[svn-r2056]

RELEASE file was brought up to date.
This file is under construction for 1.3.x (1.4.0?) release.
All major changes MUST be reflected in one of the following sections of this file
                       * New Features
                       * Bug Fixes
                       * Platfoms Tested
                       * Known Problems
Please update New Features section when you have time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HISTORY file was brought up to date. It contains release information for
HDF5 1.2.0 and 1.2.1 along with the historical changes to Alpha and Beta
versions of HDF5 1.0.X.

2 files changed, 920 insertions, 504 deletions

diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a07aa1d
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+++ b/HISTORY
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+HDF5 HISTORY
+============
+
+CONTENTS
+I.   Release Information for hdf5-1.2.1
+II.  Release Information for hdf5-1.2.0
+     A. Platforms Supported
+     B. Known Problems
+     C. Changes Since Version 1.0.1  
+        1. Documentation
+        2. Configuration
+        3. Debugging
+        4. Datatypes
+        5. Dataspaces
+        6. Persistent Pointers
+        7. Parallel Support
+        8. New API Functions
+           a. Property List Interface
+           b. Dataset Interface
+           c. Dataspace Interface
+           d. Datatype Interface
+           e. Identifier Interface
+           f. Reference Interface
+           g. Ragged Arrays
+        9. Tools
+
+III.  Changes Since the Version 1.0.0 Release   
+
+IV.   Changes Since the Beta 1.0.0 Release
+
+V.    Changes Since the Second Alpha 1.0.0 Release
+
+VI.   Changes Since the First Alpha 1.0.0 Release 
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------
+I. Release Information for hdf5-1.2.1
+
+Bug fixes since HDF5-1.2.0
+==========================
+
+Configuration
+-------------
+
+   * The hdf5.h include file was fixed to allow the HDF5 Library to be compiled
+     with other libraries/applications that use GNU autoconf. 
+   * Configuration for parallel HDF5 was improved. Configure now attempts to
+     link with libmpi.a and/or libmpio.a as the MPI libraries by default.
+     It also uses "mpirun" to launch MPI tests by default.  It tests to
+     link MPIO routines during the configuration stage, rather than failing
+     later as before.  One can just do "./configure --enable-parallel"
+     if the MPI library is in the system library.
+
+Dataset region references
+-------------------------
+
+    * Error was fixed which was not allowing dataset region references to have
+      their regions retrieved correctly.
+
+Tools
+------
+
+    * Added an option, -V, to show the version information of h5dump.
+    * Fixed a core dumping bug of h5toh4 when executed on platforms like 
+      TFLOPS.
+    * The test script for h5toh4 used to not able to detect the hdp
+      dumper command was not valid.  It now detects and reports the
+      failure of hdp execution.
+
+Documentation
+-------------
+
+    * User's Guide and Reference Manual were updated. 
+      See doc/html/PSandPDF/index.html for more details. 
+
+   
+Platforms Tested:
+================
+ Note: Due to the nature of bug fixes, only static versions of the library and tools were tested.
+
+
+  AIX 4.3.2 (IBM SP)            3.6.6
+  Cray T3E 2.0.4.81             cc 6.3.0.1
+                                mpt.1.3
+  FreeBSD 3.3-STABLE            gcc 2.95.2
+  HP-UX B.10.20                 HP C  HP92453-01 A.10.32
+  IRIX 6.5                      MIPSpro cc 7.30
+  IRIX64 6.5 (64 & n32)         MIPSpro cc 7.3.1m
+                                mpt.1.3 (SGI MPI 3.2.0.0)
+
+  Linux 2.2.10 SuSE             egcs-2.91.66               configured with
+  (i686-pc-linux-gnu)                                      --disable-hsizet
+                                mpich-1.2.0 egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux 
+
+  OSF1 V4.0                     DEC-V5.2-040
+  SunOS 5.6                     cc WorkShop Compilers 4.2  no optimization
+  SunOS 5.7                     cc WorkShop Compilers 5.0
+  TFLOPS 2.8                    cicc (pgcc Rel 3.0-5i)
+                                mpich-1.1.2 with local changes
+  Windows NT4.0 sp5             MSVC++ 6.0
+
+Known Problems:
+==============
+
+o SunOS 5.6 with C WorkShop Compilers 4.2:  Hyperslab selections will 
+  fail if library is compiled using optimization of any level.
