[netCDF #NCE-881982]: 4.1.3 and the --width-hdf5 flag?

Dave,

> Woah! That whooshing sound you heard was the knowledge of that change
> swooping by over my head. :)  Thanks for clearing it up.
> 
> You know, the configure script happily accepts the --with-hdf5 flag with
> nary a hint of complaint. As a suggestion, how about if you modify the
> configure.in or applicable m4 file so that it prints out essentially what
> you wrote me in the email if a --with-hdf5 argument is supplied?  That would
> stop this error in its tracks.
> 
> And, upon failing to find the hdf5 library, right now the configure prints
> out:
> 
> configure: error: Can't find or link to the hdf5 library. Use
> --disable-netcdf-4, or see config.log for errors.
> 
> Maybe it could be changed to:
> 
> configure: error: Can't find or link to the hdf5 library. Add the location
> of the hdf5 include and library directories to the CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS
> environmental variables, or use --disable-netcdf-4, or see config.log for
> errors.
> 
> Those minor tweaks might reduce the number of support tickets you get
> regarding this change.

Excellent suggestions, it's too bad we didn't do those for the 4.1.3 release, 
but
we got no comments on the 4.1.3-rc1 release candidate.  I didn't realize that 
the
configure script still accepts the "--with-hdf5" option without complaint.

We'll put those on our list for the 4.1.4 release ...

And continued thanks for developing, maintaining, and supporting ncview!

--Russ

> address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > Hi David,
> >
> > > just thought I'd report a possible problem with the new netcdf 4.1.3
> > > release. When I tried to make it on a clean CentOS machine, specifying
> > the
> > > --with-hdf5=/path/to/my/hdf5/installation flag to configure did not work.
> > It
> > > kept complaining that it could not find hdf5. Dropping back to 4.1.2,
> > with
> > > the exact same configure command, worked fine.
> >
> > Although the change is not very prominent in our documentation, there was
> > an
> > important simplification in the build process with release 4.1.3, as
> > mentioned
> > at the top of the Release Notes:
> >
> >  [NCF-20] - use of --with-hdf5= and other such options violates conventions
> > and causes build problems
> >
> > indicating that the "--with-hdf5" configure option was removed and replaced
> > by
> > the use of environment variables.  The reason for this change to the build
> > procedure
> > is explained in our Jira database, accessible from the Release notes:
> >
> >  https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/jira/browse/NCF-20
> >
> > where, if you click on the "History" tab (!), you can uncover the
> > following:
> >
> >  Although these options were put in with the best of intentions, and
> >  following the example of the HDF5 package, they were nonetheless
> >  misguided, and contributed to many bugs, and many support issues.
> >
> >  Additionally, since this is not the normal way that packages are
> >  built, the use of these options caused netCDF to require more
> >  documentation, and, what's worse, required that each installer read
> >  the documentation (this is not the usual case with Unix packages,
> >  which can generally be built without setting any options.)
> >
> >  More importantly, the use of the --with-hdf5 option (and similar ones
> >  like --with-zlib, --with-szlib, --with-pnetcdf, --with-hdf4) cause two
> >  serious bugs:
> >
> >    1 - No way for these options to work on platforms that have
> >        libraries in /lib and /lib64 for 32 and 64 bit builds.
> >
> >    2 - Caused problem for for cross-compiles link the mingw32 build and
> >        builds on some supercomputers.
> >
> >  Ultimately, it is only possible for the builder of the software to
> >  know what settings to use in the various FLAG environment
> >  variables. All of our attempts to "help" in this area just result in
> >  problems for some small (but important) fraction of the user
> >  base. Therefore I have decided that all these options must go, both in
> >  netCDF and in libCF. I regret the inconvenience this may cause users
> >  who have become accustomed to these options.
> >
> > So try building 4.1.3 using the environment variables CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS
> > set to appropriate values, such as
> >
> >  CPPFLAGS=-I/share/ed/local/spike/include
> >  LDFLAGS=-L/share/ed/local/spike/lib
> >
> > instead of using "--with-hdf5=...".
> >
> > And thanks for sending in the support report, it indicates we still need to
> > improve the documentation and Release Notes information to alert users to
> > the
> > change.
> >
> > --Russ
> >
> >
> >
> > Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
> > address@hidden                      http://www.unidata.ucar.edu
> >
> >
> >
> > Ticket Details
> > ===================
> > Ticket ID: NCE-881982
> > Department: Support netCDF
> > Priority: Normal
> > Status: Closed
> >
> >
> 
> 
> --
> David W. Pierce
> Division of Climate, Atmospheric Science, and Physical Oceanography
> Scripps Institution of Oceanography
> (858) 534-8276 (voice)  /  (858) 534-8561 (fax)    address@hidden
> 
> 

Russ Rew                                         UCAR Unidata Program
address@hidden                      http://www.unidata.ucar.edu



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: NCE-881982
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed