Building the NASA CDF (Common Data Format) library

The CDF library is required by SpacePy for full functionality. SpacePy is installed as part of the process of setting up your Python environment, which is described here. If your system already provides the CDF library, feel free to use that version instead of building the code from source.

MacOS

These instructions presume the use of MacOS Ventura. The instructions should also work for other versions of MacOS. These instructions illustrate steps required to build and insta;; version 3.9.0 of the CDF library. Modify these instructions as appropriate if you use a different version.

This procedure will use the default system-provided C compiler (/usr/bin/gcc).

This procedure builds and installs the code under $HOME/local, creating a user-only installation. Substitute your desired build and installation locations for these paths as appropriate.

# Make a build tree.
cd $HOME
mkdir -p local/cdf/3.9.0/src
cd local/cdf/3.9.0/src

# Download the source tarball.
# NOTE: Source tarball is in a linux directory, not Mac.
wget https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/software/cdf/dist/latest/linux/cdf39_0-dist-all.tar.gz

# Unpack the source code.
tar xzvf cdf39_0-dist-all.tar.gz

# Build the library using the Apple compiler for Intel hardware.
cd cdf39_0-dist
date; time make OS=macosx ENV=x86_64 all >& make.out
# Took about 22 s on a MacBook Pro i9/2019.
# Examine make.out for errors.

# Test the library.
date; time make test >& make_test.out
# Took about 5 s on a MacBook Pro i9/2019.
# Examine make_test.out for errors.

# Install the library in a version-specific subdirectory.
date; time make INSTALLDIR=$HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1 install >&
  make_install.out
# Took about 8 s on a MacBook Pro i9/2019.
# Examine make_install.out for errors.

In order to use the newly-compiled library, you must set up your environment (path variables and aliases) by “sourcing” the setup script:

# For sh/bash/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.B

# For csh/tcsh/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.C

# For ksh/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.K

Linux and HPC systems

These instructions should work for any Linux distribution. These instructions were tested on pleiades, as well as an Ubuntu-based virtual machine.

This procedure will use the default system-provided C compiler (/usr/bin/gcc).

This procedure builds the code under $HOME/local/src, and installs the compiled files under $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1, creating a user-only installation. Substitute your desired build and installation locations for these paths as appropriate.

NOTE: These instructions should work under any command shell.

# Make a build tree.
cd $HOME
mkdir -p local/src
cd local/src

# Download the source tarball.
wget https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/software/cdf/dist/cdf38_1/linux/cdf38_1-dist-all.tar.gz
# OR:
# curl https://spdf.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/software/cdf/dist/cdf38_1/linux/cdf38_1-dist-all.tar.gz -o cdf38_1-dist-all.tar.gz

# Unpack the source code.
tar xzvf cdf38_1-dist-all.tar.gz

# Build the library using the default system compiler (presumed to be gcc).
cd cdf38_1-dist
date; time make OS=linux ENV=gnu all >& make.out
# Took about 33 s on pleiades.
# Examine make.out for errors.

# Test the library.
date; time make test >& make_test.out
# Took about < 1 s on pleiades.
# Examine make_test.out for errors.

# Install the library in a version-specific subdirectory.
date; time make INSTALLDIR=$HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1 install >& make_install.out
# Took about < 1 s on pleiades.
# Examine make_install.out for errors.

In order to use the newly-compiled library, you must set up your environment (path variables and aliases) by “sourcing” the setup script:

# For sh/bash/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.B

# For csh/tcsh/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.C

# For ksh/compatible shells:
source $HOME/local/cdf/3.8.1/bin/definitions.K