+
+
+         
+II. Release Information for hdf5-1.2.0
+
+A. Platforms Supported
+   -------------------
+
+Operating systems listed below with compiler information and MPI library, if
+applicable, are systems that HDF5 1.2.0 was tested on.
+
+                           Compiler & libraries
+  Platform                      Information              Comment
+  --------                      ----------               -------- 
+                                
+  AIX 4.3.2 (IBM SP)            3.6.6
+
+  Cray J90 10.0.0.6             cc 6.3.0.0
+
+  Cray T3E 2.0.4.61             cc 6.2.1.0 
+                                mpt.1.3
+
+  FreeBSD 3.2                   gcc 2.95.1
+
+  HP-UX B.10.20                 HP C  HP92453-01 A.10.32
+                                gcc 2.8.1
+
+  IRIX 6.5                      MIPSpro cc 7.30 
+
+  IRIX64 6.5 (64 & n32)         MIPSpro cc 7.3.1m
+  			        mpt.1.3 (SGI MPI 3.2.0.0)
+
+  Linux 2.2.10                  egcs-2.91.66               configured with
+  						         --disable-hsizet
+                                                           lbraries: glibc2
+
+  OSF1 V4.0                     DEC-V5.2-040
+
+  SunOS 5.6                     cc WorkShop Compilers 4.2   
+                                                           no optimization
+  			        gcc 2.8.1
+
+  SunOS 5.7                     cc WorkShop Compilers 5.0
+                                gcc 2.8.1
+ 
+  TFLOPS 2.7.1                  cicc (pgcc Rel 3.0-4i)
+  			        mpich-1.1.2 with local changes
+
+  Windows NT4.0 intel           MSVC++ 5.0 and 6.0
+
+  Windows NT alpha 4.0          MSVC++ 5.0 
+
+  Windows 98                    MSVC++ 5.0
+
+
+B. Known Problems
+   --------------
+
+* NT alpha 4.0
+  Dumper utiliy h5dump fails if linked with DLL.
+
+* SunOS 5.6 with C WorkShop Compilers 4.2
+  Hyperslab selections will fail if library is compiled using optimization
+  of any level.
+
+ 
+C. Changes Since Version 1.0.1
+   ---------------------------
+
+1. Documentation
+   -------------
+
+* More examples
+
+* Updated user guide, reference manual, and format specification.
+
+* Self-contained documentation for installations isolated from the
+  Internet.
+
+* HDF5 Tutorial was added to the documentation  
+
+2. Configuration
+   -------------
+
+* Better detection and support for MPI-IO.
+
+* Recognition of compilers with known code generation problems.
+
+* Support for various compilers on a single architecture (e.g., the
+  native compiler and the GNU compilers).
+
+* Ability to build from read-only media and with different compilers
+  and/or options concurrently.
+
+* Added a libhdf5.settings file which summarizes the configuration
+  information and is installed along with the library.
+
+* Builds a shared library on most systems that support it.
+
+* Support for Cray T3E, J90 and Windows/NT.
+
+3. Debugging
+   ---------
+
+* Improved control and redirection of debugging and tracing messages.
+
+4. Datatypes
+   ---------
+
+* Optimizations to compound datatype conversions and I/O operations.
+
+* Added nearly 100 optimized conversion functions for native datatypes 
+  including support for non-aligned data.
+
+* Added support for bitfield, opaque, and enumeration types.
+
+* Added distinctions between signed and unsigned char types to the
+  list of predefined native hdf5 datatypes.
+
+* Added HDF5 type definitions for C9x types like int32_t.
+
+* Application-defined type conversion functions can handle non-packed
+  data.
