Linux Installation

The commercial version of WXP can be delivered as a collection of:

• Binaries - the executable programs and shared libraries compiled for different platforms
• Database Files - extra files used by WXP for data processing and plotting

This installation guide outlines how to prepare the local system, how to get WXP via the web, and how prepare WXP for general use. This last step includes setting up of resources, naming conventions and cron tasks.

Data

WXP can use either archived data or real-time data. WXP comes with its own ingestor/product manager but some sites use either the Unidata Local Data Manager (LDM) or a local ingest product such as one that comes with the data feeds.

WXP can work with data available on-line such as data from the National Weather Service (NWS) TGFTP server.

Note: WXP is designed to work well with the WXP and LDM ingestors but may not work as well with others. WXP is robust enough to handle most other data but it might require some reformatting. As long as the data uses the WMO Communications Format (CCB) with WMO header (e.g. SAUS31 KWBC 251203), if should work with WXP.

You can get sample data from the WXP website.

Operating System Support

WXP can be compiled from source for a variety of Unix system but this is not currently supported. There are a number of Linux variants that WXP is compiled for:

• RedHat based
  • RHEL7/CentOS7
  • RHEL8/CentOS8
  • RHEL9/CentOS9
  • RHEL10/CentOS10
• Ubuntu based
  • Ubuntu22 LTS
  • Ubuntu24 LTS
  • Ubuntu26 LTS

Prerequisites and Recommended Downloads

WXP uses shared libraries for third party APIs. WXP also uses X11. WXP doesn't natively support graphics environments like Wayland even though support will be added in the future. Here is a list of third party software that needs to be downloaded:

The scripting examples are written in Perl or Python but both scripting languages are pre-installed.

Installation Steps

1. Local System Preparation
   Prepare the system for use with WXP by creating a WXP account to administer WXP, creation of WXP directory tree and required disk allocation.
2. Downloading WXP
   The next step is actually getting WXP. This includes the binaries, source, database files and documentation.
3. Setting Up Data Sources
   WXP can run from archived data or from a live feed such as NOAAPORT.
   
4. Setting Initial WXP Resources
   WXP needs to know the where data are located on the system.
5. Testing WXP
   Test WXP to make sure parameters are set properly.

Once these steps are finished, WXP is ready to be run on the system. Proceded to either the Tutorials or Users Guide to see what you can do with the main body of WXP programs.