hdf5/release_docs/RELEASE.txt

HDF5 version 1.10.2-snap0 currently under development
================================================================================


INTRODUCTION

This document describes the differences between HDF5-1.10.0-patch1 and
HDF5 1.10.1, and contains information on the platforms tested and known problems in HDF5-1.10.1.
For more details check the HISTORY*.txt files in the HDF5 source.


Links to HDF5 1.10.1 source code, documentation, and additional materials can be found on The HDF5 web page at:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/

The HDF5 1.10.1 release can be obtained from:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/release/obtain5110.html

User documentation for the snapshot can be accessed directly at this location:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc1.10/

New features in the HDF5-1.10.x release series, including brief general
descriptions of some new and modified APIs, are described in the "What's New
in 1.10.1?" document:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc/ADGuide/WhatsNew1101.html

All new and modified APIs are listed in detail in the "HDF5 Software Changes
from Release to Release" document, in the section "Release 1.8.19 (current
release) versus Release 1.10.1

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc1.10/ADGuide/Changes.html

If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the HDF Help Desk:

    help@hdfgroup.org


CONTENTS

- New Features
- Support for new platforms and languages
- Bug Fixes since HDF5-1.10.0-patch1
- Supported Platforms
- Tested Configuration Features Summary
- More Tested Platforms
- Known Problems


New Features
============

    Configuration:
    -------------
    - CMake minimum is now 3.2.2.
      (ADB 2017/01/10)

    - Tools folder is separated into source and test folders. This
      allows autotools to skip the make command and just execute
      the make check command.
      (HDFFV-9719 ADB 2016/10/27)

    Library:
    --------
    - Paged Aggregation

      This is one of the file space management strategies. This strategy
      aggregates small metadata and raw data allocations into constant-sized
      well-aligned pages, which are suitable for page caching.  Paged
      aggregation together with the page buffering feature will allow efficient
      I/O accesses.

    - Page Buffering

      The page buffering layer in the HDF5 library absorbs small accesses to
      the file system.  Each page in memory corresponds to a page allocated in
      the file.  Access to the file system is then performed as a single page
      or multiple of pages, if they are contiguous.  This ensures that small
      accesses to the file system are avoided while providing another caching
      layer for improved I/O performance.  This feature works in conjunction
      with the paged aggregation feature.

    - Filter plugin API added to access the table of paths to search for a
      library. Java interface expanded with wrappers for the new functions.
      (HDFFV-10143 ADB 2017/04/04)

    Parallel Library:
    -----------------
    -

    Fortran Library:
    ----------------
    -

    C++ Library:
    ------------
    - New wrappers for C APIs:
        (HDFFV-10004, HDFFV-10139, HDFFV-10145 - PRs #209, #232, #310, #334, #348)

        // Sets/Gets the strategy and the threshold value that the library will
        // will employ in managing file space.
        FileCreatPropList::setFileSpaceStrategy - H5Pset_file_space_strategy
        FileCreatPropList::getFileSpaceStrategy - H5Pget_file_space_strategy

        // Sets/Gets the file space page size for paged aggregation.
        FileCreatPropList::setFileSpacePagesize - H5Pset_file_space_page_size
        FileCreatPropList::getFileSpacePagesize - H5Pget_file_space_page_size

        // Checks if the given ID is valid.
        IdComponent::isValid - H5Iis_valid

        // Sets/Gets the number of soft or user-defined links that can be
        // traversed before a failure occurs.
        LinkAccPropList::setNumLinks - H5Pset_nlinks
        LinkAccPropList::getNumLinks - H5Pget_nlinks

        // Returns a copy of the creation property list of a datatype.
        DataType::getCreatePlist - H5Tget_create_plist

        // Opens/Closes an object within a group or a file, regardless object type
        Group::getObjId - H5Oopen
        Group::closeObjId - H5Oclose

        // Maps elements of a virtual dataset to elements of the source dataset.
        DSetCreatPropList::setVirtual - H5Pset_virtual

        // Gets general information about this file.
        H5File::getFileInfo - H5Fget_info2

        // Returns the number of members in a type.
        IdComponent::getNumMembers - H5Inmembers

        // Determines if an element type exists.
        IdComponent::typeExists - H5Itype_exists

        // Determines if an object exists.
        H5Location::exists - H5Lexists.

