re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/541
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1208
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/2078
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/2041
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/2143
For a long time, there have been known problems with the
management of complex types containing VLENs. This also
involves the string type because it is stored as a VLEN of
chars.
This PR (mostly) fixes this problem. But note that it adds new
functions to netcdf.h (see below) and this may require bumping
the .so number. These new functions can be removed, if desired,
in favor of functions in netcdf_aux.h, but netcdf.h seems the
better place for them because they are intended as alternatives
to the nc_free_vlen and nc_free_string functions already in
netcdf.h.
The term complex type refers to any type that directly or
transitively references a VLEN type. So an array of VLENS, a
compound with a VLEN field, and so on.
In order to properly handle instances of these complex types, it
is necessary to have function that can recursively walk
instances of such types to perform various actions on them. The
term "deep" is also used to mean recursive.
At the moment, the two operations needed by the netcdf library are:
* free'ing an instance of the complex type
* copying an instance of the complex type.
The current library does only shallow free and shallow copy of
complex types. This means that only the top level is properly
free'd or copied, but deep internal blocks in the instance are
not touched.
Note that the term "vector" will be used to mean a contiguous (in
memory) sequence of instances of some type. Given an array with,
say, dimensions 2 X 3 X 4, this will be stored in memory as a
vector of length 2*3*4=24 instances.
The use cases are primarily these.
## nc_get_vars
Suppose one is reading a vector of instances using nc_get_vars
(or nc_get_vara or nc_get_var, etc.). These functions will
return the vector in the top-level memory provided. All
interior blocks (form nested VLEN or strings) will have been
dynamically allocated.
After using this vector of instances, it is necessary to free
(aka reclaim) the dynamically allocated memory, otherwise a
memory leak occurs. So, the recursive reclaim function is used
to walk the returned instance vector and do a deep reclaim of
the data.
Currently functions are defined in netcdf.h that are supposed to
handle this: nc_free_vlen(), nc_free_vlens(), and
nc_free_string(). Unfortunately, these functions only do a
shallow free, so deeply nested instances are not properly
handled by them.
Note that internally, the provided data is immediately written so
there is no need to copy it. But the caller may need to reclaim the
data it passed into the function.
## nc_put_att
Suppose one is writing a vector of instances as the data of an attribute
using, say, nc_put_att.
Internally, the incoming attribute data must be copied and stored
so that changes/reclamation of the input data will not affect
the attribute.
Again, the code inside the netcdf library does only shallow copying
rather than deep copy. As a result, one sees effects such as described
in Github Issue https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/2143.
Also, after defining the attribute, it may be necessary for the user
to free the data that was provided as input to nc_put_att().
## nc_get_att
Suppose one is reading a vector of instances as the data of an attribute
using, say, nc_get_att.
Internally, the existing attribute data must be copied and returned
to the caller, and the caller is responsible for reclaiming
the returned data.
Again, the code inside the netcdf library does only shallow copying
rather than deep copy. So this can lead to memory leaks and errors
because the deep data is shared between the library and the user.
# Solution
The solution is to build properly recursive reclaim and copy
functions and use those as needed.
These recursive functions are defined in libdispatch/dinstance.c
and their signatures are defined in include/netcdf.h.
For back compatibility, corresponding "ncaux_XXX" functions
are defined in include/netcdf_aux.h.
````
int nc_reclaim_data(int ncid, nc_type xtypeid, void* memory, size_t count);
int nc_reclaim_data_all(int ncid, nc_type xtypeid, void* memory, size_t count);
int nc_copy_data(int ncid, nc_type xtypeid, const void* memory, size_t count, void* copy);
int nc_copy_data_all(int ncid, nc_type xtypeid, const void* memory, size_t count, void** copyp);
````
There are two variants. The first two, nc_reclaim_data() and
nc_copy_data(), assume the top-level vector is managed by the
caller. For reclaim, this is so the user can use, for example, a
statically allocated vector. For copy, it assumes the user
provides the space into which the copy is stored.
