CDF Version 2.1, UNIX Systems Common Data Format (CDF) is a conceptual data abstraction for storing multi-dimensional data sets. The basic component of CDF is a software programming interface that is a device independent view of the CDF data model. The application developer is insulated from the actual physical file format for reasons of conceptual simplicity, device independence, and future expandability. Version 2 of CDF has been rewritten to be portable across a wide variety of platforms. CDF files created on any given platform can be transported to any other platform on to which CDF is ported and used with any CDF tools or layered applications. A more detailed introduction to CDF can be found in the CDF User's Guide. The CDF library and toolkit programs are written in C. A C compiler (ANSI standard preferred) is necessary to build the CDF distribution. The CDF distribution also contains several FORTRAN source files which support the FORTRAN interface. If a FORTRAN compiler is not available, contact CDF User Support for the necessary patches. Documentation for CDF consists of the CDF User's Guide. This document has been written using LaTeX and can be found in the 'doc' directory of the distribution area in a compressed "Adobe" PostScript file named ug.ps.Z. It should be printable on any PostScript printer capable of printing "Abode" PostScript. If you have trouble printing the CDF User's Guide, contact us (we can mail you a hard copy if necessary). The document will be printed so that you can copy it to double-sided and then bind it like a book. Before printing, you must first uncompress the document with the 'uncompress' command (which will rename the file ug.ps). Requests for assistance or documentation should be sent to: Internet -- CDFSUPPORT@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV (128.183.36.23) If you get the distribution, please send CDFSUPPORT a message so we can put you on our mailing list. That way you will be notified of new releases. UNIX Installation Instructions ------------------------------ CDF V2.1 is distributed for UNIX-based systems as a compressed tar file named cdf21-dist.tar.Z. Use the 'uncompress' command to first uncompress the tar file. An example of this would be: uncompress cdf21-dist.tar.Z Then use the 'tar' command to extract the CDF library and toolkit source files from the tar file. 'tar' will create a directory named 'cdf21-dist' containing several subdirectories. The source files for the distribution will be placed into these directories. The syntax for the 'tar' command is different on some flavors of UNIX. For Sun/SunOS, DECstation/ULTRIX, and SGi/IRIX use: tar -xvof cdf21-dist.tar For the IBM-RS6000/AIX use: tar -x -v -f cdf21-dist.tar CDF V2.1 has a makefile setup to automatically build the CDF library and tools. The following steps should be taken to build and install CDF V2.1. 1. Set your current directory (cd) to the top level CDF directory (the directory named 'cdf21-dist' created by 'tar'). 2. This step depends on your machine/operating system. It will compile and link the distribution. For a Sun/SunOS 4.1 (or newer) installation enter: make all.Sun_SunOS For a Sun/SunOS 4.0.3 (or older) installation enter: make all.Sun_SunOS_403 For a Silicon Graphics/IRIX installation enter: make all.SGi_IRIX For a DECstation/ULTRIX installation enter: make all.DECstation_ULTRIX For an IBM-RS6000/AIX installation enter: make all.IBM-RS6000_AIX Some informational/warning messages may be displayed. These can be ignored and should have no effect on the operation of the library or toolkit programs. 3. Test that the distribution was built correctly by entering the appropriate command from the following: make test.Sun_SunOS make test.Sun_SunOS_403 make test.SGi_IRIX make test.DECstation_ULTRIX make test.IBM-RS6000_AIX The CDF release, copyright notice, and CDF_OK status message should be displayed for each interface tested. 4. Either install the library, include files, and toolkit programs in system directories manually or use 'make' to automatically install them. Using 'make' is dependent on your machine/operating system. Enter the appropriate command from the following: make install.Sun_SunOS INSTALLDIR= make install.Sun_SunOS_403 INSTALLDIR= make install.SGi_IRIX INSTALLDIR= make install.DECstation_ULTRIX INSTALLDIR= make install.IBM-RS6000_AIX INSTALLDIR= The automatic install creates 'bin', 'include', and 'lib' directories in the to install relevant files. The executables, include files, and library installed in these directories should be used by your applications. If this does not fit in with your system directory setup, then you should manually install the CDF library, tools, and include files. For example (assuming a Sun/SunOS 4.1 system) to install from the top level CDF directory, the following command will work if entered while in that directory. make install.Sun_SunOS INSTALLDIR=`pwd` 5. The environment variable CDF_HELP (use setenv) should be set to the location of the 'cdf21-dist/help' directory (full pathname needed). This directory contains the online help text for the toolkit programs. The contents of the 'cdf21-dist/help' directory may be moved as long as CDF_HELP is set to the new location. 6. This step is optional but may be desirable. Set up aliases for the toolkit programs. Suggested aliases and their corresponding values follow. cdfbrowse /bin/cdfbrow cdflist /bin/cdflist cdfwalk /bin/cdfwalk cdfconvert /bin/cdfcvt cdfskeleton /bin/cdfskt skeletontable /bin/sktable cdfinquire /bin/cdfinq cdfstats /bin/cdfstats cdfcompare /bin/cdfcmp cdfscope /bin/cdfscope cdfdir /bin/cdfdir is the directory specified in step 4 if the automatic install was used. These aliases can then be used to execute the toolkit programs. An alternative method would be to add /bin to your PATH environment variable. In this case, you would have to use the executable names found in that directory (which in some instances would not agree with the names in the documentation). The environment variable CDF_HELP should be defined to be the location of the 'cdf21-dist/help' directory (full disk/directory pathname needed). This directory contains the online help text for the toolkit programs. A file named 'definitions.template' exists in the top-level directory of the CDF distribution. It is a template for a script file that a user could execute to set up the aliases and environment variables just described. You may want to edit this template and then have CDF users on your system execute it when they want to use CDF.