McIDAS-X Version 2006
Upgrade Procedure
May 2006

Please take the time to read this entire document; it’s important to understand the whole procedure before you begin. If you connect to ADDE remote servers at other sites, contact the site coordinators at those sites. The site coordinators can tell you if any server problems that might affect your system were noted since this upgrade was distributed.

This upgrade procedure is divided into four sections.

• Section I. Supported Software Configurations contains the software versions to use with McIDAS-X 2006.
• Section II. Before Installing McIDAS-X describes the Required and Optional Actions to perform before installing McIDAS-X 2006.
• Section III. Installing McIDAS-X explains how to install McIDAS-X 2006.
• Section IV. McIDAS-X Significant Changes describes the Required and Optional Actions to perform after installing McIDAS-X 2006.

Section I. Supported Software Configurations

McIDAS-X 2006 is supported on systems running Apple Mac OS X, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Microsoft Windows XP with Services for Unix, Red Hat Linux, SGI IRIX or Sun Solaris. The software configurations compatible with McIDAS-X 2006 are listed in the table below and in Chapter 1 of the McIDAS User’s Guide (revised 5/06).

McIDAS-X 2006 was tested on these versions only. The McIDAS Users’ Group (MUG) is extremely limited in its ability to support sites running 2006 with other software versions.

Vendor: Apple

Operating System	Mac OS X 10.3
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.4 (available for free at http://hpc.sourceforge.net)
C compiler	gcc: 3.3 (packaged with Mac OS X 10.3)
X Window System	packaged with Mac OS X 10.3
Operating System	Mac OS X 10.4
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.4.3 (available for free at http://fink.sourceforge.net)
C compiler	gcc: 4.0 (packaged with Mac OS X 10.4)
X Window System	packaged with Mac OS X 10.4

Vendor: HP

Operating System	HP-UX 11.11
Fortran compiler	vendor: HP Fortran 90 version 2.5.1	-or- g77: 3.0.3
C compiler	vendor: HP C/ANSI C 11.11.02	-or- gcc: 3.0.3
X Window System	packaged with HP-UX 11.11

Vendor: IBM

Operating System	AIX 5L version 5.3.3
Fortran compiler	vendor: XLF 8.1.0	-or- g77: 3.4.4
C compiler	vendor: XLC 6.0	-or- gcc: 3.4.4
X Window System	AIXwindows 5.3.3

Vendor: Microsoft

Operating System	Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2 and Services for Unix 3.5
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.3
C compiler	gcc: 3.3
X Server	see below
Windows XP Notes: Because McIDAS-X for XP is distributed as a binary package, the Fortran and C compilers are needed only if you do local development on the workstation. The compilers are included in the Software Development Kit (SDK) available with Services for Unix (SFU). We do not have a specific X server that we recommend. We have tried many X servers, but have encountered problems with all of them, especially when cutting and pasting. Some work better than others; many people at SSEC use Exceed, X-Win32 or MI/X.

Vendor: Red Hat

Operating System	Enterprise Linux 3.0
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.4.3
C compiler	gcc: 3.4.3
X Window System	packaged with Enterprise Linux 3.0
Operating System	Enterprise Linux 4.0 on 64 bit
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.4.4
C compiler	gcc: 3.4.4
X Window System	packaged with Enterprise Linux 4.0
Linux Notes: On Linux systems, we recommend that you use the GNOME desktop environment. Other desktops, such as KDE, will not display the McIDAS-X windows correctly. Due to unresolved issues, ADDE remote servers are not supported on 64 bit installs of Enterprise Linux 4.0. Enterprise Linux 4.0 does not install Unix compress by default. So you must install compress if you will be configuring your Enterprise Linux 4.0 workstation as an ADDE remote server.

Vendor: SGI

Operating System	IRIX 6.5.21
Fortran compiler	vendor: SGI Fortran 77 7.4.2	-or- g77: 3.3.2
C compiler	vendor: ANSI C 7.4.2	-or- gcc: 3.3.2
X Window System	packaged with IRIX 6.5.21

Vendor: Sun

Operating System	Solaris 9 OS SPARC Platform Edition
Fortran compiler	vendor: Forte Developer 7	-or- g77: 3.3.2
C compiler	vendor: Forte Developer 7	-or- gcc: 3.3.2
X Window System	packaged with Solaris 9
Operating System	Solaris 9 OS x86 Platform Edition
Fortran compiler	g77: 3.3.2
C compiler	gcc: 3.3.2
X Window System	packaged with Solaris 9

 

Section II. Before Installing McIDAS-X

Complete all Required Actions below.

