HDF Newsletter 68

July 12, 2002

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CONTENTS

  • Release of HDF5-1.4.4
  • Release of H4toH5 version 1.0
  • Support for BZIP2 Compression
  • Cray Support to Continue

  • Release of HDF5-1.4.4

    HDF5-1.4.4 is now available for download. You can obtain the HDF5-1.4.4 software from the HDF5 home page at:
         http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/
    
    The HDF5 documentation is included in the source code and can also be downloaded from:
         http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/doc/
    
    This is a fully tested release. The configuration features supported in this release can be viewed at:
       http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/release/SuppConfigFeats.html
    

    New Features and Changes

    Important changes in HDF5 include: Please refer to the RELEASE.txt file that comes with the source code for detailed information:
      ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF/HDF5/current/src/unpacked/release_docs/RELEASE.txt 
    

    Platforms Tested

        AIX 4.3.3.0 (IBM SP powerpc)  xlc 5.0.2.0
                                      mpcc_r 5.0.2.0
                                      xlf 07.01.0000.0002
                                      mpxlf 07.01.0000.0002
        AIX 4.3 (IBM SP RS6000)       C for AIX Compiler, Version 5.0.2.0
                                      xlf 7.1.0.2
                                      poe 3.1.0.12 (includes mpi)
        AIX 5.1                       xlc 5.0.2.0 
                                      xlf 07.01.0000.0002
                                      mpcc_r 5.0.2.0; mpxlf_r 07.01.0000.0002
        Cray T3E sn6711 2.0.5.57      Cray Standard C Version 6.5.0.3
                                      Cray Fortran Version 3.5.0.4
        Cray SV1 10.0.1.1             Cray Standard C Version 6.5.0.3 
                                      Cray Fortran Version 3.5.0.4
        FreeBSD 4.6                   gcc 2.95.4
                                      g++ 2.95.4
        HP-UX B.10.20                 HP C  HP92453-01 A.10.32.30
                                      HP F90 v2.3
        HP-UX B.11.00                 HP C  HP92453-01 A.11.01.20 
                                      HP F90 v2.4
        HP-UX B.11.00 SysV            HP C  HP92453-01 A.11.01.20 
                                      HP F90 v2.4
                                      HP MPI [not a product] (03/24/2000) B6060BA
        IRIX 6.5                      MIPSpro cc 7.30
        IRIX64 6.5 (64 & n32)         MIPSpro cc 7.3.1.3m
                                      F90 MIPSpro 7.3.1.3m (64 only)
        Linux 2.4.18                  gcc 2.95.3
                                      g++ 2.95.3
                                      Intel(R) C++ Version 6.0
                                      Intel(R) Fortran Compiler Version 6.0
                                      MPICH 1.2.2
        Linux 2.2.18smp               gcc 2.95.2
                                      gcc 2.95.2 with mpich 1.2.1
                                      g++ 2.95.2
                                      pgf90 3.2-4
        OSF1 V5.1                     Compaq C V6.4-014
                                      Compaq Fortran V5.5-1877-48BBF
                                      gcc version 3.0 for C++
        SunOS 5.7                     WorkShop Compilers 5.0 98/12/15 C 5.0
         (Solaris 2.7)                WorkShop Compilers 5.0 98/12/15 C++ 5.0 
                                      WorkShop Compilers 5.0 98/10/25 
                                      FORTRAN 90 2.0 Patch 107356-04 
        SunOS 5.8/32                  Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 C 5.2 2000/09/11
         (Solaris 2.8)                Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 Fortran 95 6.1 
                                              Patch 109503-07 2001/08/11
                                      Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 C++ 5.2 Patch
                                            109508-04 2001/07/11
        SunOS 5.8/64                  Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 C 5.2 2000/09/11
         (Solaris 2.8)                Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 Fortran 95 6.1 
                                              Patch 109503-07 2001/08/11
                                      Sun WorkShop 6 update 1 C++ 5.2 Patch
                                            109508-04 2001/07/11
        TFLOPS r1.0.4 v4.2.2 i386     pgcc Rel 3.1-4i with mpich-1.2.3 with
                                              local modifications
        IA-32 Linux 2.4.9             cc Intel 5.0.1
                                      gcc 2.96
                                      Intel(R) C++ Version 6.0
                                      Intel(R) Fortran Compiler Version 6.0
                                      
        IA-64 Linux 2.4.16 ia64       gcc version 2.96 20000731
                                      Intel(R) C++ Version 6.0
                                      Intel(R) Fortran Compiler Version 6.0
        Windows 2000 (NT5.0)          MSVC++ 6.0
                                      DEC Visual Fortran 6.0
        Windows NT4.0                 MSVC++ 6.0
                                      DEC Visual Fortran 6.0
        Windows NT4.0                 Code Warrior 6.0
    
    

    Release of H4toH5 version 1.0

    Version 1.0 of the H4 to H5 conversion library is now available, and can be downloaded from:
       http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/h4toh5/libh4toh5.html
    
    It includes the h4toh5 and h5toh4 utilities, as well as a library of functions for converting HDF4 objects into HDF5 objects.

    We encourage users to try this software and we welcome feedback regarding it.

    Support for BZIP2 Compression

    We have done a performance study of using bzip2 with an HDF5 file. The study focused on the performance comparison between bzip2 and gzip. One important goal of this study was to help the HDF5 group decide whether or not HDF5 should support bzip2 compression.

    Based on the report, the following was observed:

    Although bzip2 is always better than gzip in compression ratio within a few percentage points, bzip2 always takes more processing time than gzip, especially for decoding time.

    Therefore, the HDF group has decided not to officially support the bzip2 library at this time. However, we have provided an example to show how to use the bzip2 filter in a user application.

    Details regarding this can be found at:

        http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/papers/bzip2/
    

    Cray Support to Continue

    In our last newsletter we had mentioned that we were considering dropping support for the Cray computers. We received several responses regarding this, as well as help procuring new Cray accounts, and will be able to continue supporting the Crays.