+
+* Changed the H5Tunregister() function to use wildcards when matching
+  conversion functions.  H5Tregister_hard() and H5Tregister_soft()
+  were combined into H5Tregister().
+
+* Support for variable-length datatypes (arrays of varying length per
+  dataset element). Variable length strings currently supported only
+  as variable length arrays of 1-byte integers.
+
+5. Dataspaces
+   ----------
+
+* New query functions for selections.
+
+* I/O operations bypass the stripmining loop and go directly to
+  storage for certain contiguous selections in the absense of type
+  conversions.  In other cases the stripmining buffers are used more
+  effectively.
+
+* Reduced the number of I/O requests under certain circumstances,
+  improving performance on systems with high I/O latency.
+
+6. Persistent Pointers
+   -------------------
+
+* Object (serial and parallel) and dataset region (serial only)
+  references are implemented.
+
+7. Parallel Support
+   ----------------
+
+* Improved parallel I/O performance.
+
+* Supported new platforms: Cray T3E, Linux, DEC Cluster.
+
+* Use vendor supported version of MPIO on SGI O2K and Cray platforms.
+
+* Improved the algorithm that translates an HDF5 hyperslab selection
+  into an MPI type for better collective I/O performance.
+
+8. New API functions 
+   -----------------
+
+  a. Property List Interface:
+     ------------------------
+
+  H5Pset_xfer		- set data transfer properties
+  H5Pset_preserve      - set dataset transfer property list status 
+  H5Pget_preserve      - get dataset transfer property list status
+  H5Pset_hyper_cache   - indicates whether to cache hyperslab blocks during I/O
+  H5Pget_hyper_cache   - returns information regarding the caching of 
+                         hyperslab blocks during I/O
+  H5Pget_btree_ratios  - sets B-tree split ratios for a dataset 
+                         transfer property list
+  H5Pset_btree_ratios  - gets B-tree split ratios for a dataset
+                         transfer property list
+  H5Pset_vlen_mem_manager - sets the memory manager for variable-length 
+                            datatype allocation
+  H5Pget_vlen_mem_manager - sets the memory manager for variable-length
+                            datatype allocation
+
+  b. Dataset Interface:
+     ------------------
+
+  H5Diterate           - iterate over all selected elements in a dataspace
+  H5Dget_storage_size  - return the amount of storage required for a dataset
+  H5Dvlen_reclaim      - reclaim VL datatype memory buffers
+
+  c. Dataspace Interface:
+     --------------------
+  H5Sget_select_hyper_nblocks   - get number of hyperslab blocks
+  H5Sget_select_hyper_blocklist - get the list of hyperslab blocks 
+                                  currently selected
+  H5Sget_select_elem_npoints    - get the number of element points 
+                                  in the current selection
+  H5Sget_select_elem_pointlist  - get the list of element points 
+                                  currently selected
+  H5Sget_select_bounds          - gets the bounding box containing 
+                                  the current selection
+
+  d. Datatype Interface:
+     -------------------
+  H5Tget_super         - return the base datatype from which a 
+                         datatype is derived
+  H5Tvlen_create       - creates a new variable-length dataype
+  H5Tenum_create       - creates a new enumeration datatype
+  H5Tenum_insert       - inserts a new enumeration datatype member
+  H5Tenum_nameof       - returns the symbol name corresponding to a 
+                         specified member of an enumeration datatype
+  H5Tvalueof           - return the value corresponding to a 
+                         specified member of an enumeration datatype 
+  H5Tget_member_value  - return the value of an enumeration datatype member
+  H5Tset_tag           - tags an opaque datatype
+  H5Tget_tag           - gets the tag associated with an opaque datatype
+
+  e. Identifier Interface:
+     ---------------------
+  H5Iget_type          - retrieve the type of an object
+
+  f. Reference Interface:
+     --------------------
+  H5Rcreate            - creates a reference
+  H5Rdereference       - open the HDF5 object referenced
+  H5Rget_region        - retrieve a dataspace with the specified region selected
+  H5Rget_object_type   - retrieve the type of object that an 
+                         object reference points to
+
+  g. Ragged Arrays (alpha) (names of those API functions were changed):
+     ------------------------------------------------------------------
+   H5RAcreate		- create a new ragged array (old name was H5Rcreate)
+   H5RAopen		- open an existing array    (old name was H5Ropen)
+   H5RAclose		- close a ragged array      (old name was H5Rclose)
+   H5RAwrite		- write to an array         (old name was H5Rwrite)
+   H5RAread		- read from an array        (old name was H5Rread)
+
+
+9. Tools
+   -----
+
+* Enhancements to the h5ls tool including the ability to list objects
+  from more than one file, to display raw hexadecimal data, to
+  show file addresses for raw data, to format output more reasonably,
+  to show object attributes, and to perform a recursive listing, 
+
+* Enhancements to h5dump: support new data types added since previous
+  versions.
