ECMWF is updating the default versions of its software packages and libraries used across on Atos HPCF and ECS as part of the regular update cycle.

When?

The changes will take place on Wednesday 31 May 2023 09:00 UTC

Do I need to do anything?

We strongly recommend you test that your programs, scripts and suites work with the new versions of any software or library affected before the change happens.

Table of contents

Highlights

Software stack ready for next operational IFS cycle

With the upcoming Implementation of IFS Cycle 48r1, this set of defaults is ready to handle the data produced.

Python 3.10 becomes default

For our Python users, we offer now a more recent version of Python 3.10 with the usual extra modules found on the previous default 3.8. Note that new versions of other packages with python bindings may only come with support for the new Python 3.10.

ECMWF software improvements

There. have been a vast number of improvements on our ECMWF software and libraries since our last default change in 2021. See the blog posts for all the software releases since then to learn about what is new in ecCodes, Magics or Metview.

ecCodes changes encoding for certain GRIB2 parameters

Since version 2.28.0, ecCodes has changed the way it encodes certain GRIB2 parameters, in preparation for our Migration to GRIB edition 2. The complete list can be found in Migration to GRIB2 - new in ecCodes . If you encode those particular GRIB2 fields with ecCodes 2.28 or newer, you will not be able to decode them properly with an older ecCodes. We strongly recommend to make sure all your production chain uses an up-to-date ecCodes version for better results.

A lot of other bugfixes and improvements

All the new versions, both ECMWF and 3rd Party, come with a number of bug fixes and improvements, since it has been 2 years since our last change of default software. You may see the Change logs for any individual package or library in the list below if you want to have all the details.

How to use the new versions for testing BEFORE the update

Users are strongly encouraged to test their software applications and data processing chain with the new versions of the various software packages before the date of the change to the default versions.

The new versions of the software packages can be selected by using the may23 tag in modules. For example:

module load ecmwf-toolbox/may23
module load python3/may23

How to revert to the old versions in case of problems AFTER the update

Users that experience problems with the new default software packages after the update will be able to revert to the old default versions. These can be selected with the commands:

module load ecmwf-toolbox/old
module load python3/old

Please let ECMWF know if you need to revert to the old version of any of the packages after the update of the defaults has taken place. 

Change list

ECMWF Software

The new version of the ECMWF Toolbox (ecmwf-toolbox module) is 2023.04.1.0, replacing 2021.08.3.0. This table summarises the changes in the version of the different packages within the bundle:

PackageDefault versionRelease notesDownload page
BeforeAfter
CodesUI1.5.41.7.4CodesUI - Change HistoryCodesUI - Releases
ecCodes2.23.02.30.2

Latest news

Migration to GRIB2 - new in ecCodes 

ecCodes Releases
Magics4.9.44.13.0Latest NewsMagics Releases
Metview5.13.05.19.1

Release notes

Metview Releases

ODC1.4.1

1.4.6

ReadmeODC Releases

Besides ecmwf-toolbox, the following ECMWF packages with their corresponding module also see their default changed:

ecFlow5.7.05.10.0

Latest news

ecFlow Releases

Please see the Release notes for full details of the changes implemented in each package.

Third-party software

Some of the versions in this list may already be the default for a specific package, so no changes will be made in those cases.

ModuleBeforeAfterRelease notes
aec1.0.41.0.6https://gitlab.dkrz.de/k202009/libaec/-/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md
amd-fftw3.0.13.0.1https://github.com/amd/amd-fftw/blob/amd-fftw/ChangeLog
ansible5.5.07.1.0https://github.com/ansible-community/ansible-build-data/blob/main/7/CHANGELOG-v7.rst
antlr2.7.72.7.7https://www.antlr2.org/doc/
aocc3.1.04.0.0https://www.amd.com/en/developer/aocc.html
bison3.7.53.8.2https://fossies.org/linux/bison/ChangeLog
blis2.23.1https://github.com/amd/blis/blob/master/CHANGELOG
boost1.71.01.81.0https://www.boost.org/users/history/version_1_81_0.html
cdo1.9.102.1.1https://code.mpimet.mpg.de/news/526
climetlab0.12.40.13.11https://github.com/ecmwf/climetlab
cmake3.19.53.25.2https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/release/3.25.html
cmor3.6.13.7.1https://cmor.llnl.gov/news/2023/03/24/cmor3/
coda2.22.22.24.1https://github.com/stcorp/coda/blob/master/CHANGES
conda4.10.122.11.1-2https://docs.conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/release-notes.html
cppcheck2.92.9https://github.com/danmar/cppcheck/releases
darshan3.3.13.4.2https://www.mcs.anl.gov/research/projects/darshan/2022/12/16/darshan-3-4-2-release-is-now-available/
doxygen1.9.61.9.6https://doxygen.nl/manual/changelog.html
eclib1.1.01.1.0-
eigen3.3.93.4.0https://eigen.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=3.4
esmf8.3.08.4.0https://earthsystemmodeling.org/static/releases.html
extrae3.8.03.8.0https://github.com/bsc-performance-tools/extrae/blob/master/ChangeLog
fcm2019.05.02021.05.0https://github.com/metomi/fcm/blob/master/CHANGES.md
fdupes2.2.12.2.1https://github.com/adrianlopezroche/fdupes/releases
ferret7.6.37.6.3https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/releases
ffmpeg5.15.1https://github.com/FFmpeg/FFmpeg/blob/master/Changelog
fftw3.3.93.3.10https://www.fftw.org/release-notes.html
fgsl1.5.01.5.0https://github.com/reinh-bader/fgsl/blob/master/NEWS
flex2.6.42.6.4

