This pre-release contains fixes for issues 89 and 91. It also includes fixes for incorrect behavior when setting the thickness parameter in ribbon plots.

This pre-release contains some bug fixes related to back-tic evaluations for certain DSG types as well as some plotting fixes. It is primarily intended to provide a test bed for the development conda build of PyFerret. In the future, this will allow for broader bug testing and evaluation of new features.

PyFerret 7.6.3 release.

See release notes at https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/version-763-release-notes

See the README.md file: https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md
This README file includes instructions for the Anaconda miniconda installation procedure, recommended for both Linux and MacOS systems.

This version includes further support for Discrete Sampling Geometries datasets. Graphics, data listings and some analysis is included for collections of Trajectory Profiles and Time Series Profiles. It also adds new functionality for these datasets as detailed in the release notes.

Additionally, a new, experimental option for displaying a watermark image over a plot has been included that allows the user to specify the opacity, location, and scale of the displayed image.

Furthermore, several bugs have been fixed.

PyFerret v7.6.0 release.

See release notes at https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/version-76-release-notes

And see the README.md file: https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md
This README file includes instructions for the Anaconda miniconda installation procedure, recommended for both Linux and MacOS systems.

This version adds automatic handling of discrete sampling geometry (DSG), also referred to as ragged-array, NetCDF files. This greatly simplifies the handling and plotting of this type of data. By default PyFerret will use these new capabilities when it detects the data is in this format, although one can turn this off if it interferes in legacy scripts handling this type of data in other ways.

This release also adds the option of using the PySide2 Python package for interfacing to the Qt graphics library for creating displayed plots. PyFerret will use the PySide2 package if it cannot find either PyQt5 or PyQt4.

And, of course, there are a number of minor bug fixes.

Candidate for the PyFerret v7.6.0 release.

This version adds automatic handling of discrete sampling geometry (DSG), also referred to as ragged-array, NetCDF files. This greatly simplifies the handling and plotting of this type of data. By default PyFerret will use these new capabilities when it detects the data is in this format, although one can turn this off if it interferes in legacy scripts handling this type of data in other ways.

This release also adds the option of using the PySide2 Python package for interfacing to the Qt graphics library for creating displayed plots. PyFerret will use the PySide2 package if it cannot find either PyQt5 or PyQt4. And, of course, there are a number of minor bug fixes.

See https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/version-75-release-notes for the release notes.

For those who build PyFerret from the source files

The definitions of CC, FC, and LD (the last only for building external functions written in Fortran) were moved to the site_specific.mk.in files. (These were previously defined in the platform_specific.mk.* files.) If you already have customized site_specific.mk files, please appropriately update your customized files with these additional definitions (or leave undefined to use the shell environment variable values).

This release does contain some minor bug fixes.
The primary purpose of this release, however, is the pre-built distributions are linked against NetCDF-4.4.1.1 instead of NetCDF-4.6.x

Linux:

The distribution pyferret-7.4.4-RHEL7-64-Python2.7.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v7.5 system and include HDF5-1.10.4 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution may be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.7 and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

The distribution pyferret-7.4.4-RHEL6-64-Python2.6.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v6.9 system and include HDF5-1.10.4 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution should be used for older 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.6 and PyQt5 or PyQt4. This distribution can be also used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with support for legacy libraries, Python 2.6, and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

If these distributions do not work for your system, consider using the Anaconda version of PyFerret. See the Anaconda Installation - Linux, OS X, and Windows 10/bash section about half way through https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md for more information. Alternatively, you can also build PyFerret from source. See https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/pyferret/build-install for more information.

Mac OS X:

Due to the number of issues arising from using our Mac distribution package on other Mac systems, we no longer provide a distribution package. However, install PyFerret using Anaconda is quite easy. See the Anaconda Installation - Linux, OS X, and Windows 10/bash section about half way through https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md

Alternatively, building PyFerret from the source code using Homebrew packages is also fairly simple.
See https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README_pyferret_mac_homebrew.md for more information.

It appears the problem with PyFerret displayed windows when using High Sierra has been fixed although some warning messages may appear when they are first displayed. Note these fixes are not in the PyFerret code, but rather either in updates to libraries used by PyFerret or in the operating systems.

Release to fix a couple of rarely-encountered bugs.

Release notes found at https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/release-notes/version-743-release-notes

Linux:

The distribution pyferret-7.4.3-RHEL7-64-Python-2.7.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v7.5 system and include HDF5-1.10.2 and NetCDF-4.6.1. This distribution can be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.7 and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

The distribution pyferret-7.4.3-RHEL6-64-Python-2.6.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v6.9 system and include HDF5-1.10.2 and NetCDF-4.6.1. This distribution should be used for older 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.6 and PyQt5 or PyQt4. This distribution can be also used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with support for legacy libraries, Python 2.6, and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

If these distributions do not work for your system, consider using the Anaconda version of PyFerret. See the Anaconda Installation - Linux, OS X, and Windows 10/bash section about half way through https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md for more information. Alternatively, you can also build PyFerret from source. See https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/pyferret/build-install for more information.