+
+* h5toh4: An hdf5 to hdf4 converter.
+
+
+
+III. Changes Since The Version 1.0.0 Release
+
+* [Improvement]: configure sets up the Makefile in the parallel tests
+  suit (testpar/) correctly.
+
+* [Bug-Fix]: Configure failed for all IRIX versions other than 6.3.
+  It now configures correctly for all IRIX 6.x version.
+
+* Released Parallel HDF5 
+
+     Supported Features:
+     ------------------
+
+     HDF5 files are accessed according to the communicator and INFO
+     object defined in the property list set by H5Pset_mpi.
+
+     Independent read and write accesses to fixed and extendable dimension
+     datasets.
+
+     Collective read and write accesses to fixed dimension datasets.
+
+     Supported Platforms:
+     -------------------
+
+     Intel Red
+     IBM SP2
+     SGI Origin 2000
+
+     Changes In This Release: 
+     -----------------------
+
+   o Support of Access to Extendable Dimension Datasets.
+     Extendable dimension datasets must use chunked storage methods.
+     A new function, H5Dextend, is created to extend the current
+     dimensions of a dataset.  The current release requires the
+     MPI application must make a collective call to extend the
+     dimensions of an extendable dataset before writing to the
+     newly extended area.  (The serial does not require the
+     call of H5Dextend.  The dimensions of an extendable
+     dataset is increased when data is written to beyond the
+     current dimensions but within the maximum dimensions.)
+     The required collective call of H5Dextend may be relaxed
+     in future release.
+
+     This release only support independent read and write accesses
+     to extendable datasets.  Collective accesses to extendable
+     datasets will be implemented in future releases.
+
+   o Collective access to fixed dimension datasets.
+     Collective access to a dataset can be specified in the transfer
+     property list argument in H5Dread and H5Dwrite.  The current
+     release supports collective access to fixed dimension datasets.
+     Collective access to extendable datasets will be implemented in
+     future releases.
+
+   o HDF5 files are opened according to Communicator and INFO object.
+     H5Dopen now records the communicator and INFO setup by H5Pset_mmpi
+     and pass them to the corresponding MPIO open file calls for
+     processing.
+
+   o This release has been tested on IBM SP2, Intel Red and SGI Origin 2000
+     systems.  It uses the ROMIO version of MPIO interface for parallel
+     I/O supports.
+
+
+
+IV. Changes Since The Beta 1.0.0 Release
+
+* Added fill values for datasets.  For contiguous datasets fill value
+  performance may be quite poor since the fill value is written to the 
+  entire dataset when the dataset is created.  This will be remedied
+  in a future version.  Chunked datasets using fill values do not
+  incur any additional overhead. See H5Pset_fill_value().
+
+* Multiple hdf5 files can be "mounted" on one another to create a
+  larger virtual file. See H5Fmount().
+
+* Object names can be removed or changed but objects are never
+  actually removed from the file yet. See H5Gunlink() and H5Gmove().
+
+* Added a tuning mechanism for B-trees to insure that sequential
+  writes to chunked datasets use less overhead.  See H5Pset_btree_ratios().
