A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ The following is a guide to install Ferret on a computer with Ubuntu (Linux) OS. I am a regular Ferret user and my first encounter with Ferret was during my Masters Dissertation. I did all my computations, data analysis and plotting using Ferret. The only thing I did not know up until then was the installation of Ferret. Though I eventually gained an expertise in using Ferret, I was always pricked by the fact that I never knew how to install it. It was only when my computer crashed that I was forced to learn the installation. I must admit, it was a painstaking task to learn it and that has inspired me to put together this short guide for all those Experts and Beginners who want to an easy and quick installation guide. The aim of this guide is simply to simplify the installation process. I can safely say that, all you need to do is cut, copy and paste the commands into the terminal and you will witness Ferret installed effortlessly. Go ahead, try it!!! Attention :A) Only the text in green is to be Typed/CopyPasted in the terminal. B) You need to have an Internet connection. C) You need to have a package manager. I suggest the use of Synaptic Package Manager. You can download it from Ubuntu Software Center. D) Make sure you have the vim editor. Install it using Synaptic Package Manager. E) Know the username of the computer you are working on. If you dont, do the following: Type in a new terminal: cd ~/ pwd The output will be something like: /home/username Where the username will be your username. A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ Make sure curl is installed. Check it by typing which curl You should get the following in the terminal: /usr/bin/curl If curl is not installed, you can install it with the following command: sudo apt-get install curl Now, check your OS, whether it is a 32bit or 64bit OS. To do this type: file /sbin/init You should get an output which will read something like: /sbin/init: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, From the above display on the terminal, you will know if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit Operating System. Having done all this, we are now ready to download the files required for Ferret installation. Step 1 We will first make a folder to store the files that we will download from the internet. We will create this in our Home folder. Type in the terminal: mkdir ~/ferret_downloads A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ Step 2 Now using your web browser go to the following site: http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/downloads/downloading_ferret From above choose your desired version of Ferret you want to download either: 32-bit Linux (RedHat 6 and equivalent) 64-bit Linux (RedHat 6 and equivalent) There are 3 files to be downloaded: Ferret Executables Ferret Environment Ferret Datasets These files will get downloaded to your Downloads folder by default.To copy files from Downloads folder to the ferret_downloads folder, type the following in your terminal: cp ~/Downloads/fer_dsets.tar.gz ~/ferret_downloads cp ~/Downloads/fer_environment.tar.gz ~/ferret_downloads cp ~/Downloads/fer_executables.tar.gz ~/ferret_downloads exit A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ Step 3 This is the step where we will install Ferret. A) First we make a folder where we will install ferret.Open a new terminal and type the following commands: cd /usr/local sudo mkdir ferret cd ferret B) Now we will have to extract and install the Support Files. Check your present working directory by typing in terminal: pwd Make sure you get the following output on the terminal: /usr/local/ferret Now type in the terminal: sudo tar -xzf ~/ferret_downloads/fer_environment.tar.gz sudo mkdir fer_dsets cd fer_dsets sudo tar -xzf ~/ferret_downloads/fer_dsets.tar.gz A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ C) We will now Install Ferret, type in terminal: sudo /usr/local/ferret/bin/Finstall In the terminal, you will get a screen as shown below.

i)Input into terminal: 1 ii)ForFER_DIR give the following path : /usr/local/ferret iii) Next you will be asked for the fer_executables.tar.gz file location. Give the following path /home/username/ferret_downloads Note: Replace the username in the above command, by the username on your computer. A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ Next we have to Customizing the Paths. For this we will select Customize ferret_paths files. i)Input into the terminal: 2 ii)ForFER_DIR give the following path: /usr/local/ferret iii) For FER_DSETS give the following path: /usr/local/ferret/fer_dsets iv) location for creating ferret_paths file, give the following path /usr/local/ferret Note: Some times, after you paste the above command in the terminal, you may get the following on the screen: Dont worry, just enter:s Finally, exit the installer by inputting:3 A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ We will now check if Ferret has been installed by trying to open it.First, type in the terminal: source /usr/local/ferret/ferret_paths Then type: ferret You will see something as follows: Now to exit Ferret, type q Then in the terminal type:exit Step 4 The last step of the installation is giving the path in the .bashrc file. This file is located in the home folder. In a new terminal, type the following: cd ~/ vi .bashrc Scroll to the bottom of the fie and pressinsert (on KeyBoard) Add the following line:source /usr/local/ferret/ferret_paths A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ It should look like this: To save and exit press the esc(on KeyBoard)followed by :wq Then exit the terminal by typing:exit Finally, open a new terminal type: ferret Then type : go tutorial GREAT JOBnow you have successfully installed ferret. The tutorial should be a good start to learn the basics of Ferret. A simple Ferret installation manual by!> ()t@ Finally we delete the folder ferret_downloads, type in terminal: rm -rf ~/ferret_downloads References 1)http://davies-barnard.co.uk/2011/08/installing-ferret-noaa-onto-ubuntu/ 2)http://ferret.pmel.noaa.gov/Ferret/ A special thanks:Ferret was taught to me by Ms. Vidya PJ and the installation of Ubuntu and Ferret was first done by Mr. Vijith V, both of whom I would like to thank for all their kind help encouragement, without whom, none of this would be possible. I would also like to thank Mr Renjith for checking this guide. Written and tested successfully by PraveenKumar Contact me at pravkumar89@outlook.com Happy Ferreting