        // Returns the header version of an HDF5 object.
        H5Object::objVersion - H5Oget_info for version
      -BMR, 2017/03/20

    - New exception: ObjHeaderIException for H5O interface.
      (HDFFV-10145 - PR #334) -BMR, 2017/03/15

    - New class LinkAccPropList for link access property list, to be used by
      wrappers of H5Lexists. (HDFFV-10145 - PR #232) -BMR, 2017/01/04

    - New constructors to open datatypes in ArrayType, CompType, DataType,
      EnumType, FloatType, IntType, StrType, and VarLenType.
      (HDFFV-10056 - PR #209) -BMR, 2016/12/26

    - New member functions
        DSetCreatPropList::setNbit() to setup N-bit compression for a dataset.
        (HDFFV-8623 patch 7) -BMR, 2016/04/25

        ArrayType::getArrayNDims() const
        ArrayType::getArrayDims() const
        both to replace the non-const versions. (HDFFV-9725) -BMR, 2016/04/25


    Tools:
    ------
     - Add options to h5clear:
       -s: clear the status_flags field in the file's superblock
       -m: Remove the metadata cache image from the file
       (Pull Request #361 QK 2017/03/22)

    High-Level APIs:
    ---------------

    C Packet Table API
    ------------------
     -

    Internal header file
    --------------------
    -

    Documentation
    -------------

Support for new platforms, languages and compilers.
=======================================
    -

Bug Fixes since HDF5-1.10.0-patch1 release
==================================

    Library
    -------
    - Changed the plugins dlopen option from RTLD_NOW to RTLD_LAZY
      (PR 201 ADB 2016/12/12)

    - Fix error when copying dataset with attribute which is a compound datatype
      consisting of a variable length string.
      (HDFFV-7991 VC 2016/08/19, 2016/08/21, 2016/08/24)

    - H5DOappend will not fail if a dataset has no append callback registered.
      (HDFFV-9960 VC 2016/08/05, 2016/08/14)

    - Fix the problem where the committed datatype's file location is different
      from the file location of an attribute with that committed datatype.
      (HDFFV-9940 VC 2016/07/03, 2016/07/06)

    - (a) Throw an error instead of assertion when v1 btree level hits the 1 byte limit.
      (b) Modifications to better handle error recovery when conversion by
          h5format_convert fails.
      (HDFFV-9434 VC 2016/05/29)

    - Fix error when copying dataset with attribute which is a compound datatype
      consisting of a variable length string.
      (HDFFV-7991 VC 2016/08/19, 2016/08/21, 2016/08/24)

    - H5DOappend will not fail if a dataset has no append callback registered.
      (HDFFV-9960 VC 2016/08/05, 2016/08/14)

    - Fix the problem where the committed datatype's file location is different
      from the file location of an attribute with that committed datatype.
      (HDFFV-9940 VC 2016/07/03, 2016/07/06)

    - (a) Throw an error instead of assertion when v1 btree level hits the 1 byte limit.
      (b) Modifications to better handle error recovery when conversion by 
          h5format_convert fails.
      (HDFFV-9434 VC 2016/05/29)

    Configuration
    -------------
    - Configuration will check for the strtoll and strtoull functions
      before using alternatives
      (PR 340 ADB 2017/03/17)

    - CMake uses a Windows pdb directory variable if available and
      will generate both static and shared pdb files.
      (HDFFV-9875 ADB 2017/02/06)

    - CMake now builds shared versions of tools.
      (HDFFV-10123 ADB 2017/02/01)