+
+* Various optimizations and bug fixes.
+
+
+V. Changes Since The Second Alpha 1.0.0 Release
+
+* Strided hyperslab selections in dataspaces now working.
+
+* The compression API has been replaced with a more general filter
+  API.  See doc/html/Filters.html for details.
+
+* Alpha-quality 2d ragged arrays are implemented as a layer built on
+  top of other hdf5 objects.  The API and storage format will almost
+  certainly change.
+
+* More debugging support including API tracing.  See Debugging.html.
+
+* C and Fortran style 8-bit fixed-length character string types are
+  supported with space or null padding or null termination and
+  translations between them.
+
+* Added function H5Fflush() to write all cached data immediately to
+  the file.
+
+* Datasets maintain a modification time which can be retrieved with
+  H5Gstat().
+
+* The h5ls tool can display much more information, including all the
+  values of a dataset.
+
+
+VI. Changes Since The First Alpha 1.0.0 Release
+
+* Two of the packages have been renamed.  The data space API has been
+  renamed from `H5P' to `H5S' and the property list (template) API has 
+  been renamed from `H5C' to `H5P'.
+
+* The new attribute API `H5A' has been added.  An attribute is a small 
+  dataset which can be attached to some other object (for instance, a
+  4x4 transformation matrix attached to a 3-dimensional dataset, or an 
+  English abstract attached to a group).
+
+* The error handling API `H5E' has been completed.  By default, when an
+  API function returns failure an error stack is displayed on the
+  standard error stream.  The H5Eset_auto() controls the automatic
+  printing and H5E_BEGIN_TRY/H5E_END_TRY macros can temporarily
+  disable the automatic error printing.
+
+* Support for large files and datasets (>2GB) has been added.  There
+  is an html document that describes how it works.  Some of the types
+  for function arguments have changed to support this: all arguments
+  pertaining to sizes of memory objects are `size_t' and all arguments 
+  pertaining to file sizes are `hsize_t'.
+
+* More data type conversions have been added although none of them are
+  fine tuned for performance.  There are new converters from integer
+  to integer and float to float, but not between integers and floating
+  points.  A bug has been fixed in the converter between compound
+  types.
+
+* The numbered types have been removed from the API: int8, uint8,
+  int16, uint16, int32, uint32, int64, uint64, float32, and float64.
+  Use standard C types instead.  Similarly, the numbered types were
+  removed from the H5T_NATIVE_* architecture; use unnumbered types
+  which correspond to the standard C types like H5T_NATIVE_INT.
+
+* More debugging support was added.  If tracing is enabled at
+  configuration time (the default) and the HDF5_TRACE environment
+  variable is set to a file descriptor then all API calls will emit
+  the function name, argument names and values, and return value on
+  that file number.  There is an html document that describes this.
+  If appropriate debugging options are enabled at configuration time,
+  some packages will display performance information on stderr.
+
+* Data types can be stored in the file as independent objects and
+  multiple datasets can share a data type.
+
+* The raw data I/O stream has been implemented and the application can 
+  control meta and raw data caches, so I/O performance should be
+  improved from the first alpha release.
+
+* Group and attribute query functions have been implemented so it is
+  now possible to find out the contents of a file with no prior
+  knowledge.
+
+* External raw data storage allows datasets to be written by other
+  applications or I/O libraries and described and accessed through
+  HDF5.
+
+* Hard and soft (symbolic) links are implemented which allow groups to 
+  share objects. Dangling and recursive symbolic links are supported.
+
+* User-defined data compression is implemented although we may
+  generalize the interface to allow arbitrary user-defined filters
+  which can be used for compression, checksums, encryption,
+  performance monitoring, etc.  The publicly-available `deflate'
+  method is predefined if the GNU libz.a can be found at configuration 
+  time.
+
+* The configuration scripts have been modified to make it easier to
+  build debugging vs. production versions of the library.
