This is udunits2.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.13 from udunits2.texi. INFO-DIR-SECTION Science START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * udunits-2: (udunits2). The Unidata package for units of physical quantities. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY Copyright 2008, 2009 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Access and use of this software shall impose the following obligations and understandings on the user. The user is granted the right, without any fee or cost, to use, copy, modify, alter, enhance and distribute this software, and any derivative works thereof, and its supporting documentation for any purpose whatsoever, provided that this entire notice appears in all copies of the software, derivative works and supporting documentation. Further, UCAR requests that the user credit UCAR/Unidata in any publications that result from the use of this software or in any product that includes this software, although this is not an obligation. The names UCAR and/or Unidata, however, may not be used in any advertising or publicity to endorse or promote any products or commercial entity unless specific written permission is obtained from UCAR/Unidata. The user also understands that UCAR/Unidata is not obligated to provide the user with any support, consulting, training or assistance of any kind with regard to the use, operation and performance of this software nor to provide the user with any updates, revisions, new versions or "bug fixes." THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY UCAR/UNIDATA "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL UCAR/UNIDATA BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE ACCESS, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.  File: udunits2.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir) UDUNITS-2 ********* This manual describes the UDUNITS-2 package, which contains a C library for units of physical quantities and a unit-definition and value-conversion utility. Copyright 2008, 2009 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research Access and use of this software shall impose the following obligations and understandings on the user. The user is granted the right, without any fee or cost, to use, copy, modify, alter, enhance and distribute this software, and any derivative works thereof, and its supporting documentation for any purpose whatsoever, provided that this entire notice appears in all copies of the software, derivative works and supporting documentation. Further, UCAR requests that the user credit UCAR/Unidata in any publications that result from the use of this software or in any product that includes this software, although this is not an obligation. The names UCAR and/or Unidata, however, may not be used in any advertising or publicity to endorse or promote any products or commercial entity unless specific written permission is obtained from UCAR/Unidata. The user also understands that UCAR/Unidata is not obligated to provide the user with any support, consulting, training or assistance of any kind with regard to the use, operation and performance of this software nor to provide the user with any updates, revisions, new versions or "bug fixes." THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY UCAR/UNIDATA "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL UCAR/UNIDATA BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE ACCESS, USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. * Menu: * Introduction:: Introduction * Differences:: How this package differs from the original UDUNITS * Obtain:: Obtaining this package * Install:: Installing this package * Support:: Support for this package * Database:: The unit database * Complete Index:: Complete index  File: udunits2.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Differences, Prev: Top, Up: Top 1 Introduction ************** The UDUNITS-2 package provides support for units of physical quantities. Its three main components are: 1) *note a C library: (udunits2lib)Top. for units of physical quantities; 2) *note a utility: (udunits2prog)Top.; for obtaining the definition of a unit and for converting numeric values between compatible units; and 3) an extensive database of units.  File: udunits2.info, Node: Differences, Next: Obtain, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top 2 How This Package Differs from the Original `UDUNITS' Package ************************************************************** The `UDUNIT-2' package differs from the original `UDUNITS' package in the following ways: * *Support for non-ASCII characters:* The original `UDUNITS' package only supports the ASCII character set. The `UDUNITS-2' package supports the following character sets: ASCII, ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1), and the UTF-8 encoding of ISO 10646 (Unicode). This means that unit string specifications like "`µ°F·Ω⁻¹'" are now supported (your viewer must support UTF-8 to display this string correctly). * *Support for logarithmic units:* The unit string specification "`0.1 lg(re 1 mW)'" specifies a deciBel unit with a one milliwatt reference level. Such units are fully integrated into the package and all meaningful operations and conversions are supported. * *Persistent value converters:* It is now possible to obtain a _converter_ data-object, which can be used to convert numeric values in one unit to numeric values in another, compatible unit. The values can be `float', `double', or one-dimensional arrays of `float's or `double's. * *Improved API:* Due to the above changes, it was not possible to keep the application programming interface (API) of the original `UDUNITS' package. The new interface, however, is easily understood and easy to use. To support backward comptibility, the package does contain a version 1 C API, which uses the version 2 library. * *XML unit database:* The unit database is encoded using human-readable XML rather than a custom format. The XML parser included in the package supports an __ element to allow easy and convenient customization. * *No Fortran or Perl API:* Interfaces for these languages have not yet been created. Contact if you are interested in helping to create these interfaces. One thing that has not changed is that almost all unit string specifications understood by the original `UDUNITS' package are also understood by the new `UDUNITS-2' package. The one exception is the symbol `g', which in the original package was associated with standard free fall (a unit of accelleration) but which is associated with gram in the new package.  