Core Software Changes

Review the changes to core software before installing McIDAS-X 2006. Section IV lists some of the significant changes since the last upgrade. Two ASCII text files, MAY06PRG.TXT and MAY06INQ.TXT, list all software changes made to McIDAS-X since the previous upgrade. A third file, MAY06OPN.TXT, lists all software bugs known at the time this upgrade was distributed. These three files are available on the McIDAS Website (http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/) and are provided with the upgrade CD for sites that receive their software that way. After installing McIDAS-X 2006, the files are in the ~mcidas/data directory.

Required Action:

See Section IV of this document to review the significant changes made to core software. You can also place the three text files in the ~mcidas directory before installing the upgrade. To do so, complete the instructions in Obtaining McIDAS-X 2006 in Chapter 1 of the McIDAS User’s Guide (revised 5/06).

Operating System and Compiler Changes

Beginning with this upgrade, the following changes were made to operating system and compiler versions that McIDAS-X is supported on.

• Apple Mac OS X 10.4 was added as a new operating system that McIDAS-X is supported on. And as before, OS X 10.3 is also supported.
• The IBM AIX version that McIDAS-X is supported on changed from 5L version 5.2 to 5L version 5.3.3. There are corresponding g77/gcc compiler changes (from version 3.3.2 to 3.4.4) with the switch to 5L version 5.3.3.
• The Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions that McIDAS-X is supported on remain at 3.0 and 4.0 on 64 bit systems. However, for 4.0 the g77/gcc compilers’ version changed from 3.4.3 to 3.4.4.

Required Action:

See the table in Section I, Supported Software Configurations, for the complete list of operating system and compiler versions that McIDAS-X 2006 is supported on. We recommend that you update the operating systems and/or compiler versions on your McIDAS-X workstation(s) to those listed in the table.

Compatibility with -X Remote Servers and -XCD

McIDAS-X 2006 can run in a stand-alone mode. However, many commands can access data on other workstations (remote servers). Therefore, your McIDAS-X client workstations and the remote servers they access must be running compatible versions in order for all features to work as expected.

For example, the items below are dependent upon the McIDAS-X version that the client and/or server is running.

• The maximum grid size allowed in -X and -XCD was increased from 400,000 to 2,000,000 points in version 2006. Therefore, you must have version 2006 installed on your -XCD servers to decode grids larger than 400,000 points, and must have version 2006 installed on your -X clients to use grids larger than 400,000 points in the GRD* commands (e.g., GRDDISP and GRDCOPY).
• The 13 gbtbpds001.* (GRIB table) files in McIDAS-X were updated in version 2006 (see Data Files in Section IV of this document). These files are used in McIDAS-X if you create local GRIB datasets (using the DSSERVE command). They are also used in McIDAS-XCD to serve real-time GRIB datasets. Because the updates to these files affect McIDAS-XCD, sites with -XCD workstations should install -XCD 2006 immediately after installing -X 2006 on those workstations.

Required Action:

Coordinate upgrading your site’s McIDAS-X and -XCD systems according to your needs, considering the compatibility requirements listed above.

Disk Space

McIDAS-X disk space requirements increased with this upgrade.

The overall disk space requirements for obtaining, building and installing McIDAS-X 2006 are listed in the table below. The disk space requirements for 2005 are listed for comparison. The compiler type (vendor or gcc/g77) used for each build is also listed.

Operating system	Compilers	McIDAS-X 2005	McIDAS-X 2006
AIX 5L version 5.3.3	vendor	405 MB	415 MB
HP-UX 11.11	vendor	450 MB	450 MB
IRIX 6.5.21	vendor	470 MB	485 MB
Enterprise Linux 3.0	gcc/g77	375 MB	380 MB
Enterprise Linux 4.0	gcc/g77	420 MB	475 MB
Mac OS X 10.3	gcc/g77	400 MB	410 MB
Mac OS X 10.4	gcc/g77	n/a	425 MB
Solaris 9 SPARC	vendor	445 MB	455 MB
Solaris 9 x86	gcc/g77	365 MB	375 MB
Windows XP Pro	gcc/g77	315 MB	325 MB

Required Action:

Verify that you have sufficient disk space available to obtain, build, and install McIDAS-X 2006.

Section III. Installing McIDAS-X

If you need assistance with the upgrade or want to know if any problems that might affect your site were noted since this upgrade was mailed, call the McIDAS Help Desk at (608) 262-2455 or send email to the Help Desk.

