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138 lines
5.4 KiB
HTML
138 lines
5.4 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
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<html>
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<head>
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<title>Version Numbers</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>Version Numbers</h1>
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<h2>1. Introduction</h2>
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<p>The HDF5 version number is a set of three integer values
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written as either <code>hdf5-1.2.3</code> or <code>hdf5 version
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1.2 release 3</code>.
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<p>The <code>5</code> is part of the library name and will only
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change if the entire file format and library are redesigned
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similar in scope to the changes between HDF4 and HDF5.
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<p>The <code>1</code> is the <em>major version number</em> and
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changes when there is an extensive change to the file format or
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library API. Such a change will likely require files to be
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translated and applications to be modified. This number is not
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expected to change frequently.
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<p>The <code>2</code> is the <em>minor version number</em> and is
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incremented by each public release that presents new features.
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Even numbers are reserved for stable public versions of the
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library while odd numbers are reserved for developement
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versions. See the diagram below for examples.
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<p>The <code>3</code> is the <em>release number</em>. For public
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versions of the library, the release number is incremented each
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time a bug is fixed and the fix is made available to the public.
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For development versions, the release number is incremented more
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often (perhaps almost daily).
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<h2>2. Abbreviated Versions</h2>
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<p>It's often convenient to drop the release number when referring
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to a version of the library, like saying version 1.2 of HDF5.
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The release number can be any value in this case.
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<h2>3. Special Versions</h2>
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<p>Version 1.0.0 was released for alpha testing the first week of
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March, 1998. The developement version number was incremented to
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1.0.1 and remained constant until the the last week of April,
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when the release number started to increase and development
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versions were made available to people outside the core HDF5
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development team.
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<p>Version 1.0.23 was released mid-July as a second alpha
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version.
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<p>Version 1.1.0 will be the first official beta release but the
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1.1 branch will also serve as a development branch since we're
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not concerned about providing bug fixes separate from normal
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development for the beta version.
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<p>After the beta release we rolled back the version number so the
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first release is version 1.0 and development will continue on
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version 1.1. We felt that an initial version of 1.0 was more
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important than continuing to increment the pre-release version
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numbers.
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<h2>4. Public versus Development</h2>
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<p>The motivation for separate public and development versions is
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that the public version will receive only bug fixes while the
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development version will receive new features. This also allows
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us to release bug fixes expediently without waiting for the
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development version to reach a stable state.
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<p>Eventually, the development version will near completion and a
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new development branch will fork while the original one enters a
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feature freeze state. When the original development branch is
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ready for release the minor version number will be incremented
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to an even value.
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<p>
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<center>
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<img alt="Version Example" src="version.gif">
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<br><b>Fig 1: Version Example</b>
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</center>
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<h2>5. Version Support from the Library</h2>
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<p>The library provides a set of macros and functions to query and
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check version numbers.
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<dl>
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<dt><code>H5_VERS_MAJOR</code>
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<dt><code>H5_VERS_MINOR</code>
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<dt><code>H5_VERS_RELEASE</code>
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<dd>These preprocessor constants are defined in the public
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include file and determine the version of the include files.
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<br><br>
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<dt><code>herr_t H5get_libversion (unsigned *<em>majnum</em>, unsigned
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*<em>minnum</em>, unsigned *<em>relnum</em>)</code>
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<dd>This function returns through its arguments the version
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numbers for the library to which the application is linked.
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<br><br>
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<dt><code>void H5check(void)</code>
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<dd>This is a macro that verifies that the version number of the
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HDF5 include file used to compile the application matches the
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version number of the library to which the application is
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linked. This check occurs automatically when the first HDF5
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file is created or opened and is important because a mismatch
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between the include files and the library is likely to result
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in corrupted data and/or segmentation faults. If a mismatch
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is detected the library issues an error message on the
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standard error stream and aborts with a core dump.
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<br><br>
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<dt><code>herr_t H5check_version (unsigned <em>majnum</em>,
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unsigned <em>minnum</em>, unsigned <em>relnum</em>)</code>
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<dd>This function is called by the <code>H5check()</code> macro
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with the include file version constants. The function
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compares its arguments to the result returned by
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<code>H5get_libversion()</code> and if a mismatch is detected prints
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an error message on the standard error stream and aborts.
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</dl>
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<hr>
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<address><a href="mailto:hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu">HDF Help Desk</a></address>
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<br>
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<!-- Created: Wed Apr 22 11:24:40 EDT 1998 -->
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<!-- hhmts start -->
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Last modified: Fri Oct 30 10:32:50 EST 1998
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<!-- hhmts end -->
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</body>
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</html>
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