20080618: IDV nightly build now uses netcdf-java 4.0

Hi all-

If you are using the IDV nightly build:

http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/idv/nightly

the latest version (2.6a2) has been updated to use
version 4.0.18 of the netCDF-Java library.  This new
version supports reading of some HDF files which the
old library did not.  It also allows time aggregation of
NARR data.

Remember that the nightly build is an unsupported release,
particularly at this point when it is labeled as
"alpha code" (hence the a2) it may be buggy.  We have
tested many of the features that rely on the netCDF-Java
library, but not all.

For most users, this should be a seamless transition.  If
you are using Web Start, you might have to clear out your
cached version of the IDV to get it to work.

For those of you developing against the IDV source code,
please note that there are a couple of changes you should
be aware of:

- some of the classes/APIs of the netCDF-Java package have
changed.  The IDV source code has been changed to handle this,
but if you are using calls to the netCDF-Java library, you
might find some things that don't work as they did with
the 2.2 version.

- The JAR file containing the netCDF-Java and related code
has changed from nc2.2.jar to ncIdv.jar.  If you have
nc2.2.jar in your CLASSPATH, please change that to use
ncIdv.jar.  DON'T have both in your CLASSPATH when using
the IDV.

- In the coming weeks, we will be moving the installers to use
Java 6 instead of Java 5.  At that time, you will need to use
Java 6 to compile against the IDV library.

If you find problems with the IDV nightly build, please send
your questions/issues to address@hidden.

Don
*************************************************************
Don Murray                               UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                        P.O. Box 3000
(303) 497-8628                              Boulder, CO 80307
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/donm
*************************************************************