Possible block data solution

In working with Mac OS X, I have been plagued with the problem of block data not getting loaded from libraries. I think this is more a problem with ld, since the same thing can happen with Fortan90 module data in other code I maintain. Declaring the block data name as external does not work for gfortran, xlf, or ifort on OS X (ppc or intel).

At some point I figured out that a simple empty subroutine put into the code along with the block data (or module data) will force the data to be loaded from the library if the subroutine is called. (Some compilers seem also to allow "calling" the block data name, but I got errors from one compiler for that.)

An enhanced version of the blockdata_test code is here:

<http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~mansell/blockdata_testexp.tgz>

It takes the original code and adds a version with the subroutine approach.

Since I recently moved to Intel-based Macs, I wanted to avoid using non-64bit compilers (g77/g95), so I am working on patching the ncarg5.0 source to use this trick. I will post more if I get that working right. Ncarg has compiled with ifort (had to use -g for 64-bit version), but have to test my programs with the libraries. (I ncl turned off for the moment.) I don't mind trying gfortran to compile the libraries, as well, since it seems to be compatible with ifort binaries. I'll post a link to the modified code seems to work (or perhaps diff output would suffice?)

I hope this helps fix the long-standing issue with block data stuff.

Best,

Ted

-- 
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| Edward Mansell <ted.mansell_at_noaa.gov>
| National Severe Storms Laboratory
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