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How to configure the IDL Workbench on Linux, Mac and Windows to automatically run in "-outofprocess" mode (IDL 8.2.1 and later)
TOPIC:
How to configure the IDL Workbench on Linux, Mac and Windows to automatically run in "-outofprocess" mode (IDL 8.2.1 and later only)
| Note: The "-outofprocess" command line option/switch is functionality that is not officially documented for IDL. Consequently, it is possible that in later versions of IDL, without notice, this functionality may no longer work as described in this Help Article. |
DISCUSSION:
Launching the IDL Workbench in -outofprocess mode:
A few IDL Workbench users have reported that their workbench sessions may sometimes crash without warning or explanation. Some of these users have reported that this behavior can be resolved or worked around in IDL 8.2.1 or later by the use of the "-outofprocess" command line switch to the "idlde" command. For example, for IDL 8.4:
* Mac OS X (from an X11 Terminal window, using a Bash shell (2 commands)):
source /Applications/exelis/idl84/bin/idl_setup.bash
idlde -outofprocess
* Linux (from an Terminal window, using a Bash shell (2 commands)):
source /usr/local/exelis/idl84/bin/idl_setup.bash
idlde -outofprocess
* Windows (from a Windows Command Prompt window):
"C:\Program Files\Exelis\IDL84\bin\bin.x86_64\idlde.exe" -outofprocess
Configuring an IDL installation to always launch the IDL Workbench in -outofprocess mode:
If launching the IDL Workbench in this way seems to allow IDL to function properly, you can avoid always having to manually launch the IDL Workbench from a command prompt with the "-outofprocess" command line switch as follows. (Administrator or root/sudo privileges may be required to complete the following instructions.)
MAC OS X AND LINUX:
1.) Locate the IDL Workbench launch options *.ini file.
For IDL 8.4 on Mac OS X, the default location of this file is at:
/Applications/exelis/idl84/idlde/idlde.darwin.x86_64/Contents/MacOS/idlde.ini
(For Mac OS X, in order to access the"idlde.ini" file from the Finder window, browse to the location of "idlde.darwin.x86_64", right click on this item, and then select "Show Package Contents" to reveal the subdirectory items.)
For IDL 8.4 on Linux, this file is located by default at:
/usr/local/exelis/idl84/idlde/idlde.linux.x86_64.ini
2.) Edit the file (root or sudu privileges may be required) with a plain text editor to insert the following *new line* at the beginning of the file:
-outofprocess
3.) After saving the change to the *.ini file, start IDL Workbench.
4.) You can verify that the IDL Workbench session is working in -outofprocess mode by issuing the following command at a Terminal shell prompt to look for the presence of an "idl_engine" process. For example:
$ ps -ef | grep idl_engine
500 22700 22678 1 12:05 pts/8 00:00:00 /usr/local/exelis/idl84/bin/bin.linux.x86_64/idl_engine -runLocal -runServer -readFile=39 -writeFile=119 -clientProcess=22678
500 22756 22390 0 12:05 pts/8 00:00:00 grep idl_engine
WINDOWS:
Approach 1: Altering the shortcut property
1.) Find the Windows Start menu shortcut to launch the IDL Workbench. For example:
Start > All Programs > IDL 8.4 > IDL
2.) Right click on the shortcut and open the Properties dialog.
3.) Modify the Target command (administrative privileges will be required) by adding to the end of the existing command the -outofprocess switch, for example:
"C:\Program Files\Exelis\IDL84\bin\bin.x86_64\idlde.exe" -outofprocess
4.) Save the change just made to the shortcut property.
5.) Launch the modified IDL shortcut.
You can verify that the IDL Workbench session is in -outofprocess mode by observing in the Windows Task Manager utility that the "idl_engine.exe" process is running, in addition to "idlde.exe".
Approach 2: Modifying the IDL installation
Rather than alter the shortcut properties, one can alter the underlying IDL installation to cause the IDL Workbench to always start in -outofprocess mode, without having to alter shortcut properties.
1.) Locate the idlde.ini file for your IDL installation. For example, for 64-bit IDL 8.4.1 on Windows, the default file location is:
C:\Program Files\Exelis\IDL84\bin\bin.x86_64\idlde.ini
2.) Launch a plain text editor program (run as administrator) and open the idlde.ini file to edit.
3.) Insert a new line at the very beginning of the idlde.ini file with the following contents:
-outofprocess
The first four lines of the idlde.ini file should then look something like this:
-outofprocess
-vm
C:\Program Files\Exelis\IDL84\bin\bin.x86_64\jre\bin
-startup
4.) Save the change to the idlde.ini file.
5.) Launch the IDL Workbench in the normal way.
You can verify that the IDL Workbench session is in -outofprocess mode by observing in the Windows Task Manager utility that the "idl_engine.exe" process is running, in addition to "idlde.exe".
Side effects:
Note that starting the IDL Workbench in this way has some side effects:
a.) If you use the new graphics in IDL, on some platforms you may notice that the frame of the graphics window looks different, such that property menu icons are not present (instead, double click on the graphic area to bring up an interactive property sheet).
b.) There may also be situations in which IDL graphics windows may unexpectedly appear or are placed behind the IDL Workbench, even when you have set the IDL graphics preference for "Graphics windows stay on top".
Additional keywords: outofprocess out of process
[ Reviewed for external by JU (23-feb-2015), MM (24-feb-2015); Updated by JU (6-May-2015) ]