[MINC-users] minc tools crash in matlab

[Pierre Bellec]

Hi everyone,

First thanks a lot Vlad, Alex and Andrew for your suggestions.

So, as of why Matlab is using the netcdf library, my guess is that netcdf
used to be the file format of matlab (it was replaced by HDF5 around R7). As
a consequence, I don't think that replacing matlab's netcdf library by the
one from /usr/lib will cause any trouble if I stick to "recent" .mat files.
I've actually done it and after very superficial testing there was no
problem. It is a bit of dirty, but not bad at all as a temporary solution.

I still dream about distributing NIAK outside the BIC without asking people
to play around with libraries. That means that I will have to find a cleaner
solution at some point. Clearly, matlab's installation is to blame and minc
does the right thing. As Vlad and Claude suggested, including netcdf
statically in the mincbundle package would still circumvent Matlab's
malpractice. Now, if Andrew thinks that a static compilation is not casher,
so be it. I am a bit surprised because anything that goes towards more
robustness for the binaries sounds like a good thing, but there are
certainly other issues I am not aware of. The only thing left for me to do
is thus to go ahead and complain directly to mathworks, hopping that this
issue might get fixed in future releases of Matlab. I had a surprisingly
good experience with the support team of the company so far, so I'll give it
a shot.

Thanks again for your help, it is very much appreciated,

Pierre Bellec
Post-doctoral fellow
McConnel Brain Imaging Center, Webster 2B
Montreal Neurological Institute
3801 University Street
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2B4
http://wiki.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/index.php/PierreBellec
tel:       (001)(514) 398 5220
fax:      (001)(514) 398 8948