FAQ & Troubleshooting

Common setup and runtime issues, with quick fixes and pointers.

Installation

  • Missing FFmpeg/ffprobe

    • Symptom: compose-video fails; video commands error.

    • Fix: install system packages and ensure they’re on PATH (e.g., sudo apt-get install ffmpeg).

  • Cartopy/Natural Earth data cache

    • Symptom: visualization fails fetching basemap or coastlines.

    • Fix: pre-populate cache or set CARTOPY_DATA_DIR to a writable path.

  • GDAL/rasterio build errors

    • Symptom: pip install rasterio fails to build.

    • Fix: prefer prebuilt wheels or use conda for heavy geo deps; or skip geotiff extra if not needed.

  • GRIB support (cfgrib/pygrib)

    • Symptom: cannot decode GRIB2; engine errors or missing system libs.

    • Fix: install zyra[grib2]; on some OS, ecCodes system libs may be required. Alternative: use pygrib backend or pre-convert to NetCDF.

CLI usage

  • Stdin/stdout

    • Use - as input/output where supported and --stdout to force stdout.

    • Example: cat subset.grib2 | zyra process convert-format - netcdf --stdout > out.nc

  • S3 unsigned access

    • Symptom: auth errors for public buckets.

    • Fix: add --unsigned to S3 acquire/export when appropriate.

  • HTTP behind proxy

    • Symptom: timeouts or SSL errors.

    • Fix: set HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY env vars; verify with curl.

Visualization

  • Large memory usage

    • Symptom: OOM during plot/animation.

    • Fix: reduce resolution/subset, chunk data with xarray, or generate frames and compose separately.

Environments

  • Windows quirks

    • Consider WSL2 for better compatibility with geospatial stacks.

  • Apple Silicon

    • Prefer prebuilt wheels; some heavy deps may still be x86-only.

Where to get help

  • Stage-Examples.md for working commands

  • Install-Extras.md for extras and env setup

  • Issues: https://github.com/NOAA-GSL/zyra/issues