Fortran 17 (update 6) -- Documentation not installed

[David_Vowles]

Hello,

Recently I installed version 17.6 of the Intel C++ and Fortran compilers on a Windows computer. Unfortunately, the Fortran documentation (in the form of *.html files) was not installed. The C++ documentation is installed at the expected location (<Root>/IntelSWTools/documentation_2017/en/compiler_c/common/core/index.htm). However, the corresponding Fortran folder .../documentation_2017/en/compiler_f/... does not exist. It was present in my earlier Fortran 17.4 installation. (I've attempted a "Modify" install without success. A "Repair" install is not applicable since the installation is from a downloaded installer.) 

In the past I have installed just the Fortran compiler (i.e. not both the Intel Fortran and Intel C++ compiler) and the Fortran documentation was installed as expected. Could there be some bug in the installers that prevents the installation of the Fortran documentation if the C++ compiler has been installed?

I would be most grateful for suggestions on how to successfully install the Fortran documentation.

Thank you,

David.

[andrew_4619]

Read https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-visual-fortran-compiler-for-windows/topic/744737

Same issue I think

[David_Vowles]

Thank you Andrew.

Actually, I had reviewed the post to which you refer prior to writing my post yesterday. The earlier post refers to (i) version 18, not 17, (ii) integration of help documentation with the MSVS IDE; and (iii) linkage of the F1 button to the help system. None of these things are of interest to me. My interest is in the offline  *.html, searchable, resizable help that I had viewed routinely using my trusty firefox browser, quite independently of any IDE. (I note that Intel provide a PDF copy of the documentation for download. This, for my purposes is inferior to the browser based documentation).

I note that the post to which Andrew refers was originally made on 19 September 2017. One commentator stated in the thread on 21 September that they had reported the documentation issue to Intel during beta testing in April [2017] -- Intel ticket number 02752845. This feedback apparently had no effect. The final comment by an Intel person was made on 25 September. Among other things it was stated that:

"Regarding the request to bring the F1 feature back: Please be assured that we have heard all of you. Your feedback is very important to us. This request was escalated to the proper department for consideration."

I would be most grateful if Intel could point to an information release about their plans to resolve the issue. Otherwise, since some four months have now passed since the request was "escalated to the proper department" it would be most helpful if Intel could advise their customers if and when they plan to resolve the issue of offline documentation. Or, at the very least, advise when they intend to provide such advice.

Can Intel also confirm that restoration of the F1 help facility means that offline *.html help files will be included in the installation as had been the case up until at least version 17.4.

As I noted in my original post the C++ component of the Intel Parallel Studio offering has seen fit to retain offline help (at least until version 17.6). It seems passing strange that two arms of this product offering would make very different decisions about such an important matter as the distribution of documentation. Whilst I do not doubt the difficulty in maintaining MS integrations across multiple versions it begs the question why the C++ development group can do so but the Fortran group cannot.

Many thanks,
David.

[Devorah_H_Intel]

Thank you for your report. This is a bug in 17.0 Update 6 release, I have escalated it to engineering.

[David_Vowles]

Thank you Devorah.

I see that the removal of documentation from 17.6 was an oversight.

However, following Andrew's remark that the absence of documentation in 17.6 was likely tied to its (apparently intended) omission in version 18 my second post asked about Intel's plans to restore offline documentation in a more general context. Based on another recent post (https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/intel-visual-fortran-compiler-for-windows/topic/754588) I suspect other Intel customers may therefore also be interested in the Intel response to the following enquiry that I made in my second post:

"I would be most grateful if Intel could point to an information release about their plans to resolve the issue [see post above]. Otherwise, since some four months have now passed since the request was "escalated to the proper department" it would be most helpful if Intel could advise their customers if and when they plan to resolve the issue of offline documentation. Or, at the very least, advise when they intend to provide such advice.

Can Intel also confirm that restoration of the F1 help facility means that offline *.html help files will be included in the installation as had been the case up until at least version 17.4."

Many thanks,

David.

[Devorah_H_Intel]

David,

I would like to backtrack on the 17.0.6 documentation. Please submit a ticket via Online Service Center https://supporttickets.intel.com/?lang=en-US and request it to be assigned to me.

We were able to verify that documentation installs properly in 17.0 Update 6 both for Fortran and C++. In order to resolve this, we need to investigate this particular installation on your system, obtain additional information and logs. Meanwhile, reinstalling Parallel Studio XE 2017 U6 might resolve the issue. 

Regarding the question on future plans for the restoration of the F1 help facility -  at this time I am unable to provide such information.  I will post an update as soon as possible.

[David_Vowles]

Dear Devorah,

Thank you for your feedback. As requested I have issued a support request, although, as explained below, it now seems no further action is required.

Following your suggestion of uninstalling the compilers (C++ and Fortran) and then reinstalling them proved to be successful. Following reinstallation the Fortran documentation was successfully installed.

I have no idea what I did differently in my current installation in which the documentation was installed successfully and the original installation when the Fortran documentation was not installed.

Regards,
David.

[Devorah_H_Intel]

David Vowles wrote:

 Following your suggestion of uninstalling the compilers (C++ and Fortran) and then reinstalling them proved to be successful. Following reinstallation the Fortran documentation was successfully installed.

Great to hear :-)