+
+* The library automatically checks that the application was compiled
+  with the correct version of header files.
+
+
+		    Parallel HDF5 Changes
+
+* Parallel support for fixed dimension datasets with contiguous or
+  chunked storages.  Also, support unlimited dimension datasets which
+  must use chunk storage.  No parallel support for compressed datasets.
+
+* Collective data transfer for H5Dread/H5Dwrite.  Collective access
+  support for datasets with contiguous storage only, thus only fixed
+  dimension datasets for now.
+
+* H5Pset_mpi and H5Pget_mpi no longer have the access_mode
+  argument.  It is taken over by the data-transfer property list
+  of H5Dread/H5Dwrite.
+
+* New functions H5Pset_xfer and H5Pget_xfer to handle the
+  specification of independent or collective data transfer_mode
+  in the dataset transfer properties list.  The properties
+  list can be used to specify data transfer mode in the H5Dwrite
+  and H5Dread function calls.
+
+* Added parallel support for datasets with chunked storage layout.
+  When a dataset is extend in a PHDF5 file, all processes that open
+  the file must collectively call H5Dextend with identical new dimension
+  sizes.
+
+
+			LIST OF API FUNCTIONS
+
+The following functions are implemented. Errors are returned if an
+attempt is made to use some feature which is not implemented and
+printing the error stack will show `not implemented yet'.
+
+Library
+   H5check		- check that lib version matches header version
+   H5open		- initialize library (happens automatically)
+   H5close		- shut down the library (happens automatically)
+   H5dont_atexit	- don't call H5close on exit
+   H5get_libversion	- retrieve library version info
+   H5check_version	- check for specific library version
+
+Property Lists
+   H5Pclose		- release template resources
+   H5Pcopy		- copy a template
+   H5Pcreate		- create a new template
+   H5Pget_chunk		- get chunked storage properties
+   H5Pset_chunk		- set chunked storage properties
+   H5Pget_class		- get template class
+   H5Pget_istore_k	- get chunked storage properties
+   H5Pset_istore_k	- set chunked storage properties
+   H5Pget_layout	- get raw data layout class
+   H5Pset_layout	- set raw data layout class
+   H5Pget_sizes		- get address and size sizes
+   H5Pset_sizes		- set address and size sizes
+   H5Pget_sym_k		- get symbol table storage properties
+   H5Pset_sym_k		- set symbol table storage properties
+   H5Pget_userblock	- get user-block size
+   H5Pset_userblock	- set user-block size
+   H5Pget_version	- get file version numbers
+   H5Pget_alignment	- get data alignment properties
+   H5Pset_alignment	- set data alignment properties
+   H5Pget_external_count- get count of external data files
+   H5Pget_external	- get information about an external data file
+   H5Pset_external	- add a new external data file to the list
+   H5Pget_driver	- get low-level file driver class
+   H5Pget_stdio		- get properties for stdio low-level driver
+   H5Pset_stdio		- set properties for stdio low-level driver
+   H5Pget_sec2		- get properties for sec2 low-level driver
+   H5Pset_sec2		- set properties for sec2 low-level driver
+   H5Pget_core		- get properties for core low-level driver
+   H5Pset_core		- set properties for core low-level driver
+   H5Pget_split		- get properties for split low-level driver
+   H5Pset_split		- set properties for split low-level driver
+   H5P_get_family	- get properties for family low-level driver
+   H5P_set_family	- set properties for family low-level driver
+   H5Pget_cache		- get meta- and raw-data caching properties
+   H5Pset_cache		- set meta- and raw-data caching properties
+   H5Pget_buffer	- get raw-data I/O pipe buffer properties
+   H5Pset_buffer	- set raw-data I/O pipe buffer properties
+   H5Pget_preserve	- get type conversion preservation properties
+   H5Pset_preserve	- set type conversion preservation properties
+   H5Pget_nfilters	- get number of raw data filters
+   H5Pget_filter	- get raw data filter properties
