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Wireshark-dev: Re: [Wireshark-dev] Installing IDL or Pidl in UBUNTU OS

From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2016 16:46:57 -0800
On Mar 1, 2016, at 6:48 AM, Parinay Mahakur <parinay.svnit@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I want to install IDL (Interactive Data Language) in UBUNTU operation system. So can you please send me the terminal code so that I can install the IDL.

The Wikipedia page for that language:

	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDL_%28programming_language%29

says, at the top, "Not to be confused with Interface description language."

The "IDL" stuff in Wireshark is for the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) Interface Description Language, so the IDL in Wireshark is the IDL that's not to be confused with the Interactive Data Language; Wireshark has nothing to do with Interactive Data Language.

(And PIDL is another interface description language.)

> Or, if you have any other method to install it in UBUNTU OS then please send me the method.

The "official" version of IDL:

	http://www.exelisvis.com/IntelliEarthSolutions/GeospatialProducts/IDL.aspx

is a commercial product, and they don't even seem to have a way to find out on what OSes it runs (Windows?  Linux?  OS X?  Solaris?  AIX?  HP-UX?).  The screenshots show Windows, so it might be Windows-only, but I can't tell.

The Wikipedia page for Interactive Data Language refers to the GNU Data Language:

	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Data_Language

as "a free alternative to IDL (Interactive Data Language)".  It's claimed to be "a free implementation of the Interactive Data Language (IDL) widely used in Astronomy", with "a full syntax compatibility with IDL":

	http://www.aspbooks.org/a/volumes/article_details/?paper_id=32122

Its web site:

	http://gnudatalanguage.sourceforge.net

suggests that it's being actively developed, with the most recent release having come out in January 2016.

There is an Ubuntu package for Ubuntu 15.10:

	http://packages.ubuntu.com/wily/gnudatalanguage

so if you're running 15.10, you should be able to install that.  For earlier versions of Ubuntu, you might have to download the source and install it from source.

As for the "official" IDL, you'll probably have to contact Excel VIS and find out if it's even *available* for Ubuntu and, if so, how to get it.

I've never installed or used IDL or GNU Data Language, so I can't give you any more advice on it; I got all of the above advice by searching on the Web.  As I indicated, that IDL has nothing to do with Wireshark, and Wireshark has nothing to do with it, so we can't advise you on it; there may be people on this mailing list who happen to be familiar with it, but they'll have to advise you on their own.