Required Action:

Obtain and install McIDAS-X 2006 using the instructions in Chapter 1, Installing and Configuring McIDAS-X, in the McIDAS User’s Guide (revised 5/06).

Section IV. McIDAS-X Significant Changes

Complete all Required Actions below. Optional Actions are only for your consideration.

New Command

One new command was added to McIDAS-X. The command, IMGRGB, combines images and basemaps into a multi-banded RGB image. See the online help and the Commands chapter of the McIDAS User's Guide (revised 5/06) for details.

WWDISP Command

The WWDISP command was modified to correctly plot severe thunderstorm and tornado watch boxes. The WWDISP command in versions prior to 2006 will not plot the boxes because of a February 2006 change to the National Weather Service product headers. The WWDISP command in this 2006 upgrade fixes the problem, which users subscribed to the mcidas-users email list were notified about in a 31 March 2006 email from the McIDAS Help Desk.

Optional Action:

If you have been using WWDISP with PLOT=COUNTY to plot severe thunderstorm and tornado watches (as was suggested in the email message to mcidas-users), you can switch back to PLOT=BOX or NBOX if desired. Note however, that plotting watches by county may be preferable, as the Storm Prediction Center states that the actual watches are defined by the counties rather than the boxes.

GRDLIST Command Output

The GRDLIST command output was modified because another space was required in the LEVEL field. To accommodate the extra space there while keeping the overall output width to 80 characters or less, the DAY, TIME and SRC fields were moved one space to the right, and the FHOUR field was reduced by one character.

Optional Action:

Check your scripts, McBASI programs, etc., to see if they read GRDLIST command output and parse its values. If they do, modify them to accommodate the new output format generated by the McIDAS-X 2006 version of GRDLIST.

McIDAS-X for XP Remote Servers and PAE

Due to a change in the Windows XP service installation, the ADDE remote server installation script (e.g., mcinet2005.sh) no longer works on XP workstations with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later. Therefore, we are NOT including a remote server installation script for McIDAS-X for XP with this 2006 upgrade.

If your McIDAS-X for XP workstation is already running the remote server (e.g., from version 2004 or 2005), you can continue to run it even after installing McIDAS-X for XP version 2006. Please note, however, that if you uninstall it (with a command similar to sh ./mcinet2005.sh uninstall mcadde) you will NOT be able to reinstall it because the failure occurs during the install portion of any version of the mcinet script. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do NOT uninstall the remote server on your McIDAS-X for XP workstations at any time unless you're sure you will not need to run it again in the future.

Also, three users have reported a problem on their McIDAS-X for XP workstations where McIDAS would not run (it gives a mcimagem: ERROR fork()ing error at startup) if the Windows XP Physical Address Extension (PAE) is enabled. The methods for checking the PAE setting and disabling it were added to Installing McIDAS-X on Windows XP Workstations in Chapter 1 of the McIDAS User's Guide (revised 5/06).

Required Action:

If you are currently running an ADDE Remote Server on your McIDAS-X for XP workstation, do NOT uninstall it. If you do so, you will not be able to reinstall it. As noted above, we did not include a 2006 version of the McIDAS-X for XP ADDE remote server because of this problem.

If you install McIDAS-X for XP on a new workstation and McIDAS fails upon startup with a mcimagem: ERROR fork()ing error, you must disable PAE using the instructions in Installing McIDAS-X on Windows XP Workstations in Chapter 1 of the McIDAS User's Guide (revised 5/06).

Other Modifications

The modifications below require no special action.

