This is a repository for releasing SciPDL distributions (easy install of PDL on MacOS).
The main purpose of this is to hold the releases, so please download a release.
These are .dmg files that you double click to open and then do a drag and drop to install PDL.
I have included the source scripts that do all the building FWIW but these will probably only work on my Mac. But good luck if you want to play with this — see BUILDING.md for the step-by-step setup guide.
Current version for PDL v2.104, Karl Glazebrook, 23/4/2026.
Welcome to SciPDL! SciPDL is a drag and drop installer for PDL on the Mac. SciPDL now includes its own version of perl in order to work across multiple versions of Mac OS X and a variety of environments (note old versions used the system perl which led to instability between OS updates).
SciPDL is a ‘kitchen sink’ type installer, you get everything you need in one bug bundle to start PDL work. If you prefer a more à la carte approach we suggest you build PDL yourself or use a package management system.
Everything in SciPDL lives within the folder:
Open the .dmg file and drag the ‘PDL’ folder to your Applications folder.
That's it! (And the entire point of SciPDL.)
IMPORTANT: an X11 server is also needed if you want PGPLOT graphics. One can use XQuartz or MacPorts X11. Since the X11 stuff in PDL is statically linked it should work with any X11 server.
From the UNIX (Terminal) command line: If you are a bash or zsh user:
source /Applications/PDL/setup_bash # This can go in your .bashrc startup file pdl
If you are a csh user:
source /Applications/PDL/setup_csh # This can go in your .cshrc startup file pdl
Alternatively simply run
/Applications/PDL/go_pdl
to launch a PDL command line session
To launch pdl from the Finder (utility apps in PDL folder):
The app:
will launch a Terminal window in your home folder with PDL running.
The app:
will run PDL in the current Finder window folder. For this to work drag the app in to your Finder toolbar (right click on the tool bar and select ‘Customise toolbar’)
You will be asked if you wish to allow the app to run and whether to allow it to control Terminal. Say yes to both of these!
You are also likely to get the error:
If you do then click ‘Edit’ button in the dialog to open it in Script Editor and then just hit ‘Save’ in the menu. Then when you re-launch the app you should get a dialog to allow the app to do it’s thing.
(Note these are implemented via Applescripts, if you can't get them to work it is no big deal. Just run pdl from the command line.)
Everything is installed in /Applications/PDL
After running the setup script one should be able to use cpan -i to install perl modules in the normal way (they get installed under /Applications/PDL with the perl).
The pgplot graphics library libpgplot is installed in /Applications/PDL/pgplot, libraries are in /Applications/PDL/lib and executables are in /Applications/PDL/bin. Usage from PDL should be transparent. You can also build and link your own C and Fortran programs against these pgplot libraries if you wish and it ought to work.
SciPDL bundles PDL 2.104 (with Perl 5.42.2 as its private interpreter), plus the following Perl modules. Many of these used to be part of PDL itself but were split out into separate CPAN distributions in PDL v2.094 (PDL::Minuit) and v2.096 (the larger split). SciPDL re-bundles them as part of the "kitchen sink".
