General Info
| Platforms supported by IDL | Supported versions of IDL (Note that IDL 8.5 is no longer supported as of 6/1/23) |
Using IDL
Many of the research workstations have access to IDL via NFS mounted disks. If you are working a such a system, to run IDL you will need to run a setup script for the desired version of IDL from your .cshrc. Add the line
source /usr/local/setup/setup_idlX.Y.Z
to your .cshrc, where X.Y.Z is the IDL version. See available choices by running the command
ls /usr/local/setup/setup_idl*
You should then be able to run IDL and automatically obtain a floating license.
The other option is to have IDL installed locally on your system. See the Package Downloads section for various IDL packages on Windows, MacOS or Linux. Please note that IDL 8.6.x-8.8.x must be patched, or you will not be able to access the lab license server and you will not be able to activate using an activation code. You will also in this case need to obtain a license to use IDL, see section Accessing a Software License.
Package Downloads
Platform specific notes
| PC Windows users: | MacOS users: |
| You may need to install: NASA CDF Patch for IDL 7 and IDL 8 | Install Legacy Java 6 (for all IDL versions except IDL 8.8.x and later): Modified Java 6 install package For MacOS, IDL 8.7.x, 8.8.x and later*, install: XQuartz 2.8.2 For MacOS, IDL 8.5.1 and earlier, install: XQuartz 2.7.9 You aay need to install: NASA CDF Patch for IDL 7 and IDL 8 checklist: Troubleshooting IDL, SSL VPN setup on MacOS *NOTE: M1/M2 Macs are only supported starting with version 8.8.2 and XQuartz 2.8.2. |
Accessing a Software License
If you have IDL installed locally, you will need to obtain a license before using IDL. There are two options:
Floating license
You can obtain a floating license from SSL’s IDL license server. If you are outside of the lab, you must be connected to SSL via a VPN to access the license server.
Setting up a connection to the license server only needs to be done once.
- Open the License Administrator tool
- Click the Use License Server button
- Enter the following information
- Server: license-idl.ssl.berkeley.edu Port: 40443
- Make sure the Secure box is checked
- Click the Connect button
Node-locked license
Node-locked licenses are for users with mission-critical workflow or who must work offline often. If possible, please use a floating license as per the previous section.
To obtain a node-locked license, send a request to helpdesk@ssl.berkeley.edu and include the following information:
- The platform you will be running IDL on (Windows/MacOS/LInux)
- The MAC address of your system. Provide the output from
- Windows:
ipconfig /all - MacOS/Linux:
ifconfig -a
- Windows:
You will be provided an activation code. To activate the license (you must be online):
- Open the License Administrator tool
- Click the Activate Online button
- Enter your activation code
- Click the Activate button
Instructions to access SSL IDL site license – for IDL 8.5.1 and earlier releases
Tips
Trouble with IDL 8.x license corruption on: Linux workstation
Trouble with IDL 8.x license corruption on: MacOS
IDL in AWS (amazon web services) cloud environment (as of March 2022)
Customizing your IDL program search PATH ( IDL_PATH )
MacOS SHELL: zsh
Do you have a new MacOS computer or was your MacOS computer recently upgraded and IDL stopped working ?
Open a terminal window, enter: echo $SHELL
Are you now running “zsh” ?
The IDL preferred default SHELL is: bash (or tcsh, csh)
IDL uses setup scripts ex. idl_setup (written for: tcsh, csh, bash, sh) to define IDL path, IDL directory. If your MacOS computer is using “zsh” , here’s how you can change your default SHELL to: /bin/bash
open a terminal window: enter: chsh -s /bin/bash
to switch back to “zsh”, enter: chsh -s /bin/zsh