https://github.com/westes/flex/releases

gdal3.2.13.6.2https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/blob/v3.6.2/NEWS.md
gdl1.0.11.0.2https://github.com/gnudatalanguage/gdl/releases
geocat2021.05.12022.11.0https://github.com/NCAR/geocat-comp
geos3.9.13.11.1https://github.com/libgeos/geos/releases
git2.30.12.39.1https://raw.githubusercontent.com/git/git/master/Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.1.txt
gitflow1.12.31.12.3https://github.com/petervanderdoes/gitflow-avh/releases/tag/1.12.3
gmt6.1.16.4.0https://docs.generic-mapping-tools.org/dev/changes.html
gnuparallel2021022220230122https://www.gnu.org/software/parallel/
go1.161.19.5https://go.dev/doc/devel/release
gperf3.13.1

https://github.com/rurban/gperf/blob/master/ChangeLog

grace5.1.255.1.25https://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/
grads2.1.a2.oga.12.1.a2.oga.1http://opengrads.org
grass7.8.58.2.1https://grass.osgeo.org/news/2023_01_21_grass_gis_8_2_1_released/
gsl2.62.7http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gsl.git/tree/NEWS
hdf4.2.144.2.14https://www.hdfgroup.org/2018/07/release-of-hdf-4-2-14-newsletter-162/
hdf5-parallel1.10.61.12.2https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.12/hdf5-1.12.2/src/hdf5-1.12.2-RELEASE.txt
hdf51.10.61.12.2https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.12/hdf5-1.12.2/src/hdf5-1.12.2-RELEASE.txt
hdfview3.1.23.1.4https://www.hdfgroup.org/downloads/hdfview/
hpcx-openmpi2.9.02.9.0https://developer.nvidia.com/networking/hpc-x
iris3.0.13.4.0https://scitools-iris.readthedocs.io/en/v3.4.1/whatsnew/index.html
jasper2.0.144.0.0https://github.com/jasper-software/jasper/releases
java11.0.611.0.6https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/11all-relnotes.html
lcov1.161.16https://github.com/linux-test-project/lcov/releases
lftp4.9.24.9.2https://lftp.yar.ru/news.html
libflame2.23.1https://github.com/flame/libflame
libspatialindex1.9.31.9.3https://github.com/libspatialindex/libspatialindex/releases
libtensorflow2.7.02.7.0https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/RELEASE.md
maven3.6.33.8.7https://maven.apache.org/release-notes-all.html
mongodb5.0.85.0.8https://www.mongodb.com/docs/manual/release-notes/
nccmp1.8.2.11.9.1.0https://gitlab.com/remikz/nccmp
ncl6.6.26.6.2https://github.com/NCAR/ncl
nco4.9.74.9.7https://nco.sourceforge.net/highlights_old.shtml
ncview2.1.72.1.7http://meteora.ucsd.edu/~pierce/ncview_home_page.html
netcdf4-parallel4.7.44.9.1https://docs.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf-c/current/RELEASE_NOTES.html
netcdf44.7.44.9.1https://docs.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf-c/current/RELEASE_NOTES.html
ninja1.10.21.11.1https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases
node14.15.418.13.0https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/main/doc/changelogs/CHANGELOG_V18.md#18.13.0
numdiff5.9.05.9.0https://www.nongnu.org/numdiff/
nvidia20.722.11https://developer.nvidia.com/hpc-sdk
octave6.2.07.3.0https://octave.org/NEWS-7.html
onnxruntime1.10.01.10.0https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime
openblas0.3.130.3.21https://github.com/xianyi/OpenBLAS/releases
openjpeg2.4.02.5.0http://www.openjpeg.org/2022/05/13/OpenJPEG-2.5.0-released
panoply4.12.35.2.3https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/panoply/changelog.html
parmetis4.0.34.0.3http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/gkhome/metis/parmetis/changes
patchelf0.110.17.2https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/releases
pcraster4.3.04.4.0-01https://pcraster.geo.uu.nl
pnetcdf1.12.31.12.3https://github.com/Parallel-NetCDF/PnetCDF/blob/master/RELEASE_NOTES
postgres14.514.5https://www.postgresql.org
proj7.2.19.1.1https://proj.org/news.html
psutils1.171.17https://github.com/rrthomas/psutils
pycharm2020.3.32022.3.2https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm/whatsnew/2022-3/
pypy3.9-v7.3.11-013.9-v7.3.11-01https://doc.pypy.org/en/latest/index-of-release-notes.html
python33.8.8-013.10.10-01https://docs.python.org/3.10/whatsnew/changelog.html
qgis3.18.33.28.3https://www.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/visualchangelog328/index.html
qt5.12.05.12.0https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_5.12_Release
R4.0.44.2.2https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/NEWS.html
rclone1.55.11.61.1https://rclone.org/changelog/
rstudio2021.09.2+3822022.12.0+353https://docs.posit.co/ide/news/#rstudio-2022.12.0353
s3cmd2.3.02.3.0https://github.com/s3tools/s3cmd/releases
sqlite33401003.40.1https://www.sqlite.org/changes.html
sqlitebrowser3.12.23.12.2https://github.com/sqlitebrowser/sqlitebrowser/releases
stat4.2.14.2.1https://github.com/LLNL/STAT
texlive20212022https://www.tug.org/texlive/
udunits2.2.282.2.28https://github.com/Unidata/UDUNITS-2
wgrib1.8.21.8.3https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/wesley/wgrib.html
wgrib23.0.03.1.2https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/wesley/wgrib2/wgrib2_v3.1.1_changes.html
wxparaver4.9.24.9.2https://github.com/bsc-performance-tools/wxparaver
xconv1.941.94https://ncas-cms.github.io/xconv-doc/html/index.html