The netCDF operators NCO version 3.0.0 are ready.
http://nco.sf.net (Homepage)
http://dust.ess.uci.edu/nco (Homepage "mirror")
There are few significant feature improvements in version 3.0.0.
Most changes are mainly oriented toward optimization, stabilization,
and benchmarking, for which Harry Mangalam deserves recognition.
1. New -Z (or --64-bit-offset) switch on all operators writes output
files in new 64-bit offset mode available only with netCDF 3.6.
See http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#lfs for details.
2. New ncks printing behavior:
ncks prints data to screen by default if only one filename specified
Formerly, four ncks switches (-H -m -M -u) were required to print all
file data and metadata to screen.
Now ncks automatically prints data to screen when no output file
is specified. Change scripts that rely on the old behavior!
The new behavior can be confusing because it is somewhat context
sensitive (i.e., defaults depend on presence of output file).
Same old switches will toggle the (context sensitive) default state.
I think you will like it once you get used to it.
There is also a new printing switch: -P abbreviates -C -H -M -m -u
-P is most useful for printing a single variable, e.g., ncks -P -v T
See http://nco.sf.net/nco.html#ncks for details.
3. New benchmark infrastructure in the bm directory. (Harry Mangalam)
These are considered beta-level and preliminary.
Stabilizing them will be the focus of some 3.0.x releases.
4. Improved OPeNDAP configurability in autotools builds (Harry Mangalam)
5. libnco_c++ incorporates nco_put_vara() overloads, works with g++ 3.4.
Peaking into the future, we are working on benchmarking the operators
on local machines, clusters, and to distributed sites across the
Internet and the OptIPuter.
The first operator has been MPI-enabled.
We expect to release the full MPI-enabled suite this summer and will
demonstrate all this at the iGrid conference in San Diego in September.
There is so much development going on that I wanted to get version
3.0 out so we can de-stabilize the code (i.e., get to the fun stuff).
Enjoy,
Charlie
Feature changes:
1. Support 64-bit-offset mode of netCDF 3.6
2. ncks printing defaults change slightly: -P switch = -C -H -M -m -u
3. libnco_c++ incorporates nco_put_vara() overloads
Bug-fixes:
1. Fixed gaping memory in ncap_var_stretch() during LHS-casting
Build changes:
1. Build improvements in configure.in improve NEC SX compatibility
2. Updated config.sub and config.guess to most recent FSF sources
3. NCO 3.0 _requires_ netCDF 3.6 by default
4. OPeNDAP configuration improvements
Other user-visible changes:
1. ncks prints data to screen by default if only one filename specified
2. Remove extra carriage returns from ncks global metadata printing
3. Add help error message when ncks -b specified without -o file
4. ncks prints units, when present, by default (-u toggles this off)
User-invisible changes:
1. libnco_c++ builds with g++-3.4
2. Arithemetic operator speed enhancements from removing "reverse
mapping" overhead from scalar variable broadcasting and stretching
3. Speed enhancements from zeroing buffers with memset()
--
Charlie Zender, surname@xxxxxxx, (949) 824-2987, Department of Earth
System Science, University of California, Irvine CA 92697-3100
