README_build_ferret

As of August 2011 we now have a single make procedure for compiling, linking, and 
installing Ferret. 


NetCDF4.1 or higher is required for building Ferret. The library NetCDF4.2 or higher
is recommended. We recommend building NetCDF and HDF libraries yourself, so that these
libraries and Ferret are all built with the same compiler. This takes a little time, but
is not difficult. For building the libraries and Ferret, we have used gfortran. The 
NetCDF downloads can be found here: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/NetCDF/. Build 
NetCDF4.+ with the appropriate version of hdf5 given in the NetCDF instructions; and make
sure to build it with fortran (Starting with NetCDF4.1.3 there is a separate NetCDF fortran
library). Specify the hdf5 libraries, --enable-NetCDF-4 --enable-dap for NetCDF-4 features 
and OPeNDAP dataset access.

The current official release of Ferret is linked with NetCDF4.2 and has syntax for 
writing NetCDF4 datasets (hdf5 chunking and compression.)  See the release notes 
for Ferret v6.6 at http://porter.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/home/documentation/v6-6-release-notes


To build Ferret:

  * Under the FERRET directory you will find a file called site_specific.mk. Edit this file
  and insert the locations of the HDF5, NetCDF, and readline directories.

  * Still in the top-level FERRET directory, run "make". This will compile and link Ferret, 
  gksm2ps, external functions, and the fonts files. The Ferret executable is the file
  FERRET/fer/ferret_c

  * The build process creates the fonts files that will be needed for Ferret.

  * In the site_specific.mk file, you will see a section about the variable INSTALL_FER_DIR.
  It is defined there as INSTALL_FER_DIR = $(FER_DIR). If you leave it set that way, then run 
  "make install" to install Ferret and the environment under that directory. It will also
  create the tar files fer_environment.tar.gz and fer_executables.tar.gz in directory $(FER_DIR).
  
  Alternatively you may want to set INSTALL_FER_DIR to some local directory. Now run "make 
  install". This will install Ferret under the directory you defined and also create 
  fer_environment.tar.gz and fer_executables.tar.gz as if they came from the Ferret 
  distribution. Now you can get the Datasets tar file from 
  ftp://ftp.pmel.noaa.gov/ferret/pub/data/fer_dsets.tar.gz 
  and follow the installation instructions
  http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/static/Downloads/ferret_installation_and_update_guide_v600.html

  * Once you have installed Ferret, you'll want to test it. Running some simple scripts, 
  such as "yes? go ptest" is a good place to start. If you wish, go into the FERRET/bench 
  directory to run the suite of benchmark tests. There is a simple README file which will 
  get you started with running the Ferret benchmark scripts. You will run a shell script 
  called "run_all" which starts the benchmark job. It tests a wide variety of Ferret's 
  capabilities and makes a number of plots. If it runs successfully you will see these lines:

about to run test of .ferret script
Display no longer set, about to run batch gif test
Display still not set, about to run batch ps test
Display still not set, about to run batch metafile test
Ended at Tue Nov 8 13:08:13 PST 2011
Checking PLT, GIF and PS files.......

  In all likelihood this will be followed by a number of messages starting with "plt files
  differ". The script checks the size of the image files, and it's to be expected that that
  will differ a bit from one system to another.

  Running all the way through the benchmark suite is a good test of Ferret and the Ferret
  installation. If you have questions about the results you are welcome to write us at the 
  contact-Ferret email address, see http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/support.