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NetCDF 4.0-beta2 Release Notes

We are pleased to announce the final beta release of a new version of netCDF: version 4.0.

The source distribution for netCDF 4.0-beta2 is now available in compressed tar, gzipped tar form. Instructions for installation are available in the INSTALL file that accompanies the software or online.

Version 4.0 includes many new features, including the capability to use HDF5 as the data storage layer for the netCDF API, with the addition of many new features available in HDF5 such as user defined types, multiple unlimited dimensions, and per-variable data compression. For more information about netCDF-4, see the netCDF tutorial.

This beta release requires the HDF5 1.8.0-snap5 release, and the zlib 1.2.3 (or later) release.

Build and install zlib, HDF5, and netCDF-4, as described in the netCDF-4 installation instructions.

Changes Since netcdf-4.0-beta1 Release

• The ncdump utility now handles netCDF-4 model fully.
• Upgraded to HDF5-1.8.0-snap5. There are several bugs found by netcdf-4 testing in releases previous to the 1.8.0-snap5 release.
• Fixed some parallel I/O problems and added tests for parallel I/O.
• Added benchmarking program and investigated some performance tuning.
• Enchanements to the F77 and F90 APIs to allow them to make better use of netCDF-4 model enhancements.
• Finished F77 and F90 users guides.
• Fixed some (but perhaps not all) bugs relating to very large variables (over 2 GB.)
• Added many, many more tests.
• Fixed many bugs, some minor, some silly, and some ugly.
• Improved portability.
• Latest core library code (as in 3.6.3-beta1 release).

CAUTION:

This is a beta release.

The netCDF ncgen utility does not yet handle advanced netCDF-4 features, like groups and compound types. (Ncgen does handle netCDF-4/HDF5 files which don't make use of the new expansion of the data model). Ncgen will be able to handle such advanced features in the netCDF-4.1 release.

Providing Feedback

Questions or suggestions about this release may be sent to <support-netcdf@unidata.ucar.edu>, mentioning the platform and version of the software.

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