Version 7.2.0 release

Ferret v7.2.0 release

There is a bug (error) associated with memory used for storing strings (arrays of characters) in this version. This bug may cause the program to crash.

The pre-built distributions are built with HDF5-1.8.18 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1

The distribution ferret-7.2.0-RHEL7-64.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v7.3 system. This distribution can be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems.

The distribution ferret-7.2.0-RHEL6-64.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v6.9 system. This distribution should be used for older 64-bit Linux systems and can be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with support for legacy libraries.

The pre-built distributions given here contain both the Ferret fer_environment and fer_executable files. After extracting, run bin/Finstall only with option 2 (skip option 1, it has already been done). If you prefer to have the separate fer_environment and fer_executable tar files, see: http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/downloads

😞 As usual, there are some updates needed to remove some issues with compiling/running the code on the Mac with homebrew/gcc-7. These actually are generally applicable changes (mostly missing prototypes, one incorrect prototype of no real consequence, and a fix to a very rare bug involving an end-of-line wildcard asterisk in the new limited wildcard matching). I hope to get a new release very soon - Karl

Candidate for the v7.2 release

Candidate for the v7.2 release of Ferret / PyFerret. Includes dynamic allocation of memory used for variables. So the memory limit set by the user is just a limit on the amount to be allocated and does not cause an immediate allocation of the specified amount of memory.

Ferret v7.1.1 Initial Release

Beta release of Ferret

• Using the new memory management
  • each variable allocated memory as needed and when needed
  • SET MEMORY /SIZE=... just specifies a maximum amount of memory to have allocated but does not do any memory allocation itself
• More efficient division of labor when performing computations on large data which can only be partially loaded into memory
• Matrix operations
• Bug fixes

This is being marked as a beta release due to the number of changes to the code, although it does pass all our benchmark tests.

Ferret v7.1 Final Release

(A few last-minute bugs discovered and fixed since the v7.1 version.)

ferret-7.1.0-RHEL6-64.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux 6.8 machine. This build should be usable on all 64-bit Linux systems.

Extract the tar file into the parent directory of your choice. Unlike the traditional Ferret downloaded tar files, this tar file will create a subdirectory with a name starting with ferret-7.1.0 and contains both the environment and executable files. At this time, if you wish, feel free to rename this subdirectory that was created. Then run the bin/Finstall script in this new subdirectory and choose option 2. (Do not use option 1 as this has already been done). The directory for FER_DIR should be this new subdirectory. If you do not already have the default Ferret datasets, they can be obtained from the NOAA-PMEL/FerretDatasets github repo.

Ferret v7.1 Release

Release notes:
(still to be written)

Candidate for next Ferret release

Candidate for the next release of Ferret.

Ferret v7.0.0 final release

Ferret v7.0.0 (which should have been called a release candidate) with minor updates.

For the pre-built tar.gz files, you need to extract both the fer_environment.tar.gz and fer_executables.tar.gz files into the same subdirectory where you want the Ferret program to reside. If you do not already have the default Ferret example datasets installed somewhere, you need to extract the fer_dsets.tar.gz file in the subdirectory where you want these datasets files to reside. Finally, you need to run the bin/Finstall script, found under the subdirectory where you installed Ferret, and select option 2. This script asks for the locations of the Ferret directory and the datasets directory, and then creates the ferret_paths scripts.

To run Ferret, you first need to set Ferret environment variable by "source"-ing the appropriate ferret_paths script (". ferret_paths.sh" for Bourne shells, "source ferret_paths.csh" for C-shells). Once these environment variables are set, you should be able to run the ferret program (executable). It should be automatically found (from the PATH environment variables), but resides in the bin subdirectory of your Ferret installation directory.

For Mac OS X, XQuartz is required for the X Windows display (see: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201341 and https://www.xquartz.org/ )

July 26, 2016 - Mac OS X tar.gz files were updated to a build which does not require installation of custom gcc libraries.