Command / Topic	Modification
DSSERVE	increased number of characters allowed in INFO keyword's text string from 79 to 120 characters, and added lock to file RESOLV.SRV so it can can no longer be modified by more than one session at a time
FRMLABEL, ZA	updated to give correct output format when using the (MDY) placeholder with an image or frame directory that has a single‑digit value for day of the month
GRDDISP	updated to plot wind vectors that are the same size as PTDISP's and are proportional to the speed; also modified to use the values specified in the general search keywords (DAY, TIME, FHOUR, etc) as defaults in the G1, G2, etc. keywords when MATH= is used
IMGCHA	modified to zero out the otype (original source type) when IMGCHA is run only if the otype is PRD and STYPE=VISR is specified
IMGCOPY	added new keyword CONTINUE=YES to continue copying of multiple images even if an image is skipped because it does not contain the specified geographical region; also updated to file the correct image date when copying into netCDF format datasets, and file the correct latitude and longitude values when copying into netCDF datasets on little endian workstations
IMGDISP	modified REPEAT keyword to allow 0 for the finc parameter, and thus allow loading of multiple images into the same frame for quality control checks or other purposes
IMGFILT	fixed CLEAN option to work as documented so that bad lines are replaced by averaging the values of the good line above it and the good line below it (in previous versions it was copying the line above it)
IMGREMAP	fixed problem of data gaps sometimes appearing in global mosaics
MAP	fixed problem of cardinal directions being omitted if they were requested with dashed lat/lon lines
SUNLIT	updated to output correct data at the poles
UACROSS	updated display of wind barbs generated from U and V grids so the directions are correct instead of all between 270 and 360 degrees; also updated to plot wind barbs in the southern hemisphere with the correct orientation (southern hemisphere orientation instead of northern hemisphere orientation)
Cutting and Pasting	modified to correct problems of Text and Command Window and/or Image Window crashing after multiple cut&pastes into or out of the Text and Command Window
GRIB Servers	added GRIB servers to McIDAS-X to allow creation of datasets containing GRIB files from the NOAAPORT data stream on local and remote servers, and display or manipulation of the data using the GRD* commands; see the DSSERVE command's online help or its documentation in the McIDAS User's Guide (revised 5/06) for information about creating the datasets
MTSAT HRIT Servers	added preliminary versions of MTSAT HRIT servers, calibration and navigation modules to McIDAS-X; they are not supported for now and will need to be updated when the data becomes available

Data Files

The following changes were made to files in the ~mcidas/data directory.

File name	Change
CORE.SAT	updated SS numbers for FY1 and FY2 series, and added entries for NOAA-18 so the NAV* commands work with those satellites
DCUPPR	new MD file schema template file that can hold "mixed" level (i.e., mandatory and significant level) radiosonde data; this schema can be used with the TXT2MD command to import ASCII radiosonde data into McIDAS for display with commands like ALTIM, HODO, UACROSS, UALIST and UAPLOT
gbtbpds001.*	updated navigation parameters and updated parameter names to match NCEP's Office Note 388
GEODATA.CORE	corrected the MSG/FD dataset band selections for channels SW (from band 6 to band 4) and WV (from band 4 to band 5), and changed GOESPAC/FD datasets to MTSAT/FDVIS and MTSAT/FDIR because GOESPAC (GOES‑9) service was terminated 15 November 2005
IMGRGB_SST.ET, IMGRGB_WV.ET	new enhancement tables for use with new command IMGRGB
OUTLHRES	added Africa's Lake Victoria (near 1.0°S, 33.0°E)
OUTLSUPU	updated to divide the line segment making up the Oklahoma panhandle into smaller line segments so that Oklahoma is always plotted even if it's on the edge of the map domain
SATANNOT	added sensor source number 211 for AMSR-E RAIN, and 103 and 113 for TERRA-GEO and AQUA-GEO, respectively
SATBAND	corrected central wavelengths for Kalpana and FY-2 satellite bands; changed calibration name for MTSAT to MTST to match the name of the calibration and navigation files; added HIR4 calibration type for NOAA-18 and NOAA-N'(-19); added band information for MODIS Geolocation products (MOD03)
STNDB.CORE	corrected country code for Canadian stations YDB and YOC; added TAF classification for station KLBX; added correct elevation (159 meters) for RAOB station 29839; added new Antarctic station 89620, East Law Dome AWS; added new station ID KGPI for Kalispell/Glacier Park International Airport (to match FAA identifier) and new station IDs KEY and KKEY for Key West (for move to new building); removed incorrect "User defined" lines that were output with FORM=ALL listing of NAMMOS and NGMMOS stations
USSTATE.MAP	updated to divide the line segment making up the Oklahoma panhandle into smaller line segments so that Oklahoma is always plotted even if it's on the edge of the map domain
XRD2006.TXT	updated with list of commands, servers and data files in McIDAS-XRD version 2006 sidecar package; run McIDAS-X command SEE XRD2006.TXT to view the list

Required Action:

Merge these modifications with all local copies of the data files. Users who intend to create UPPR-schema MD files must also register the schema with command SCHE DCUPPR.

Local Code

Compile and link all local code after installing the upgrade. Listed below are some of the software and structural changes most likely to affect your local code.

