[MITgcm-support] MITgcm now uses NetCDF (was: Re: testreport on G4, mnc)

[Ed Hill]

On Fri, 2004-09-24 at 08:17, Martin Losch wrote:
> Hi Ed,
> 
> In this case I have suggestion. I DID have NetCDF installed in 
> /sw/incluce and /sw/lib, which is the place where FINK puts them. I 
> have now linked the files into /usr/include and /usr/lib and now exp0 
> seems to pass.
> 
> Appearently, MITgcm requires the libraris and includes to be in a 
> particular place (/usr/include /usr/lib). This will not work on all 
> systems. Wouldn't it be a good idea to include the netcdf-path in the 
> build options (or as a general rule as environment varibles that are 
> passed to make; on second thought environment variables may not be a 
> good idea because different makes behave differently with respect to 
> reading environment variables)
> 
> 
> (I thought that testreport only tries to use MNC if it already has 
> detected some for of NetCDF, is that so?)


Hi Martin,

The MITgcm build system provides a convenient optfile facility so that
you can put additional headers and libraries *anywhere* you want them. 
The syntax within the optfile is:

  INCLUDEDIRS='-I/your/path/to/netcdf/headers'
  LIBS="-L/your/path/to/netcdf/lib/  -lyour_netcdf_lib_name"

and there are *numerous* examples of this in the various optfiles at:

  MITgcm/tools/build_options

The only reason that anyone expects to see headers in /usr/include and
libraries in /usr/lib is because thats where YOUR COMPILER (by default!)
looks for them.  Your comment that 

  "MITgcm requires the libraris and includes to be in a 
   particular place"

is *completely* false.  Its merely the default behavior of *your*
compiler and the default search paths that *your* compiler uses.  If you
want to put headers and libs in any location then feel free to do so and
enjoy the convenience of saving your configuration in a custom optfile.

Ed

-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
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