CDF Version 2.4, 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, the distribution can be built without Fortran support. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! You must have a C compiler in order to build the CDF distribution. !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 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 online distribution area in a compressed "Adobe" PostScript file named cdf24ug.ps.Z. It should be printable on any PostScript printer capable of printing "Adobe" PostScript. If you have trouble printing the CDF User's Guide (it's over 400 pages), you may want to try printing the PostScript files in the `doc/20_pages' directory. They consist of 20-page chunks of the CDF User's Guide. Some PostScript printers have problems with large PostScript files but may be able to print the smaller chunks. If you still have trouble printing the PostScript file(s), contact us and we will mail you a hard copy. Before printing a PostScript file, you must first uncompress the file with the `uncompress' command (which will rename the file without the `.Z' extension). Requests for assistance or documentation should be sent to: NSI/DECnet -- NSSDCA::CDFSUPPORT 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. The `CHANGES.doc' file explains the new features of CDF V2.4. UNIX Installation Instructions ------------------------------ CDF V2.4 is distributed for UNIX-based systems as a compressed tar file named cdf24-dist.tar.Z. Use the `uncompress' command to first uncompress the tar file. An example of this would be: uncompress cdf24-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 `cdf24-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 most UNIX machines use: tar -xvof cdf24-dist.tar For the IBM-RS6000/AIX use: tar -x -v -f cdf24-dist.tar CDF V2.4 has a makefile setup to automatically build the CDF library and tools. The following steps should be taken to build and install CDF V2.4. 1. Set your current directory (cd) to the top level CDF directory (the directory named `cdf24-dist' created by `tar'). 2. If desired, modify the include file named `config.h' in the `src/include' directory to the desired default parameters for your distribution. These default parameters affect a number of actions taken by the CDF library and toolkit programs in various situations (the comments in `config.h' describe these default parameters). 3. Compile/link the distribution using `make all'. First enter... make all.help to determine the required/optional `make' variables to be used. Some informational/warning messages from the compilers may be displayed. These can be ignored and should have no effect on the operation of the CDF library or toolkit programs. 4. Test that the distribution was built correctly by entering... make test The name of each test executed will be displayed. No other messages will be displayed unless an error occurs. 5. Install the library, include files, and toolkit programs using `make install'. First enter... make install.help to determine the required `make' variables which must be specified. The appropriate files will be copied to the `include', `lib', and `bin' directories. At this point you could delete all of the files in the `src/...' directories in order to save disk space. All of the files needed to use CDF will have been copied to `include', `lib', and `bin'. 6. A set of script files named `definitions.' exist in the top-level directory of the CDF distribution. specifies the command interpreter (shell) for which the script file was written: `sh', `ksh', `csh', or `tcsh'. They are templates for a script file that a user should execute to set up the environment variables and aliases (except for the Bourne shell) necessary to use CDF. You should edit these script files for where you installed the CDF distribution. A user would then execute the appropriate script file to define aliases for the toolkit programs (except for the Bourne shell) and environment variables for the locations of the include files and CDF library. For the Bourne and Korn shells, the commands... $ . /cdf24-dist/definitions.sh $ . /cdf24-dist/definitions.ksh ...would be used respectively. For the C and `tcsh' shells, the commands... % source /cdf24-dist/definitions.csh % source /cdf24-dist/definitions.tcsh ...would be used respectively. In each case, is the full directory path leading to the CDF distribution. Because aliases are not available when using the Bourne shell, the toolkit programs must be invoked by specifying the actual name of the executable file. The actual names are in most cases different from those shown in the CDF User's Guide. The script file, `definitions.sh', lists the differences.