIB and BUFR examiners, added new tab called Descriptors to show all the expanded descriptors (metadata only) of the given message.
• Magics, ECMWF's plotting library, adds some smaller fixes.

How to use the new versions for testing BEFORE the update

The new versions of the software packages can be selected by using the nov19 tag in modules. For example:

module swap metview/nov19
module load Magics/nov19
module load bufrdc/nov19
module swap eccodes/nov19 

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:

module swap metview/old
module load Magics/old
module load bufrdc/old
module swap eccodes/old 

Version changes

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.