Software dependencies of LFRic#

LFRic Applications#

Given that most users of the LFRic core code are running applications such as lfric_atm that are stored in the separate “LFRic applications” repository, lfric_apps, it is worth describing the relation between the two repositories.

Currently, the development of the two code bases is done hand-in-hand. Therefore, certain revisions of the core code are tagged with the version number of the relevant lfric_apps release. For example, revision 51381 is tagged core2.1 and works with the 2.1 LFRic apps release.

Note, also, that any given revision of lfric_apps includes a dependencies.sh file in its top-level directory which references a specific revision of the LFRic core code against which it will be built.

Compiler versions#

LFRic uses several features of modern Fortran, including object-oriented features introduced at F2003 and later. Not all compilers have correctly implemented all features, and therefore there may be problems when compiling and running LFRic applications with some compilers.

The following compilers are routinely tested at the Met Office:

  • The Gnu compiler (version 12.2.0)

  • The Cray compiler (version 15.0.0)

Software Stack#

To build and run typical LFRic applications, the following software will be required. The numbers in parenthesis identify versions in use at the Met Office for the revision of LFRic tagged core2.1.

Common software which may already be installed on some HPC and research platforms:

  • Python version 3 (3.12.5)

  • HDF5 (1.14.5)

  • NetCDF (C:4.9.2, Fortran:4.6.1)

  • MPI (mpich 4.2.3)

More specialist software for developing, building and running LFRic applications:

  • FCM (2021.05.0). LFRic code is held in a Subversion repository. FCM is an application that wraps Subversion commands to help impose standard development workflows for LFRic development.

  • PSyclone (3.1.0), a code generation library used by LFRic for generating portable performance code. The PSyclone documentation list its own software dependencies, which include some Python packages and the following Fortran parser.

  • fparser (0.2.0), a Fortran parser used by PSyclone.

  • YAXT 0.10.0), an MPI wrapper which supports MPI data exchange in LFRic application.

  • XIOS (r2252) an IO server library to support input and output of data to UGRID NetCDF files.

  • blitz (1.0.2), a support library required by XIOS.

  • rose-picker (2.0.0) available from the GPL-utils project in the core LFRic repository, supports parsing Rose metadata when generating namelist-reading code.

Additional specialist software essential for running the LFRic infrastructure and application tests, or for processing documentation:

  • Rose (2.3.1) and Cylc (8+) for running the full test-suite that includes application configurations, integration tests, unit tests, style checker and metadata validation checks.

  • PFUnit (4.10.0) A Fortran unit testing framework.

  • stylist (0.4.1): A code style-checker.

  • plantuml (1.2021.7): the LFRic repository holds formal descriptions of key LFRic classes using a format that can be rendered into UML diagrams by plantuml.

  • Doxygen (1.12.0): the LFRic API is documented using the Doxygen documentation generator.

Future releases#

About three releases of lfric_apps are planned to take place each year. The LFRic core code will be appropriately tagged against each such release.