Why do I get the error: "idl: command not found"?

This error occurs when either:

  1) you have not purchased and installed IDL, and also have not installed runtime SeaDAS, OR
  2) when you have purchased and installed IDL but the "idl" binary isn't in your command path

1) If you are using SeaDAS without a purchased version of IDL, then you can only use SeaDAS in "runtime" mode (which uses the included IDL embedded license). To install runtime SeaDAS you must download the file seadas_idl_rt.tar.gz and then extract it in your $SEADAS directory. To run SeaDAS in this mode, execute "seadas -em". (During installation you must also run the setup program thusly, "./seadas_setup -em".)

2) Or, if you do have IDL installed with a full license, the "idl: command not found" error means you must add the idl binary directory to your command path (i.e. when you type idl on an xterm command line, idl should start and give you an idl prompt). The following examples add the IDL 6.1 binary directory to a user's path:

-If your shell is bash, add or modify a line that sets your path variable in a shell init file such as ~/.bashrc:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/rsi/idl_6.1/bin

-If your shell is tcsh or csh, add or modify a line that sets your path variable in a shell init file such as ~/.tcshrc or ~/.cshrc:

set path=(/usr/local/rsi/idl_6.1/bin $path)

...after making the change, source the shell init file in each open xterm, or log out and back in again.

Note: Mac OS X users may have idl installed in /Applications/rsi/