The second two, nc_reclaim_data_all() and
nc_copy_data_all(), allows the functions to manage the
top-level. So for nc_reclaim_data_all, the top level is
assumed to be dynamically allocated and will be free'd by
nc_reclaim_data_all(). The nc_copy_data_all() function
will allocate the top level and return a pointer to it to the
user. The user can later pass that pointer to
nc_reclaim_data_all() to reclaim the instance(s).
# Internal Changes
The netcdf-c library internals are changed to use the proper
reclaim and copy functions. It turns out that the places where
these functions are needed is quite pervasive in the netcdf-c
library code. Using these functions also allows some
simplification of the code since the stdata and vldata fields of
NC_ATT_INFO are no longer needed. Currently this is commented
out using the SEPDATA \#define macro. When any bugs are largely
fixed, all this code will be removed.
# Known Bugs
1. There is still one known failure that has not been solved.
All the failures revolve around some variant of this .cdl file.
The proximate cause of failure is the use of a VLEN FillValue.
````
netcdf x {
types:
float(*) row_of_floats ;
dimensions:
m = 5 ;
variables:
row_of_floats ragged_array(m) ;
row_of_floats ragged_array:_FillValue = {-999} ;
data:
ragged_array = {10, 11, 12, 13, 14}, {20, 21, 22, 23}, {30, 31, 32},
{40, 41}, _ ;
}
````
When a solution is found, I will either add it to this PR or post a new PR.
# Related Changes
* Mark nc_free_vlen(s) as deprecated in favor of ncaux_reclaim_data.
* Remove the --enable-unfixed-memory-leaks option.
* Remove the NC_VLENS_NOTEST code that suppresses some vlen tests.
* Document this change in docs/internal.md
* Disable the tst_vlen_data test in ncdump/tst_nccopy4.sh.
* Mark types as fixed size or not (transitively) to optimize the reclaim
and copy functions.
# Misc. Changes
* Make Doxygen process libdispatch/daux.c
* Make sure the NC_ATT_INFO_T.container field is set.
re: Issue https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/2096
The methods nc_set_var_chunk_cache_ints and nc_def_var_chunking_ints
are Fortran entry points for accessing the cache. They are not defined
if netcdf-c is built with --disable-hdf5.
Fix is to create dummy versions that do nothing and return NC_NOERR
when invoked. These dummy versions are defined when USE_HDF5 is false.
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1836
Revert the internal filter code to simplify it. From the user's
point of view, the only visible changes should be:
1. The functions that convert text to filter specs have had their signature reverted and have been moved to netcdf_aux.h
2. Some filter API functions now return NC_ENOFILTER when inquiry is made about some filter.
Internally,the dispatch table has been modified to get rid of the filter_actions
entry and associated complex structures. It has been replaced with
inq_var_filter_ids and inq_var_filter_info entries and the dispatch table
version has been bumped to 3. Corresponding NOOP and NOTNC4 functions
were added to libdispatch/dnotnc4.c. Also, the filter_action entries
in dispatch tables were replaced for all dispatch code bases (HDF5, DAP2,
etc). This should only impact UDF users.
In the process, it became clear that the form of the filters
field in NC_VAR_INFO_T was format dependent, so I converted it to
be of type void* and pushed its management into the various dispatch
code bases. Specifically libhdf5 and libnczarr now manage the filters
field in their own way.
The auxilliary functions for parsing textual filter specifications
were moved to netcdf_aux.h and were renamed to the following:
* ncaux_h5filterspec_parse
* ncaux_h5filterspec_parselist
* ncaux_h5filterspec_free
* ncaux_h5filter_fix8
Misc. Other Changes:
1. Document NUG/filters.md updated to reflect the changes above.
2. All the old data types (structs and enums)
used by filter_actions actions were deleted.
The exception is the NC_H5_Filterspec because it is needed
by ncaux_h5filterspec_parselist.
3. Clientside filters were removed -- another enhancement
for which no-one ever asked.
4. The ability to remove filters was itself removed.
5. Some functionality needed by nczarr was moved from libhdf5
to libsrc4 e.g. nc4_find_default_chunksizes
6. All the filterx code was removed
7. ncfilter.h and nc4filter.c no longer used
Misc. Unrelated Changes:
1. The nczarr_test makefile clean was leaving some directories; so
add clean-local to take care of them.
re: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1584
Support has been added for multiple filters per variable. This
affects a number of components in netcdf. The new APIs are
documented in NUG/filters.md.
