Home > Department Resources > Computing > IDL > Setup

Setting Up Your IDL Environment

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Solaris and Linux Users

1. Create a .idlenv (dot idlenv) file in your home directory and add the following lines:

   setenv IDL_DIR /apps3/rsi/idl_8.1

setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE ${IDL_DIR}/license/license.dat


setenv IDL_PATH +$IDL_DIR/lib
setenv IDL_PATH $IDL_PATH{:}+/apps2/idl_ulib/external

setenv IDL_DEVICE X

if (-e ~/.idlstartup) then
  setenv IDL_STARTUP ~/.idlstartup
endif

alias idl '${IDL_DIR}/bin/idl'

   Some users will not be able to--or will choose not to--run IDL 8.1.  Those users should modify the IDL_DIR environment variable to the path of the version of IDL they will be using, e.g.,  /usr/local/rsi/idl_7.1
   

   ---

   Oct. 9, 2012: saturn.berkeley.edu is now running the IDL 8.2 license server. If you wish to use the later version until lupus is also updated, please use:
   setenv IDL_DIR /apps3/rsi/idl_8.2
setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE ${IDL_DIR}/license/license.dat.saturn


   ---

   
   Bash users should use the following format for setting environment variables instead of the setenv method shown above:

   IDL_DIR=/apps3/rsi/idl_8.1
export IDL_DIR

   Linux users should verify that the directory /usr/local/rsi--or the directory /apps3--exists on the machine where IDL is to be run (e.g., by typing 'ls /usr/local/rsi').  If the directory does not exist, please email central@astro and request that a link be made for that machine to /apps2/linux-apps/rsi.
   
   
2. Append any other desired directories to your IDL_PATH by adding a line to your .idlenv file such as:

   setenv IDL_PATH $IDL_PATH{:}+/path/to/another/directory

3. Source your .idlenv file either on the command line or as part of your .cshrc or .bashrc file: 

   source ~/.idlenv

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Mac Users

As of October, 2009, we have a Mac network version of IDL.

1. Create a .idlenv (dot idlenv) file in your home directory and add the following lines:

   setenv IDL_DIR /apps3/rsi/idl_8.1

setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE ${IDL_DIR}/license/license.dat

setenv IDL_PATH +$IDL_DIR/lib
setenv IDL_PATH $IDL_PATH{:}+/apps2/idl_ulib/external

setenv IDL_DEVICE X

if (-e ~/.idlstartup) then
  setenv IDL_STARTUP ~/.idlstartup
endif

alias idl '${IDL_DIR}/bin/idl'

   Bash users should use the following format for setting environment variables instead of the setenv method shown above:

   IDL_DIR=/usr/local/rsi/idl_8.1
export IDL_DIR

2. Append any other desired directories to your IDL_PATH by adding a line to your .idlenv file such as:

   setenv IDL_PATH $IDL_PATH{:}+/path/to/another/directory

3. Source your .idlenv file either on the command line or as part of your .cshrc or .bashrc file: 

   source ~/.idlenv

$LastChangedDate:: 2012-03-26#$