File: udunits2.info, Node: Obtain, Next: Install, Prev: Differences, Up: Top 3 Obtaining this Package ************************ Get this package from its download-page at `http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/udunits/' and unpack it in an appropriate place, e.g., cd /usr/local/src gunzip -c udunits-2.1.21.tar.gz | pax -r  File: udunits2.info, Node: Install, Next: Database, Prev: Obtain, Up: Top 4 Installing this Package ************************* * Menu: * Short:: Short intallation instructions * Long:: Long installation instructions * What:: What gets installed  File: udunits2.info, Node: Short, Next: Long, Up: Install 4.1 Short Installation Instructions =================================== Not all development enviroments can build and install this package. See the long instructions in the next section for details. The following assumes that you are familiar with autoconf-based package-installation. If you're not, then follow the long instructions in the next section. ./configure [--prefix=ROOT] [--disable-shared] [CC=PATH] make make check # optional; requires CUNIT installation make install # also installs INFO documentation make install-html install-pdf # optional make clean By default, the installation root is `/usr/local'. If you encounter problems, then follow the instructions in the next section.  File: udunits2.info, Node: Long, Next: What, Prev: Short, Up: Install 4.2 Long Installation Instructions ================================== 1. Go to the top-level source-directory of this package, e.g., cd udunits-2.1.21 2. Because some `make' utilities cannot build this package correctly, locate the operating system that is closest to yours in the following table and determine the MAKE utility that you will use. O/S `make' Utility ------------------------------------------------------- 3. If necessary, clean-up from a previous installation attempt by making the `distclean' target using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE distclean 4. Because some compilers cannot build this package correctly, locate the operating system closest to yours in the following table and determine the compiler that you will use and any required option for the `configure' script. O/S Compiler `configure' Option ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The option `--disable-shared' causes the build process to create a static library only: a sharable library is not created. This option is necessary if the `libtool' utility that's included in this package can't build a sharable library using the given compiler. The following table lists the build environments that do not work -- so don't use them: O/S Compiler `configure' Option ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Execute the `configure' script. Specify the installation prefix, the compiler from the previous step, and any required option. For example, if you are on an HP-UX system and want to use the `/bin/c89' compiler and install under `/opt', then the following command is appropriate: ./configure --prefix=/opt --disable-shared CC=/bin/c89 If the installation prefix is not specified, then the default is to install under `/usr/local'. If the compiler isn't specified, then the default is to use `gcc'. 6. Build this package by making the default target using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE 7. If you wish to verify that this package works correctly, then make the `check' target using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE check This step is only effective if the `configure' script found an installed `CUNIT' unit-testing package. If that package wasn't found, then the above command will quickly exit without testing this package. 8. Install the *note library: (udunits2lib)Top, *note utility: (udunits2prog)Top, header-files, units-database, and INFO documentation files by making the `install' target using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE install 9. If desired, install the HTML and PDF documentation files by making one or more of the following targets using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE install-html install-pdf 10. Clean up by making the `clean' target using the MAKE utility from step 2: MAKE clean  File: udunits2.info, Node: What, Prev: Long, Up: Install 4.3 What Gets Installed ======================= The following files are created or installed under the installation directory: bin/: udunits2 # Unit *note utility: (udunits2prog)Top. include/: converter.h # API for value converters udunits2.h # API for units lib/: libudunits2.a # Static unit *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. libudunits2.la # libtool(1) reference for unit *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. libudunits2.so # Link to shared *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. libudunits2.so.0 # Link to shared *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. libudunits2.so.0.0.0 # Shared *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. share/: doc # Directory. Created if it doesn't exist info # Directory. Created if it doesn't exist udunits # Directory. Created if it doesn't exist share/doc: udunits # Directory. Created if it doesn't exist share/doc/udunits: udunits2.html # HTML documentation on this package udunits2lib.html # HTML documentation on the unit *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. udunits2lib.pdf # PDF documentation on the unit *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. udunits2.pdf # PDF documentation on this package udunits2prog.html # HTML documentation on the unit *note utility: (udunits2prog)Top. udunits2prog.pdf # PDF documentation on the unit *note utility: (udunits2prog)Top. share/info: dir # Top-level "info" file. Created if it doesn't exist udunits2.info # INFO documentation on this package udunits2lib.info # INFO documentation on the unit *note library: (udunits2lib)Top. udunits2prog.info # INFO documentation on the unit *note utility: (udunits2prog)Top. share/udunits: udunits2.xml # Default unit database udunits2-accepted.xml # Units accepted for use with the SI udunits2-base.xml # SI base units udunits2-common.xml # Common, non-SI units udunits2-derived.xml # Derived units of the SI udunits2-prefixes.xml # SI unit prefixes  File: udunits2.info, Node: Database, Next: Support, Prev: Install, Up: Top 5 The Units Database ******************** The database for the UDUNITS-2 package comprises one XML file containing unit prefixes and four XML files containing unit definitions: * SI unit prefixes (../../udunits/udunits2-prefixes.xml) * SI base units (../../udunits/udunits2-base.xml) * SI derived units (../../udunits/udunits2-derived.xml) * Units accepted for use with the SI (../../udunits/udunits2-accepted.xml) * Non-SI units (../../udunits/udunits2-common.xml)  File: udunits2.info, Node: Support, Next: Complete Index, Prev: Database, Up: Top 6 Support for this Package ************************** The home-page for this package can be found at `http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/udunits/'. Bug reports should be sent to .  File: udunits2.info, Node: Complete Index, Prev: Support, Up: Top Index ***** [index] * Menu: * database: Database. (line 6) * installing this package: Install. (line 6) * Introduction: Introduction. (line 6) * obtaining this package: Obtain. (line 6) * package, support: Support. (line 6) * support: Support. (line 6)  Tag Table: Node: Top1986 Node: Introduction4350 Node: Differences4824 Node: Obtain7318 Node: Install7661 Node: Short7938 Node: Long8786 Node: What12107 Node: Database14454 Node: Support15029 Node: Complete Index15340  End Tag Table