Complete Installation of WRF and WPS

Before beginning the steps below, the following must be available on the system:

• gfortran - Even if using a different compiler to build WRF

• cpp

• gcc (version 9+)

• csh

• perl

• sh

Issue the following commands to check if they exist. If a path is returned, the package is installed.

which gfortran
which cpp
which gcc
which csh
which perl
which sh

The following command checks the gcc version:

gcc --version

Additionally, the following UNIX commands are required:

ar	awk	cat
cd	cp	cut
expr	file	grep
gzip	head	hostname
ln	ls	m4
make	mkdir	mv
nm	printf	rm
sed	sleep	sort
tar	touch	tr
uname	wc	which

See also

For additional computing environment tests, see System Environment Testing for WRF/WPS Installation

Environment Settings

.bashrc is a computing environment configuration file for the Bash shell - the assumed shell for this example. If using a different shell, modify the commands in the shell’s environment script to the required syntax for the shell.

Open a terminal window (Linux/Unix environment). Before setting up the configuration script, create a directory (wrf_dependencies) in which you will build the required libraries, and which is used in the below set paths:

mkdir wrf_dependencies

Open the .bashrc file from the $HOME directory (ls -a to see all files). Make the following modifications, depending on whether you are installing WRF/WPS with a GNU/gfortran or Intel compiler.

• Environment Settings for a GNU/gfortran Installation

• Environment Settings for an Intel Installation

Environment Settings for a GNU/gfortran Installation

Note

• Modify paths to YOUR specific environment.

export dir=/absolute-path-to-wrf_dependencies-directory/wrf_dependencies
export NETCDF=${dir}/netcdf
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${NETCDF}/lib:${dir}/grib2/lib:${dir}/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export PATH=${NETCDF}/bin:${dir}/mpich/bin:${dir}/bin:${PATH}
export JASPERLIB=${dir}/grib2/lib
export JASPERINC=${dir}/grib2/include

Save, then source the .bashrc file to apply the settings. These settings are then automatically set with each newly-opened terminal window.

source .bashrc

Set the following additional environment variables ONLY prior to building these dependencies. These SHOULD NOT be set when building WRF or WPS. Set these in the command line, one at a time:

export CC=gcc
export CXX=g++
export FC=gfortran
export FCFLAGS="-m64 -fallow-argument-mismatch"
export F77=gfortran
export FFLAGS="-m64 -fallow-argument-mismatch"
export LDFLAGS="-L${NETCDF}/lib -L${dir}/grib2/lib"
export CPPFLAGS="-I${NETCDF}/include -I${dir}/grib2/include -fcommon"

Ater installing the dependencies, these variables can be individually unset, or if a new terminal window is open, it will not retain the settings not saved to the .bashrc file.

Environment Settings for an Intel Installation

Note

• Modify paths to YOUR specific environment.

export dir=/absolute-path-to-wrf_dependencies-directory/wrf_dependencies
export NETCDF=${dir}/netcdf
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${NETCDF}/lib:${dir}/grib2/lib:${dir}/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
export PATH=${NETCDF}/bin:${dir}/mpich/bin:${dir}/bin:${PATH}
export JASPERLIB=${dir}/grib2/lib
export JASPERINC=${dir}/grib2/include
export CC=icc
export CXX=icpc
export CFLAGS='-O3 -xHost -ip -no-prec-div -static-intel'
export CXXFLAGS='-O3 -xHost -ip -no-prec-div -static-intel'
export F77=ifort
export FC=ifort
export F90=ifort
export FFLAGS='-O3 -xHost -ip -no-prec-div -static-intel'
export CPP='icc -E'
export CXXCPP='icpc -E'
export LDFLAGS="-L/${dir}/lib -L/${dir}/netcdf/lib"
export CPPFLAGS="-I/${dir}/include -I/${dir}/netcdf/include"

Save, then source the .bashrc file to apply the settings. These settings are then automatically set with each newly-opened terminal window.

source .bashrc

Install Libraries

Move to the wrf_dependencies directory:

cd $dir

Issue the following commands to install the libraries:

zlib

wget https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/OnLineTutorial/compile_tutorial/tar_files/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
tar xzvf zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
cd zlib-1.2.11
./configure --prefix=$dir/grib2
make -j 4
make install
cd ..
rm -rf zlib*

HDF5

Note

HDF5 is not a mandatory library. It is only needed for use of HDF5 features, such as compression.

wget https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5/archive/hdf5-1_10_5.tar.gz
tar xzvf hdf5-1.10.5.tar.bz2
cd hdf5-1.10.5
./configure --prefix=$dir --with-zlib=$dir/grib2 --enable-fortran --enable-shared
make -j 4
make install
cd ..
rm -rf hdf5*

netCDF-c

Note

To install with HDF5, modify the following line in the list of commands as:

./configure --prefix=$dir/netcdf --disable-dap --enable-netcdf4 --enable-shared

wget https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/archive/v4.7.2.tar.gz
tar xzvf v4.7.2.tar.gz
cd netcdf-c-4.7.2
./configure --prefix=$dir/netcdf --disable-dap --enable-netcdf4 --disable-hdf5 --enable-shared
make -j 4
make install
cd ..
rm -rf v4.7.2.tar.gz netcdf-c*

netCDF-fortran

Note

To install with HDF5, modify the following lines in the list of commands as:

export LIBS="-lnetcdf -lhdf5_hl -lhdf5 -lz"
./configure --enable-shared --prefix=$dir/netcdf

export LIBS="-lnetcdf -lz"
wget https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-fortran/archive/v4.5.2.tar.gz
tar xzvf v4.5.2.tar.gz
cd netcdf-fortran-4.5.2
./configure --prefix=$dir/netcdf --disable-hdf5 --enable-shared
make -j 4
make install
cd ..
rm -rf netcdf-fortran* v4.5.2.tar.gz

mpich

wget https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/OnLineTutorial/compile_tutorial/tar_files/mpich-3.0.4.tar.gz
tar xzvf mpich-3.0.4.tar.gz
cd mpich-3.0.4
./configure --prefix=$dir/mpich
make 2>&1
make install
cd ..
rm -rf mpich*

Compile WRF

Move out of the wrf_dependencies directory to install WRF.

Note

Depending on the compiler used to install the above dependencies, after typing ./configure in the below set of commands, choose a dmpar option for either an Intel/ifort or GNU compiler.

git clone --recurse-submodule https://github.com/wrf-model/WRF.git
cd WRF
./configure
./compile em_real -j 4 >& log.compile

Compile WPS

Move to the directory that contains the WRF directory. Following the below installation, you should have WRF and WPS directories in the same folder.

Note

Depending on the compiler used to install the above dependencies, after typing ./configure in the below set of commands, choose a serial option for either an Intel/ifort or GNU compiler.

git clone https://github.com/wrf-model/WPS.git
cd WPS
export WRF_DIR=path-to-WRF-top-level-directory/WRF
./configure --build-grib2-libs
./compile >& log.compile