| Module | Version | What it does |
|---|---|---|
PGPLOT |
2.35 | Perl bindings to the PGPLOT plotting library |
PDL::FFTW3 |
0.203 | Fast Fourier Transforms (single + double precision) |
PDL::Minuit |
0.002 | CERN MINUIT minimisation/fitting |
PDL::Slatec |
2.098 | SLATEC numerical library (linfit, polyfit, SVD, etc.) |
PDL::GSL |
2.103 | GNU Scientific Library bindings (special functions, CDFs, RNG, etc.) |
PDL::Complex |
2.011 | Complex number support (alongside PDL native complex) |
PDL::Fit::Gaussian |
2.100 | Gaussian curve fitting |
PDL::Graphics::Limits |
0.03 | Plot limit helpers |
PDL::Graphics::Simple |
1.016 | Modern plotting frontend (auto-detects PGPLOT/gnuplot/etc.) |
PDL::Graphics::ColorSpace |
0.206 | Colour space conversions |
PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot |
2.032 | gnuplot interface (requires gnuplot binary, install separately) |
PDL::Transform::Color |
1.010 | Colour transforms |
PDL::Transform::Proj4 |
2.099 | Cartographic projections (PROJ.4) |
PDL::IO::Dicom |
2.098 | Medical imaging (DICOM format) |
PDL::IO::Browser |
0.001 | Interactive ndarray browser |
PDL::IO::IDL |
2.098 | IDL save file reader |
PDL::IO::GD |
2.103 | Image I/O via libgd (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WBMP) |
PDL::Opt::Simplex |
2.097 | Simplex optimisation |
PDL::NDBin |
0.029 | N-dimensional binning |
Astro::FITS::CFITSIO |
1.18 | Perl bindings to NASA's CFITSIO library |
Astro::FITS::Header |
3.09 | FITS header handling |
ExtUtils::F77 |
1.26 | Build-time helper for linking Fortran into Perl modules |
The underlying C/Fortran libraries are also bundled (statically linked into the relevant Perl modules):
| Library | Version | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| PGPLOT (cpgplot) | 5.3.1 | the PGPLOT Perl module |
| GSL | 2.8 | PDL::GSL |
| CFITSIO | 4.6.3 | Astro::FITS::CFITSIO |
| FFTW | 3.3.11 | PDL::FFTW3 (built twice — single + double precision) |
| libgd | 2.3.3 | PDL::IO::GD |
| libjpeg-turbo | 3.1.4.1 | bundled into libgd for JPEG support |
The following additional Perl modules are also bundled (added per issue #5):
DateTime— date/time handlingString::Scanf— sscanf-style parsingDevel::Size— measure memory usage of Perl variablesList::Uniq— list deduplicationLWP::UserAgent— HTTP clientTest::Number::Delta— numeric comparisons in testsParallel::ForkManager— parallel processing via forkPDL::NDBin— N-dimensional binning for PDL
Because this is MacOS the code is all signed and notarised and has a hardened runtime. So it is quite locked down.
In the latest releases I have found a way to give the perl binary a library loading 'entitlement', so installing your own stuff on top of SciPDL (e.g. with cpan -i) will work. However see this caveat.
The repo contains the various scripts and bits I use to build the DMG.
build_scipdl.sh is a shell script that builds SciPDL in /Applications/PDL on a Mac (well my Mac) from sources. Run with --clean to nuke /Applications/PDL and ~/Downloads/build before starting (with a confirmation prompt), or --force-clean to do the same without prompting (for scripted/automated builds). See BUILDING.md for a full step-by-step guide to setting up the build environment and producing a release DMG.
go_dmg is a shell script that builds the DMG file and signs/notarises it
gfortran-static is a shell front end to gfortran that makes the buids static
setup_bash and setup_csh are the scripts that set up the user paths for SciPDL that go in the distrubution
README_dmg.rtfd is the RTF README file that goes in the DMG.
DMG-Background.png is the background image in the DMG
Apps folder contains the pdl [here] and pdl [home] Applescript apps that go in the distribution.
go_pdl is a shell script that launches an interactive PDL session that the above Applescripts use.
patches/ is a folder containing various patches I need to build stuff for SciPDL.
BUILDING.md is the step-by-step guide for maintainers (or curious souls) who want to build SciPDL from source on their own Mac. Covers prerequisites (Homebrew packages, gcc/gfortran from fxcoudert's installer, Apple Developer cert setup if you want to sign and notarise a DMG), running the build script, and producing the final installer.
ARCHITECTURE.md documents the build system in detail — component stack, the static linking hacks, build environment requirements, and how to verify build logs and check static linking on the resulting bundles. Useful reading if you want to understand how SciPDL is held together.
CLAUDE.md is project context for use with Claude Code (the AI coding assistant). It contains working preferences, build environment quirks, and notes on what to expect when bumping PDL versions.
There are also folders named, for example, v2.088/ and v2.093/ that contain snapshots of the builder scripts used for previous releases.