CDF Patch for IDL 6.2 and later

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CDF Patch for IDL 6.2 and later, including IDL 7.0

This page contains the latest IDL CDF patch (Version: IDL-CDF V3.3.0 CDF logo

) for IDL 6.2 and later. If you have problems reading a CDF file or something is not working properly in IDL, we strongly recommend downloading the IDL CDF patch on this page and see if it solves your problem. If the patch still doesn't work or we don't have a patch for your operating system (e.g. HP-UX, AIX, etc.), please contact cdfsupport@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Several patches have been made available to date. If you downloaded a patch before and are not sure whether you have the latest patch, please download the patch on this page as it supersedes the previous patches.

What's Included in the Patch

IDL 6.2 or earlier: 1) large CDF file support (> 2 Gbytes) 2) allows to open files created with IDL 6.3 or later, or CDF 3.1 or later.
IDL 6.2 or earlier - support for CDF_EPOCH16 data type. CDF_EPOCH16 is supported in IDL 6.3 or later.
Fix for IDL 6.2 (64-bit Linux on AMD64 machine) - CDF functions do not work properly.
Fix for IDL 6.3 (all OSs) - allows to create a CDF_EPOCH variable
Fix for IDL 6.3 (Intel Mac) - opening/reading a CDF file
Fix for IDL 6.4 (Intel Mac) - CDF variable values are read correctly
IDL 6.x and 7.0 (all OSs) - significant CDF read performance improvement and elimination of a potential buffer overflow problem
Add a new feature to allow setting the checksum option for CDF V3.2 files
Modified to convert signed CDF_INT1 and CDF_BYTE data type to int so the data can be interpreted correctly in IDL
Add a new feature to allow setting the file validation option when opening CDF files
Bugs fixed

IDL CDF Patch Download and Installation Instruction

IDL CDF patch consists of two files: shared CDF library and platform-independent Dynamically Loadable Module (DLM) definition file.

Latest patch creation date: June 10, 2009 with the CDF Version 3.3.0. To find out what IDL/CDF version you have, enter: help, /DLM, 'CDF' in IDL. Make sure to make the downloaded dynamic library (the .so file) for non-Windows executable on your machine. Please contact cdfsupport@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov if you need a different CDF version.

Windows:

Download one of the following files:

IDL 6.2 - CDF library (idl_cdf.dll)
IDL 6.3, 6.4 and 7.0 - CDF library (idl_cdf.dll)

Download DLM (idl_cdf.dlm)
Replace idl_cdf.dll and idl_cdf.dlm in the <your IDL directory>\bin\bin.x86 directory with the new idl_cdf.dll and idl_cdf.dlm downloaded in steps 1 and 2.
Invoke IDL and use it as usual.

Mac OS X (Intel Mac):

Download the following files:
- CDF library: 32-bit idl_cdf.so, or 64-bit idl_cdf.so. The banner information from idl when it is run will tell it is in either 32-bit (darwin i386 m32) or 64-bit (darwin x86_64 m64) mode.
- DLM (idl_cdf.dlm)
Replace idl_cdf.so and idl_cdf.dlm in the <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.darwin.i386 directory for 32-bit mode, or <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.darwin.x86_64 for 64-bit mode with the new idl_cdf.so and idl_cdf.dlm downloaded in step 1.
Invoke IDL and use it as usual.

Mac OS X (Power PC):

Download the following files:
- CDF library (idl_cdf.so)
- DLM (idl_cdf.dlm))
Replace idl_cdf.so and idl_cdf.dlm in the <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.darwin.ppc directory with the new idl_cdf.so and idl_cdf.dlm downloaded in step 1.
Invoke IDL and use it as usual.

Linux:

Download the following files:
- 32-bit CDF library (idl_cdf.so) or 64-bit CDF library (idl_cdf.so). The banner information from idl when it is run will tell it is in either 32-bit (linux x86 m32) or 64-bit (linux x86_64 m64) mode.
- DLM (idl_cdf.dlm)
Set the IDL_DLM_PATH environment variable to point to the directory where you placed the patch. For example, if you placed the patch in /home/harold, then the command should be

setenv IDL_DLM_PATH "/home/harold:<IDL_DEFAULT>" (for tcsh shell)
export IDL_DLM_PATH="/home/harold:<IDL_DEFAULT>" (for bash shell)
Note: The above command must be entered exactly as shown, including angle brackets and double quotes, prior to invoking IDL.
If the patch is checked out fine, you can use the downloaded files to replace the ones in the operational directory (may need the root access) at <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.linux.x86 32-bit mode, or <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.linux.x86_64 for 64-bit mode.
Invoke IDL and use it as usual.

Solaris:

Download the following files:
- 32-bit CDF library (idl_cdf.so)
- 64-bit CDF library (idl_cdf.so)
- DLM (idl_cdf.dlm)
Set the IDL_DLM_PATH environment variable to point to the directory where you placed the patch. For example, if you placed the patch in /home/harold, then the command should be

setenv IDL_DLM_PATH "/home/harold:<IDL_DEFAULT>" (for tcsh shell)
export IDL_DLM_PATH="/home/harold:<IDL_DEFAULT>" (for bash shell)
Note: The above command must be entered exactly as shown, including angle brackets and double quotes, prior to invoking IDL.
If the patch is checked out fine, you can use the downloaded files to replace the ones in the operational directory (may need the root access) at <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.solaris2.sparc for 32-bit mode, or <your IDL directory>/bin/bin.solaris2.sparc64 for 64-bit mode.
Invoke IDL "idl" to use the default, 64-bit mode or "idl -32" for 32-bit mode and use it as usual.

Other OS:

Please contact cdfsupport@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov to obtain a patch for your operating system.

If you have questions, need assistance, or encounter problems, please contact us at cdfsupport@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov.

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