THIS PAGE IS STILL A DRAFT. NOT PUBLICLY AVAILABLE YET
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 5 June 2019 10:00 - 10:30 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 next operational IFS cycle
With the upcoming Implementation of IFS cycle 46R1, this set of defaults is ready to handle the data produced, including all the new parameters introduced in this cycle
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
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
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.
The default compilers on the High Performance Computing Facility (CCA and CCB) will be updated at a later stage
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. 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.
How to use the new versions for testing BEFORE the update
The new versions of the software packages can be selected by using the jun19 tag in modules. For example:
module swap metview/jun19 module load Magics/jun19 module swap eccodes/jun19 module swap python/jun19
How to revert to the old versions in case of problems AFTER the updateUsers 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
Change list
ECMWF Software
This table summarises the changes in the version of the different packages:
| Package | Default version | Release notes | Download page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | |||
| CodesUI | 1.2.1 | 1.2.4 | CodesUI - Change History | CodesUI - Releases |
| ecCodes | 2.9.2 | 2.12.5 | ecCodes Releases | |
| ecFlow | 4.11.1 | 4.12.0 | ecFlow Releases | |
| Magics | 3.2.2 | 4.0.3 | Latest News | Magics Releases |
| Metview | 5.4.1 | 5.5.3 | Metview Releases Metview Bundle | |
| ODB API | 0.18.0 | 0.18.1 | Change history | ODB API Release |
ecCodes is now the official ECMWF encoder and decoder for GRIB and BUFR formats. It supersedes 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 | 4.5.8 | 4.6.1 | History of EMOSLIB changes | EMOSLIB Releases |
Please see the Release notes for full details of the changes implemented in each package.
GRIB-API is now out of support and not updated any longer. If you are still using it, we strongly encourage you to migrate to ecCodes.
Third-party software
Some of the versions in this list may already be the default for a specific package on a certain platform, so no changes will be made in those cases. After the update, all platforms will have the same defaults for all these packages.