The primary changes are:
* A set of new functions are provided (see __include/netcdf_filter.h__).
- Obtain a list of the filters associated with a variable
- Obtain the parameters for a specific filter.
* The existing __nc_inq_var_filter__ function now returns info
about the first defined filter.
* The utilities (ncgen, ncdump, and nccopy) now support
an extended format for specifying a sequence of filters.
The general form is __<filter>|<filter>..._.
* The ncdump **_Filter** attribute now dumps a list of all the
filters associated with a variable using the above new format.
* Filter specifications can now use a filter name instead of number
for filters known to the netcdf library, which in turn is taken
from the HDF5 filter registration page.
* New errors are defined: NC_EFILTER and NC_ENOFILTER. The latter
is returned if an attempt is made to access an unknown filter.
* Internally, the dispatch table has been extended to add a function
to handle all of the filter functions.
* New, filter-related, tests were added to nc_test4.
* A new plugin was added to the plugins directory to help with testing.
Notes:
1. The shuffle and fletcher32 filters are not part of the multifilter system.
Misc. changes:
1. A debug module was added to libhdf5 to help catch error locations.
Partially address: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1056
Currently, some of the entries in the dispatch table
are conditional'd on USE_NETCDF4.
As a step in upgrading the dispatch table for use
with user-defined tables, we remove that conditional.
This means that all dispatch tables must implement the
netcdf-4 specific functions even if only to make them
return NC_ENOTNC4. To simplify this, a set of default
functions are defined in libdispatch/dnotnc4.c to provide this
behavior. The file libdispatch/dnotnc3.c is also relevant to
this.
The primary fix is to modify the various dispatch tables to
remove the conditional and use the functions in
libdispatch/dnotnc4.c as appropriate. In practice, all of the
existing tables are prepared to handle this, so the only
real change is to remove the conditionals.
Misc. Unrelated fixes
1. Fix some annoying warnings in ncvalidator.
Notes:
1. This has not been tested with either pnetcdf or hdf4 enabled.
When those are enabled, it is possible that there are still
some conditionals that need to be fixed.
https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1168https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1163https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1162
This PR partially fixes memory leaks in the netcdf-c library,
in the ncdump utility, and in some test cases.
The netcdf-c library now runs memory clean with the assumption
that the --disable-utilities option is used. The primary remaining
problem is ncgen. Once that is fixed, I believe the netcdf-c library
will run memory clean with no limitations.
Notes
-----------
1. Memory checking was performed using gcc -fsanitize=address.
Valgrind-based testing has yet to be performed.
2. The pnetcdf, hdf4, and examples code has not been tested.
Misc. Non-leak changes
1. Make tst_diskless2 only run when netcdf4 is enabled (issue 1162)
2. Fix CmakeLists.txt to turn off logging if ENABLE_NETCDF_4 is OFF
3. Isolated all my debug scripts into a single top-level directory
called debug
4. Fix some USE_NETCDF4 dependencies in nc_test and nc_test4 Makefile.am
re: github issue https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-c/issues/1111
One of the less common use cases for the in-memory feature is
apparently failing with HDF5-1.10.x. The fix is complicated and
requires significant changes to libhdf5/nc4memcb.c. The current
setup is detailed in the file docs/inmeminternal.dox.
Additionally, it was discovered that the program
nc_test/tst_inmemory.c, which is invoked by
nc_test/run_inmemory.sh, actually was failing because of the
above problem. But the failure is not detected since the script
does not return non-zero value.
Other Changes:
1. Fix nc_test_tst_inmemory to return errors correctly.
2. Make ncdap_tests/findtestserver.c and dap4_tests/findtestserver4.c
be generated from ncdap_test/findtestserver.c.in.
3. Make LOG() print output to stderr instead of stdout to
avoid contaminating e.g. ncdump output.
4. Modify the handling of NC_INMEMORY and NC_DISKLESS flags
to properly handle that NC_DISKLESS => NC_INMEMORY. This
affects a number of code pieces, especially memio.c.