• The module ddeservc.c was updated to correct a 64-bit Linux problem where servers were invalidating certain project numbers. This fix is needed for sites using project numbers for accounting or security.
• The number of characters allowed for the INFO= field was increased from 72 to 120 in the module dsserve.pgm.
• The API for variable cid was updated, so is now correctly documented as character*12 in module idinfo.for.
• To facilitate communications with McIDAS-V, the modules listed below were updated to optionally use memory mapped files for User Common and/or add additional information to frame objects.

  Graphics.c	m0shmat.c	m0shmget.c
  mcenv.cp	m0cmgra.c	m0glue.h
  mcline.c	mcenh_.c

  Developers must relink local code that draw graphics, write to the image window, or modify the frame color table.
• The routine convdlmf.f , which processes calibration and navigation .dlm files, was updated so programmers can write case insensitive code.
• The modules listed below were updated for the new GRIB server and implementation of the MySQL database.

  database.c	daytime.c	gbtbpds001.2v1
  gbtbpds001.2v128	gbtbpds001.2v2	gbtbpds001.2v3
  gbtbpds001.av1	gbtbpds001.bv1	grdcopy.pgm
  grddisp.pgm	grdinfo.pgm	grdlist.pgm
  gribfunc.c	gribgdir.cp	gribgget.cp
  gridparm.inc	m0fhrnge.for	m0gserv.c
  m0gsort.for	m0instr.c	m0parstr.for
  mcfndgrd.for	mcgrib.h	mcidas.h
  mcncdf.h	ncdffunc.c	readsort.for
  xcdgrib.c

• Changes to the modules listed below were made to increase the maximum number of grid points allowed to 2,000,000; memory usage was optimized by placing larger arrays into common blocks.

  ctourf.for	ggetserv.fp	gputserv.fp
  grdcopy.pgm	grddisp.pgm	grdimg.pgm
  grdinfo.pgm	grdlist.pgm	gridparm.inc
  igg.pgm	igget.for	m0readgfin.for
  mcfbarn.for	mcgget.for	mcgrdcon.for
  mcidas.h	mcigghed.for	mcprghed.for
  ptcon.pgm

• The install and compilation scripts, mcinst.sh and mccomp.sh, were updated to link to the MySQL libraries. A change was also made to mcinst.sh to use ‘single job mode’ when building McIDAS-X on Linux workstations. This change prevents undefined references when compiling on fast workstations.
• The arrays containing the number of columns for a schema was increased from 7,000 to 10,000 in module txt2md.pgm.
• The modules mcterm.c and mcterm.w were updated to correct problems with cutting and pasting text.
• Updates to the modules listed below were required to support the Fink version of g77 installs of McIDAS-X on Mac OS X version 10.4. Note: mcwish.osx is distributed as a binary, built under Mac OS X version 10.3.

  mccomp.sh	mcinst.sh	mcwish.osx
  xcdgrib.c

• To correct problems with the annotation line not updating, the function calls to tvsat in module imgdisp.pgm were changed to m0tvtosatcoords.
• File locking was updated in the module ddeservf.for to include the fully qualified path name of RESOLV.SRV .

McIDAS-XRD

A new version of the McIDAS-XRD optional sidecar is available with this upgrade. The new version, 2006, contains 13 new commands, 34 new data files, and four new servers. These changes bring the total number of -XRD 2006 commands to 101, data files to 52, and servers to ten.

The list of -XRD 2006 software is available on the McIDAS Website at http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/mcidas/software/xrd/2006commands.html, or in the file ~mcidas/data/XRD2006.TXT that’s distributed with -X 2006. To view the file, run the command SEE XRD2006.TXT after -X 2006 is installed.

The -XRD 2006 package can only be used in combination with -X and must be installed after -X 2006 has been installed. The -XRD package contains research and development commands, servers and data files that are not part of -X. The -XRD software is provided on an “as is” basis, meaning it is not MUG-supported. The software in -XRD comes from programmers at various MUG sites. The software is added to the package if it may be useful to other sites and it meets some basic code standards.

SSEC McIDAS User Services packages and distributes the -XRD software, but does little or no testing of it and does not provide any documentation. Each command’s on-line help is all that’s available for documentation. McIDAS User Services will forward all bug reports to the programmer that submitted the software. However, there is no guarantee that bugs will be fixed, as it’s up to the programmer to decide whether or not to fix them.

Optional Action:

Install McIDAS-XRD 2006 by obtaining the files and completing the installation instructions on the McIDAS Website. Select McIDAS-XRD in the Download Software menu along the left side of the page.