The first production release of the BUFR decoder. Also released is a new version of
the GRIB decoder version 6.0.8 that contains more levels and updated Grib2 parameter
table.

The netCDF decoders package has been split into the perlDecoders and the decoders
package containing only gribtonc. gribtonc is being deprecated because of it's 
limitations to convert the newer GRIB data ie GRIB2, it's hard to compile on some 
new architectures , and it has a static parameter table. These are the new package
names:
 
perlDecoders-version number.tar.gz
decoders-version number.tar.gz

The GRIB Java decoder package has been modified to accomodate the latest version of the
Grib1 and Grib2 data as well as other grid type data. If the latest version does 
not decode the data properly, please send in a bug report. Since NCEP is switching
all it's model data to Grib2 format, it's expected to be some last minute modification
to accomodate these changes.

4.1.4 2006-10-04        fixed bug in ua2nc, putting 23hr data into wrong file.
4.1.3 2006-09-14        fixed bug in ua2nc, putting 23hr data into wrong file.
4.1.2 2006-09-06        added more levels
4.1.1 2006-08-23        minor bug fixes, recs.c added import, metar2nc.new1
                        SPD and GUST are now floats when converted from knots
                        to m/s. etc
4.0.0 2005-12-19        update the METAR table sfmetar_sa.tbl, created new
                        metar.cdl.new1, new table lsfstns.tbl for synoptic
                        decoder, and new table for upperair decoder snstns.tbl
                        updated other cdls. the new table names cause mods to
                        syn2nc and ua2nc.

I am pleased to announce a new release of the netCDF decoders package
(decoders-4.0.0.tar.Z).

This release has so many changes that it warranted a change in the major
release number to 4.0.0

Summary:

- reference to perl's location changed /usr/local/bin/perl -> /usr/bin/perl
- perl decoders pqact entries argument yyyymm removed
- perl decoders have a new naming convention, ie Surface_METAR_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc
- perl decoders have (-n old) flag for old naming convention, new is default
- perl decoders have -h flag for hourly files, daily files is default
- perl decoders manage log files to only keep 3 logs
- perl decoders station tables updated
- perl decoders bug fixes
- metar.cdl.new1 changed to added global attributes and to change some variable
  names to be more descriptive.
- removed java Grib decoder jars etc, it's has it own release package now
  called GRIBJava.tar.gz.  Look at the Decoders web page
- gribtonc cdl files gfs_211.cdl, eta_211.cdl, and ruc2_236.cdl updated
- prepended model, coverage, and resolution to netCDF file names
- installation requires the shut down of the ldm and the removal of *.log and
  *.lst files otherwise netCDF will not receive data for one day.

Decoders homepage:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/decoders/

Decoders downloads:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/decoders/index.jsp


Details:

Since many of the os's store the perl binaries in /usr/bin/, the location
of perl was changed perl from /usr/local/bin/perl to /usr/bin/perl. If your
system has different perl versions installed at the different locations, then
one should check that the netcdf-perl package is installed at /usr/bin/perl.
One method of checking would be to run a perl decoder from the command line,ie

% metar2nc metar.cdl data < 

If the command line test fails, then one should install netcdf-perl on the
/usr/bin/perl installation. A temporary fix would be to change /usr/bin/perl
to /usr/local/bin/perl in the perl decoders.

The perl decoders pqact entries have the yyyymm argument removed because it
caused multiple decoders to run at the end of the month and possibly miss
data. The yyyymm inquires are now done inside the decoders.

The perl decoders have a new naming convention, ie
Surface_METAR_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc, Surface_Buoy_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc,
Surface_Synoptic_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc and Upperair_yyyymmdd_hhmm.nc
Since some users would like to retain the old naming convention there is a flag
"-n old" to revert back to the old convention.

The perl decoders create files on a daily basis verses a hourly time period.
Since some users would like to have hourly files, a flag -h has been added
to write hourly files for the all perl decoders, the default is a daily file.

The perl decoders managed log files to only keep 3 logs. When installing the
decoders it is wise to shut down the ldm and then to delete all the log files
and the *.lst files.  If the the ldm is not shut down, it is possible to not
receive data in the netCDF files for one day.

The following station tables have been updated sfmetar.tbl, snworld.tbl and
systns_upc.tbl. If users know the information about missing table entries,
sent the information to support@unidata.ucar.edu and they will be added to the
tables and made available in the next release.

Bugs:

- fixed bug in syn2nc decoder that returned wind DIR greater than 900
- buoy2nc decoder now store multiple reports for same time period
- metar2nc decoder had regular expression fixes
- changed testdata.wmo to testdata.wmo.bak in make files
- metar.cdl.new1 was changed to added global attributes and change some
variable names to be more descriptive.

