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 /usr/local/rsi/idl_6.3

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 6.3.  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_6.1
   
   Bash users should use the following format for setting environment variables instead of the setenv method shown above:

   IDL_DIR=/usr/local/rsi/idl_6.3
export IDL_DIR

   Linux users should verify that the directory /usr/local/rsi 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

There is currently (September 2006) no centrally-supported MacOS version of IDL.  Mac users should download a copy of IDL and install it on their local machine.  X11 for Mac OS should be installed in order for this to work.   A copy of the appropriate license file needs to be placed in the license directory under the rsi directory where IDL is installed.  Please contact central@astro if you need guidance.

$LastChangedDate:: 2007-02-27#$