Windows PATH environment variable for compilers

[allison_roth]

We have a machine that just had the new Fortran and C++ compilers installed. With the new version, the previous version, and VTUne, Intel products alone put 1754 characters into the Windows PATH env var. Given that we use other software as well, this caused the PATH to hit the limit of 2048 characters, and it's truncating. Has anyone else encountered this and/or found a way around it?

Thank you!

[rase]

I had the same problem, with a previous version of IVF. The way around, found with the help of Intel wizards, was a cleanup of the PATH variable (I was not able to find the entry in the forum, it happened a few months ago). The PATH definition contained entries of software packages I had deinstalled, and others which were not nessary anymore for unknown reasons. Some definitions can be cryptic, and you can only find out by trial and error which ones are still needed.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Also look for:

Redundant entries in PATH
Older versions of, say, Visual Studio

Save a copy of what is in PATH (e.g. copy to clipboard and paste into Notepad, then save as OldPATH.txt).

Jim Dempsey

[Steven_L_Intel1]

If you choose a Typical install, the installer does not ask you about modifying PATH and adds the required values to PATH for running programs. If you choose a Custom install, it does ask but if you say no, then programs that depend on the Intel DLLs may not run. You may indeed need to remove no-longer-needed values from PATH.

[allison_roth]

Strange - we've always done the custom install just as you say, and said no to the path question. It didn't come up here, but maybe it was just a fluke (i.e. we double clicked next accidentally and went past it, or something.) I'll experiment a bit. But I'll go ahead and remove those and give it a try. Thanks!

[IanH]

I've hit path limits before too, and try and remember (not always successfully) to use the custom "please don't mess with my path" option.

With custom installs for XE 2011 Update 1 (one on top of the initial XE 2011 release, the other onto 11.1.067) I didn't get presented with such an option around path modifications - at least that I recognised.

Three of the the four directories added to the PATH are redistributable related and have a common parent path bar the last component. I appreciate that the directory structure is handy for (very coarsely) identifying which files should be redistributed, but this still seems a bit over the top. Does the redistributable-only install lay the DLL's out in the same manner?

The fourth directory added to the path (C:\Program Files\Intel\ComposerXE-2011\compiler\lib) had no files in it. What's the go with that?

When installating on top of the initial XE 2011 release I did an "install the update alongside the previous XE 2011 version" rather than the "obliterate and replace" option - this process seems to leave a redundant (?) mkl directory in PATH.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

The redistributables installer places the DLLs under Program Files\Common Files\Intel. I have argued before that we add too many directories to PATH and I will pass along the complaints.