PGPLOT Graphics Subroutine Library

Contents

Introduction

The PGPLOT Graphics Subroutine Library is a Fortran-callable, device-independent graphics package for making simple scientific graphs. It is intended for making graphical images of publication quality with minimum effort on the part of the user. For most applications, the program can be device-independent, and the output can be directed to the appropriate device at run time. Although originally conceived as part of the Caltech VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) programs, PGPLOT has much wider applicability and is now widely used at astronomical and other scientific institutes throughout the world. Graphs produced with PGPLOT appear in almost every issue of the major astronomical journals.

The PGPLOT library consists of two major parts: a device-independent part, which is written in portable Fortran-77, and a set of device-dependent ``device handler'' subroutines for output on various terminals, image displays, dot-matrix printers, laser printers, and pen plotters. The majority of these device handlers have been contributed by users outside Caltech.

PGPLOT itself is written mostly in standard Fortran-77, with a few non-standard, system-dependent subroutines. It has been tested under several varieties of UNIX (including Linux, SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, AIX) and VMS (both VAX and AXP). Through the kind contributions of PGPLOT users, PGPLOT is also available for a number of other operating systems (NeXTstep, DOS, Windows, Windows/NT, Macintosh OS), although I am unable to support these versions myself. Anyone who is planning to port PGPLOT to other operating systems, compilers, or hardware configurations is advised to contact me first.


Copyright

PGPLOT is not public-domain software. However, it is freely available for non-commercial use. It is copyrighted by California Institute of Technology. The software is provided ``as is'' with no warranty.


Status

The current version of PGPLOT is 5.0.3.

Supported Operating Systems

UNIX

Version 5.0.3 of PGPLOT includes support for the following varieties of UNIX, although it has not yet been tested on all of them (tested systems are marked with an asterisk). Note that you need a C compiler as well as a Fortran compiler; the GNU gcc compiler works well.
  Operating System      Fortran and C compilers

  AIX (IBM-RISC)*	xlf	cc
  Alliant		fortran	cc
  Convex		fc	cc
  Cray (Unicos)*	cf77	cc
  FreeBSD               f77     cc
  HP (HP-UX)*		fort77	c89, gcc
  SGI (Irix)*		f77	cc
  Linux			f77/f2c gcc
  NeXT*			af77/f2c/gf77	cc
  Digital UNIX [OSF/1]	f77	cc
  Sun Solaris (v2.x)*	f77	cc/gcc
  Sun SunOS (v4.x)*	f77	cc/acc/gcc
  Ultrix		f77	cc
  VP2200  		frt	cc
For notes on these systems, see the files pgplot/sys*/aaaread.me in the distribution.

VMS

PGPLOT is supported on OpenVMS-VAX and OpenVMS-AXP (also known as OpenVMS-Alpha). It has been tested with the current DEC Fortran and DEC compilers under OpenVMS v6.1. You need the C compiler to compile the device driver for DECwindows (X-windows).

DOS and Windows

I am unable to support PGPLOT on DOS or Windows systems, but I encourage PGPLOT users who have ported PGPLOT to these systems to contribute their code for inclusion in future versions of PGPLOT. If you plan to port PGPLOT to one of these systems, you should consult the notes on porting PGPLOT in Appendix G.

A number of other people are working on porting PGPLOT to DOS and Windows with other configurations.

Windows/NT

I am not able to support PGPLOT under Windows/NT. PGPLOT has been ported to this environment by Dr Mark Könnecke (formerly of Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, England). He uses Microsoft Power Station Fortran. This version of PGPLOT is available from ftp://ftp.nd.rl.ac.uk/pub/pgplot/ (although I have recently had trouble reaching this site). There are two files: pgsrc.tar.Z is the sys_winnt directory tree which needs to be added to the general distribution kit. He has put all fortran files that he has changed in there as well. pgntbn.zip is a binary distribution kit containing both a static and a dynamic version of the library, the server program and all the demo programs and some help files.

Macintosh

PGPLOT has been ported to the Macintosh OS with Language Systems Fortran 2.1 by John S. Salmento. A Macintosh window driver is included, and several of the standard PGPLOT drivers, including PostScript. For further information, see http://www.lehigh.edu/~js0p/js0p.html.

Acorn Archimedes

PGPLOT v5.0.3 has been ported to Acorn 32-bit microcomputers by Kate and David Crennell.


Obtaining PGPLOT

The UNIX and VMS version of PGPLOT, including limited support for DOS, is available by anonymous ftp from astro.caltech.edu (131.215.240.1) in directory /pub/pgplot. There are three separate files, which contain the same information but in different formats: See the installation instructions to find out how to decompress the distribution file and install the software.

If you cannot use anonymous ftp, PGPLOT is available on tape for a fee. Consult tjp@astro.caltech.edu.


Documentation

The manual PGPLOT Graphics Subroutine Library by T. J. Pearson is being updated for version 5.0.3 of PGPLOT. The following chapters are currently available: A PostScript file of the manual will be made available when it is completed. A PostScript file of the old manual (version 4.9, 0.27 Mbyte, gzipped) is still available, but it does not include the many changes made in version 5.0.

Interactive Drawing Programs Based on PGPLOT


Tim Pearson, California Institute of Technology, tjp@astro.caltech.edu
Copyright © 1995-6 California Institute of Technology