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[netCDF #WJF-305473]: ncgen fails to handle output of ncdump

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  • Subject: [netCDF #WJF-305473]: ncgen fails to handle output of ncdump
  • Date: Fri, 04 May 2012 09:28:28 -0600
Hi Michael,

> I have a NetCDF v4 file, which can be converted to text form by using
> the ncdump tool. However, when I try to reconstruct the file using ncgen,
> it fails saying:
> 
> -bash-4.1$ ncdump efitOut.nc >efitOut.cdl
> -bash-4.1$ ncgen efitOut.cdl -o new.nc
> ncgen: efitOut.cdl line 8: syntax error, unexpected IDENT, expecting '='
> 
> what is wrong? I have difficulties reading this file in quite any sotfware
> except for IDL 8

The first thing that's wrong is that one of your enumeration labels contains
a blank-space in its name, which ncdump doesn't properly escape:

  byte enum equilibriumStatusType {Converged = 1, Vacuum = 2, NotConverged = 3, 
      Fatal error = 4} ;

The ncdump utility should output this as

  byte enum equilibriumStatusType {Converged = 1, Vacuum = 2, NotConverged = 3, 
      Fatal\ error = 4} ;

instead, so that's a bug in ncdump.  If you manually edit the CDL file to
the second form, ncgen gets further, but ultimately exits with a memory fault.

I'll fix the bug in ncdump before the next release and pass the ncgen bug to
the developer for further investigation.

Thanks for reporting the bug!

--Russ

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



Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: WJF-305473
Department: Support netCDF
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed