Netcdf support,
We have run into a minor problem with the Netcdf 3.6.3 configure
script. When building the Fortran 90 API from source on a *case
insensitive* file system, module files netcdf.MOD and typesizes.MOD
are generated with uppercase file name extensions. This is
mysterious, because the standard lowercase file names would work
equally well *on the same computer*.
Actually the file system is quirky. Mac OS X 10.4 and 5. On a
so-called case insensitive file system, upper and lower case are
*written* on disk, but the names are case insensitive only on read
back when *opening* files.
This causes trouble with Fortran compilers on *case sensitive*
computers elsewhere on our local network. They can't find the
module files unless the extensions are made lower case. The
compilers see the network drives as case sensitive, due to the way
the network transports file names. (Yes indeed, this might also be
considered a bug.)
Our workaround was to hack the configure script and force a
conditional to make lower case. Since we are using an automatic
library maintenance system, we needed something more persistent than
manually renaming the two files. (We tried that once, and the
automatic system helpfully gave us back the uppercase file names the
next morning.)
What is the "right" way to control whether Netcdf module file
extensions are upper or lower case? I did not find anything like
this in the 3.6.3 configure options or the installation and
troubleshooting guides.
Would you be able to change the distribution scripts to be more
restrictive about generating upper case module extensions? Such as
making upper case *only* for the platforms that require this?
The specifics for our build system are:
Mac OS 10.4 and 10.5
Compilers: gfortran and g95, recent versions
My own (case sensitive) computer's uname -a:
Darwin mac56.cdc.noaa.gov 9.5.0 Darwin Kernel Version 9.5.0: Wed Sep
3 11:31:44 PDT 2008; root:xnu-1228.7.58~1/RELEASE_PPC Power
Macintosh powerpc PowerMac7,3 Darwin
More details on request. I am not the maintainer, so it's a little
more work to come up with the config logs, etc.
This behavior is probably in other Netcdf versions as well, but I
didn't check.
Thanks for your assistance with this minor problem.
Dave Allured
CU/CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center (CDC)
http://cires.colorado.edu/science/centers/cdc/
NOAA/ESRL/PSD, Climate Analysis Branch (CAB)
http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/