Mac OS X:

Due to the number of issues arising from using our Mac distribution package on other Mac systems, we no longer provide a distribution package. However, install PyFerret using Anaconda is quite easy. See the Anaconda Installation - Linux, OS X, and Windows 10/bash section about half way through https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README.md

Alternatively, building PyFerret from the source code using Homebrew packages is also fairly simple.
See https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README_pyferret_mac_homebrew.md for more information.

It appears the problem with PyFerret displayed windows when using Sierra and High Sierra has been fixed although some warning messages may appear when they are first displayed. Note these fixes are not in the PyFerret code, but rather either in updates to libraries used by PyFerret or in the operating systems.

PyFerret 7.4.2 is primarily a bug-fix release.

Release notes found at https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/release-notes/version-742-release-notes

Linux:

The distribution pyferret-7.4.2-RHEL7-64-Python-2.7.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v7.5 system and include HDF5-1.8.18 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution can be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.7 and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

The distribution pyferret-7.4.2-RHEL6-64-Python-2.6.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v6.9 system and include HDF5-1.8.18 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution should be used for older 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.6 and PyQt5 or PyQt4. This distribution can be also used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with support for legacy libraries, Python 2.6, and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

Mac OS X El Capitan:

The distributions pyferret-7.4.2-MacOSX-ElCapitan-Python-3.7.tar.gz and pyferret-7.4-MacOSX-Python-2.7.tar.gz were built on an OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) system using packages built with Homebrew. These distributions use Homebrew Python 3.7 and Python2.7, respectively, with either PyQt5 or PyQt4 already installed. The dynamic libraries (.dylib files) required, including those for HDF5 (v1.10.2) and NetCDF (v4.6.1), are included in the distributions. The path to these provided dynamic libraries are given in the environment variable DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH assigned in the pyferret script.

Because of the dynamic libraries complication, as well as the need to install Python and PyQt from Homebrew to use these prebuilt packages, many users have found it just as easy to build PyFerret from source; see https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README_pyferret_mac_homebrew.md for more information.

Mac OS X High Sierra:

PyFerret built on Mac OS X High Sierra systems, using packages built by Homebrew, appears to work fine using the latest release of High Sierra, with the caveat that an error message is printed to the console every time a plot window is displayed. With earlier versions of High Sierra, PyFerret would only support one window.

Mac OS X Sierra:

PyFerret built on Mac OS X Sierra systems, using packages built by Homebrew, crashes when displaying plots. Using the -nodisplay option enables full use of PyFerret under OS X Sierra with the caveat that no plots are displayed. Plots must be saved and the saved image file examined using other software (such as Preview).

Release notes are found at http:https://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/documentation/release-notes/version-7-4-release-notes

The distribution pyferret-7.4-RHEL7-64-Python-2.7.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v7.5 system and include HDF5-1.8.18 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution can be used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.7 and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

The distribution pyferret-7.4-RHEL6-64-Python-2.6.tar.gz was build on a RedHat Enterprise Linux v6.9 system and include HDF5-1.8.18 and NetCDF-4.4.1.1. This distribution should be used for older 64-bit Linux systems with Python 2.6 and PyQt5 or PyQt4. This distribution can be also used for newer 64-bit Linux systems with support for legacy libraries, Python 2.6, and PyQt5 or PyQt4.

The distribution pyferret-7.4-MacOSX-Python-3.6.tar.gz was build on a OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) system using packages build using Homebrew (see https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/PyFerret/blob/master/README_pyferret_mac_homebrew.md for more information). This distribution uses Python 3.6 with either PyQt5 or PyQt4 already installed. The dynamic libraries (.dylib files) required, include those for HDF5 (v1.10.1) and NetCDF (v4.6.1), are included in the distribution.

Similarly, the distribution pyferret-7.4-MacOSX-Python-2.7.tar.gz was build on a OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) system using packages build using Homebrew. This distribution uses Python 2.7 with either PyQt5 or PyQt4 already installed. The dynamic libraries (.dylib files) required, include those for HDF5 (v1.10.1) and NetCDF (v4.6.1), are included in the distribution.

Mac OS X Sierra and High Sierra:
The above Mac OS X distributions have also been tested and work with a single displayed window on a OS X High Sierra (10.13.4) system, although an error message is written when the displayed window is first presented. Trying to open a new window will cause the program to crash. If -nodisplay is used (thus, no displayed windows), multiple windows can be used. Presumably the same is true with OS X Sierra although this has not been tested.