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INTERNAL: Starting the FLEXlm License Manager At Boot-Time on MAC OS X - IDL 6.1 to 6.3

Anonym
Note: This Help Article is for users of IDL For Mac OS X, version 6.1 or greater, who do not have Personal-use or Laptop licenses. Also, if sys admin personnel installed your IDL program, you may prefer to have them implement the steps detailed in this Help Article.

Since IDL 6.1 IDL (and other Exelis VIS product) installers for Mac OS X are set up to install license manager boot script files in Mac's '/Library/StartupItems/' boot directory. If installed properly, these scripts restart IDL's/FLEXNet's license manager processes automatically every time you reboot. You should then be able to start IDL, IDLDE or ENVI without triggering error messages like "Cannot connect to license server" or "lmgrd is down or not responding".

The installation of the boot scripts can sometimes fail when you are doing a fresh install of Exelis VIS products on your machine. The failure might be that the scripts are simply never copied to the '/Library/StartupItems/' directory tree. Or it might happen that the text of the scripts, which is generated dynamically during product install, is incorrect for successfully initializing the license manager processes.

This Help Article is designed to provide steps even to Mac OS X or command-line UNIX newbies on how to manually install correct license manager boot scripts in the Mac OS X boot directory.

There are two important top-level steps to installing the boot scripts manually on a Mac OS X machine. The first is to edit the main script that will be installed, so that it can provide debug data at your next reboot. The second is to install the script you just edited (plus a companion script) in the proper boot directory. (Note that the example below is based on the default installation paths of IDL version 6.3).

Editing The Startup Script
The startup script for the license manager on Mac OS X is a file named 'sys5_idl_lmgrd', the original copy of which is located in the directory '/Applications/rsi/idl_6.3/bin/'. It is generated dynamically during IDL installation. The most critical place the writing of this file can go wrong is in its assignment of "environment variables", so those should be checked before the file is copied into the boot directory.

Here are the lines that set up the environment:
    VERSION=6.3
    RSI_DIR=/Applications/rsi
    IDL_DIR=$RSI_DIR/idl_$VERSION
    LM_LICENSE_FILE=$RSI_DIR/license/license.dat
    LOG_FILE_NAME="/dev/console"

There are two steps you should take with this file:

  1. Open this file in a text editor and review that particularly the first two assignments are correct. If you are new to X11 xTerm "shell" command-line programming on Mac, follow these substeps:
    • Start your 'X11.app' X11 application by double-clicking on its icon. This should bring up the X11 Terminal.
    • Type "cd /Applications/rsi/idl_6.3/bin". This should take your command prompt to IDL's 'bin' directory.
    • Type "sudo xedit ./sys5_idl_lmgrd". This should (after you provide your regular user password) bring up a simple X11 editor GUI displaying the contents of 'sys5_idl_lmgrd', which you can scroll through, view and edit.
    • If you find errors in the "VERSION", "RSI_DIR" or any other definitions, correct them in this editor.
  2. Under all circumstances, change the "LOG_FILE_NAME" assignment. Erase "/dev/console/" (including the double-quotes) and replace it with the following string "$RSI_DIR/license/idl_lmgrd63.log" (without quotes!), so that the completed edited line reads:
      LOG_FILE_NAME=$RSI_DIR/license/idl_lmgrd63.log

    Once this change is made, press the 'Save' button, then the 'Quit' button.

Moving The Startup Script To Your Computer's Boot Directory
While your xTerm Terminal's command prompt is still in IDL's 'bin' directory, this is the command to send a copy of the file you just edited to your system's application boot directory:

    sudo ./lmgrd_install

When this command is done you should be able to see its result by typing the following command:

    ls /Library/StartupItems/IDL_LMGRD

Does this show that there are two items in that 'IDL_LMGRD' directory: 'IDL_LMGRD' and 'StartupParameters.plist'? If you were to look at that 'IDL_LMGRD' file (with the command:

    cat /Library/StartupItems/IDL_LMGRD/IDL_LMGRD

for example), you would see that it is simply a copy with a new name of the 'sys5_idl_lmgrd' file that you just edited.

A few of you with older versions of IDL on this same Macintosh may have one other step to perform at this time. Does the command:

    ls /Library/StartupItems

show that you have a directory named 'RSI_LICENSE' in this '/Library/StartupItems/' location? If yes, remove that obsolete directory and all its contents with the following command:

    sudo rm -r /Library/StartupItems/RSI_LICENSE

Debugging
Now, if your Mac continues to have problems starting your license management at boot time, it should be easy for Exelis VIS Tech Support or you to debug. Reboot your computer and see if your IDL (or ENVI) licensing problems are persisting. If yes, take a look at the contents of the file 'idl_lmgrd63.log' which should have been created in your '/Applications/rsi/license/' folder. You could use the native Macintosh TextEdit program for this, or type at an X11 Terminal:

    xedit /Applications/rsi/license/idl_lmgrd63.log

if you prefer. If you are puzzled by any of the error messages that appear there, you could search for those error messages in our Help Articles database or contact us here at Exelis VIS Tech Support (Email: support@exelisvis.com, U.S. Tel: +1(303)413-3920, Intl. Tel: check the worldwide offices at http://www.exelisvis.com/language/en-US/Company/WorldWideLocations.aspx).