    Performance
    -------------
      -

    Fortran
    --------
    -

    Tools
    -----
    - h5diff correctly ignores strpad in comparing strings.
      (HDFFV-10128 ADB 2017/03/03)

    - h5repack now correctly parses the command line filter options.
      (HDFFV-10046 ADB 2017/01/24)

    - h5diff correctly indicates error when it cannot read data due
      to an unavailable filter plugin.
      (HDFFV-9994 ADB 2017/01/18)

    - h5repack allows the --enable-error-stack option on the command line.
      (HDFFV-775 ADB 2016/08/08)

    High-Level APIs:
    ------
    -

    Fortran High-Level APIs:
    ------
    -

    Documentation
    -------------


    F90 APIs
    --------
    -


    C++ APIs
    --------
    - Due to the change in the C API, the overloaded functions of
      PropList::setProperty now need const for some arguments.  They are
      planned for deprecation and are replaced by new versions with proper
      consts. (PR #344) -BMR, 2017/03/17

    - The problem where a user-defined function cannot access both, attribute
      and dataset, using only one argument is now fixed.
      (HDFFV-9920 - PR #45) -BMR, 2016/10/11

    - The high-level API Packet Table (PT) did not write data correctly when
      the datatype is a compound type that has string type as one of the
      members.  This problem started in 1.8.15, after the fix of HDFFV-9042
      was applied, which caused the Packet Table to use native type to access
      the data.  It should be up to the application to specify whether the
      buffer to be read into memory is in the machine's native architecture.
      Thus, the PT is fixed to not use native type but to make a copy of the
      user's provided datatype during creation or the packet table's datatype
      during opening.  If an application wishes to use native type to read the
      data, then the application will request that.  However, the Packet Table
      doesn't provide a way to specify memory datatype in this release.  This
      feature will be available in future releases, HDFFV-10023.
      (HDFFV-9758 - PRs #93 and #108) -BMR, 2016/10/27

    - The obsolete macros, H5_NO_NAMESPACE and H5_NO_STD, are removed.
      (HDFFV-9532 - PR #92) -BMR, 2016/10/23

    - In-memory array information, ArrayType::rank and
      ArrayType::dimensions, were removed. This is an implementation
      detail and should not affect applications. (HDFFV-9725) -BMR, 2016/04/25



    Testing
    -------
    -

Supported Platforms
===================

    Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64 gcc (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4)
    #1 SMP ppc64 GNU/Linux        g++ (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4)
    (ostrich)                     GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-4)
                                  IBM XL C/C++ V13.1
                                  IBM XL Fortran V15.1

    Linux 3.10.0-327.10.1.el7   GNU C (gcc), Fortran (gfortran), C++ (g++)
    #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux       compilers:
    (kituo/moohan)                  Version 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)
                                    Version 4.9.3, Version 5.2.0
                                  Intel(R) C (icc), C++ (icpc), Fortran (icc)
                                  compilers:
                                     Version 15.0.3.187 Build 20150407
                                  MPICH 3.1.4 compiled with GCC 4.9.3

    SunOS 5.11 32- and 64-bit     Sun C 5.12 SunOS_sparc
    (emu)                         Sun Fortran 95 8.6 SunOS_sparc
                                  Sun C++ 5.12 SunOS_sparc

    Windows 7                     Visual Studio 2012 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2013 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)
                                  Cygwin(CYGWIN_NT-6.1 2.2.1(0.289/5/3) gcc(4.9.3) compiler and gfortran)
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    Windows 7 x64                 Visual Studio 2012 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2013 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Parallel Studio 2017 (cmake)

    Windows 10                    Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)

    Windows 10 x64                Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)

    Mac OS X Mt. Lion 10.8.5      Apple clang/clang++ version 5.1 from Xcode 5.1
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.8.2
    (swallow/kite)                Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 15.0.3

    Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5     Apple clang/clang++ version 6.0 from Xcode 6.2
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.9.2
    (wren/quail)                  Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 15.0.3

    Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5     Apple clang/clang++ version 6.1 from Xcode 7.0
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.9.2
    (osx1010dev/osx1010test)      Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 15.0.3

    Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6   Apple clang/clang++ version 7.3.0 from Xcode 7.3
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 5.2.0
    (osx1010dev/osx1010test)      Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 16.0.2


Tested Configuration Features Summary
=====================================

    In the tables below
          y   = tested
          n   = not tested in this release
          C   = Cluster
          W   = Workstation
          x   = not working in this release
          dna = does not apply
          ( ) = footnote appears below second table
          <blank> = testing incomplete on this feature or platform

Platform                              C         F90/   F90      C++  zlib  SZIP
                                      parallel  F2003  parallel
Solaris2.11 32-bit                      n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Solaris2.11 64-bit                      n        y/n    n        y    y     y
Windows 7                               y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 7 x64                           y        y/y    y        y    y     y
Windows 7 Cygwin                        n        y/n    n        y    y     y
Windows 7 x64 Cygwin                    n        y/n    n        y    y     y
Windows 10                              y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 10 x64                          y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 64-bit    n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 64-bit        n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 64-bit        n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 64-bit      n        y/y    n        y    y     y
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 PGI      n        y/y    n        y    y     y
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 GNU      y        y/y    y        y    y     y
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 Intel    n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64         n        y/y    n        y    y     y


Platform                                 Shared  Shared    Shared    Thread-
                                         C libs  F90 libs  C++ libs  safe
Solaris2.11 32-bit                         y       y         y         y
Solaris2.11 64-bit                         y       y         y         y
Windows 7                                  y       y         y         y
Windows 7 x64                              y       y         y         y
Windows 7 Cygwin                           n       n         n         y
Windows 7 x64 Cygwin                       n       n         n         y
Windows 10                                 y       y         y         y
Windows 10 x64                             y       y         y         y
Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 64-bit       y       n         y         y
Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 64-bit           y       n         y         y
Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 64-bit           y       n         y         y
Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 64-bit         y       n         y         y
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 PGI         y       y         y         n
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 GNU         y       y         y         y
CentOS 7.2 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 Intel       y       y         y         n
Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64            y       y         y         n

Compiler versions for each platform are listed in the preceding
"Supported Platforms" table.


More Tested Platforms
=====================
The following platforms are not supported but have been tested for this release.

    Linux 2.6.32-573.22.1.el6    GNU C (gcc), Fortran (gfortran), C++ (g++)
    #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux       compilers:
    (mayll/platypus)                 Version 4.4.7 20120313
                                     Version 4.8.4
                                  PGI C, Fortran, C++ for 64-bit target on
                                  x86-64;
                                      Version 16.10-0
                                  Intel(R) C (icc), C++ (icpc), Fortran (icc)
                                  compilers:
                                     Version 15.0.3.187 (Build 20150407)
                                  MPICH 3.1.4 compiled with GCC 4.9.3

    Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64  MPICH mpich 3.1.4 compiled with
    #1 SMP ppc64 GNU/Linux           IBM XL C/C++ for Linux, V13.1
    (ostrich)                        and IBM XL Fortran for Linux, V15.1

    Debian 8.4 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.36-1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc, g++ (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2
                                  GNU Fortran (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    Fedora 24  4.7.2-201.fc24.x86_64 #1 SMP x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc, g++ (GCC) 6.1.1 20160621 (Red Hat 6.1.1-3)
                                  GNU Fortran (GCC) 6.1.1 20160621 (Red Hat 6.1.1-3)
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    Ubuntu 16.04.1 4.4.0-38-generic #57-Ubuntu SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc, g++ (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.2) 5.4.0 20160609
                                  GNU Fortran (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.2) 5.4.0 20160609
                                  (cmake and autotools)


Known Problems
==============