    :title = "METAR Data from NWS";
    :version = 2.3;
    :processor =  "metar2nc  version v1.2";
    :Conventions = "Unidata Observation Dataset v1.0";
    :standard_name_vocabulary = "CF-1.0";
    :description = "Metar Data from NWS distributed through the Unidata IDD
    realtime datastream. 1 day's worth of data";
    :time_coordinate = "time_observation";
    :cdm_datatype = "Station";
    :stationDimension = "station";
    :station_id = "station_id";
    :station_description = "station_description";
    :latitude_coordinate = "latitude";
    :longitude_coordinate = "longitude";
    :altitude_coordinate = "altitude";
    :geospatial_lat_max = "90.0";
    :geospatial_lat_min = "-90.0";
    :geospatial_lon_max = "360.0";
    :geospatial_lon_min = "0.0";
    :time_coverage_start = "xxxxxxxxxx";
    :time_coverage_end = "xxxxxxxxxx";
    :observationDimension = "recNum";

variable changes: lastChild, numChildren, parent_index, prevChild, and xfields

Thanks to all the users who sent in bug reports.

Removed java Grib decoder jars, it's has it own release package now
called GRIBJava.tar.gz.  Look at the Decoders web page

The cdl files gfs_211.cdl, eta_211.cdl, and ruc2_236.cdl were updated to add
new parmeters and levels.

The gribtonc netCDF file names have been changed to be more descriptive by
prepending the model, coverage, and resolution to the file. ie
NAM_CONUS_80km_yyyymmdd_hh00.nc
One can use the old pqact entries to retain the old naming convention.

I'm pleased to announce the release of Unidata NetCDF Decoders 3.1.0 that
include bug fixes for the perl decoders and a new java Grib 1 & 2 decoder.

There has been changes to the perl decoders because starting with perl version
5.8.0 unicode characters are now processed. All of the perl decoders do not use
unicode characters but if they are in the data stream it causes some decoders
to get into a infinite loop and use up all disk space. If your system is using
perl 5.8.0 of higher, then remove the # on the line:

#no decoding;

in the perl decoders if it exists. The line had to be commented for earlier
versions because the earlier interpreter doesn't know how to handle the
no decoding statement.

A new grib 1 and 2 decoders has been added to the release.  A java grib.jar,
junit.jar, jpeg2000.jar, run, Index.txt file has been added. The run
file contains examples of low level grib decoder routines and the
IndexFormat.txt file explains the structure of the .gbx index files used for
fast data extration.  The CLASSPATH needs to be set to find the jar files before 
calling any of the java routines. In the near future, a grib2nc decoder will be 
released.

The release is located in Unidata ftp/pub/decoders directory.

Thanks to Rob Cermak, Keith Brewster, Kurt Hanson, and others for sending in
bug reports.

As always, send questions to support@unidata.ucar.edu

I'm pleased to announce the release of Decoders 3.0.2. The major feature of the release is that the data is stored monotonically in the netCDF model files. To accomplish this, the cdl valtime variable is initialized with the valid times so the gribtonc program knows where to enter the data into the netCDF file. If one gets messages in the log file similar to: "... new valoffset = 12.000000" the data has extra offsets that should be added to the cdl. In the cdl, the dimension valtime_offset should be incremented by one and the new value entered in the data section of the cdl. Included in the release is a new set of cdl files that have the valtime variables already initialized to the proper values.

The cdl file names have changed to reflect the new model names, ie avn -> gfs and they also include the grid number of the model. Here's the conversion:

                        avn-q   ->      gfs_211
                        avn-x   ->      gfs_37-44
                        ecmwf   ->      ecmwf_1-12
                        eta     ->      eta_211
                        mrf-a   ->      gfs_21-24
                        mrf-e   ->      gfs_25-26
                        ngm-q   ->      ngm_211
                        ocean   ->      ocean_21-24
                        ruc     ->      ruc_211
                        ruc2    ->      ruc2_236
                        sst-a   ->      sst_21-24
                        sst-t   ->      sst_61-64

To easy the transition to new pqact entries, the release includes a file gribtonc.entries with all the needed entries and it's located in the cdl directory or the etc directory.

Because of larger GRID products, the maximum GRID size was increase from 100k to 200k.

The metar2nc decoder was modified to make regular expression matching more robust.

I'm pleased to announce the beta release of Decoders 2.4.0. This release includes many changes as well as a new program, 'gribtocdl'. Most of the changes are to add parameters and levels for new models and grids, such as the AVN model on a 1-degree grid (avn-1.0x1.0.cdl). The new 'gribtocdl' program creates a CDL file from GRIB files.

Fixed the ruc.cdl, added the omega variable. Note, when one downloads the decoders package, don't forget to get the cdl files in the directory. The cdl files change more often than the code, so the the updated cdls are placed in the directory seperately.

Fixed a bug for the 250mb , for the ua2nc( upperair ) decoder

Fixed bug in syn2nc and buoy2nc. Also sent message to list to check their decoders against the listed dates for currency.

sao2nc and ua2nc had bug fixes, former to update to new versions of NetCDF and later for end of the month file name creations. There's a sao2nc.tar.Z file and ua2nc file in the decoders directory of the Unidata ftp server.

Many of the cdl files have been updated to meet the changes in the models. Changes to gribtonc because of different models and larger grid files. Other miscellaneous changes for memory leaks, etc