+   H5Pset_filter	- set raw data filter properties
+   H5Pset_deflate	- set deflate compression filter properties
+   H5Pget_mpi		- get MPI-IO properties
+   H5Pset_mpi		- set MPI-IO properties
+   H5Pget_xfer		- get data transfer properties
+ + H5Pset_xfer		- set data transfer properties
+ + H5Pset_preserve      - set dataset transfer property list status 
+ + H5Pget_preserve      - get dataset transfer property list status
+ + H5Pset_hyper_cache   - indicates whether to cache hyperslab blocks during I/O
+ + H5Pget_hyper_cache   - returns information regarding the caching of 
+                          hyperslab blocks during I/O
+ + H5Pget_btree_ratios  - sets B-tree split ratios for a dataset 
+                          transfer property list
+ + H5Pset_btree_ratios  - gets B-tree split ratios for a dataset
+                          transfer property list
+ + H5Pset_vlen_mem_manager - sets the memory manager for variable-length 
+                             datatype allocation
+ + H5Pget_vlen_mem_manager - sets the memory manager for variable-length
+                             datatype allocation
+
+Datasets
+   H5Dclose		- release dataset resources
+   H5Dcreate		- create a new dataset
+   H5Dget_space		- get data space
+   H5Dget_type		- get data type
+   H5Dget_create_plist	- get dataset creation properties
+   H5Dopen		- open an existing dataset
+   H5Dread		- read raw data
+   H5Dwrite		- write raw data
+   H5Dextend		- extend a dataset
+ + H5Diterate           - iterate over all selected elements in a dataspace
+ + H5Dget_storage_size  - return the amount of storage required for a dataset
+ + H5Dvlen_reclaim      - reclaim VL datatype memory buffers
+
+Attributes
+   H5Acreate		- create a new attribute
+   H5Aopen_name		- open an attribute by name
+   H5Aopen_idx		- open an attribute by number
+   H5Awrite		- write values into an attribute
+   H5Aread		- read values from an attribute
+   H5Aget_space		- get attribute data space
+   H5Aget_type		- get attribute data type
+   H5Aget_name		- get attribute name
+   H5Anum_attrs		- return the number of attributes for an object
+   H5Aiterate		- iterate over an object's attributes
+   H5Adelete		- delete an attribute
+   H5Aclose		- close an attribute
+
+Errors
+   H5Eclear		- clear the error stack
+   H5Eprint		- print an error stack
+   H5Eget_auto		- get automatic error reporting settings
+   H5Eset_auto		- set automatic error reporting
+   H5Ewalk		- iterate over the error stack
+   H5Ewalk_cb		- the default error stack iterator function
+   H5Eget_major		- get the message for the major error number
+   H5Eget_minor		- get the message for the minor error number
+
+Files
+   H5Fclose		- close a file and release resources
+   H5Fcreate		- create a new file
+   H5Fget_create_plist	- get file creation property list
+   H5Fget_access_plist	- get file access property list
+   H5Fis_hdf5		- determine if a file is an hdf5 file
+   H5Fopen		- open an existing file
+   H5Freopen            - reopen an HDF5 file
+   H5Fmount             - mount a file
+   H5Funmount           - unmount a file
+   H5Fflush             - flush all buffers associated with a file to disk
+
+Groups
+   H5Gclose		- close a group and release resources
+   H5Gcreate    	- create a new group
+   H5Gopen		- open an existing group
+   H5Giterate   	- iterate over the contents of a group
+   H5Gmove		- change the name of some object
+   H5Glink		- create a hard or soft link to an object
+   H5Gunlink    	- break the link between a name and an object
+   H5Gget_objinfo	- get information about a group entry
+   H5Gget_linkval	- get the value of a soft link
+   H5Gget_comment	- get the comment string for an object
+   H5Gset_comment	- set the comment string for an object
+
+Dataspaces
+   H5Screate	        - create a new data space
+   H5Scopy		- copy a data space
+   H5Sclose		- release data space
+   H5Screate_simple	- create a new simple data space
+   H5Sset_space		- set simple data space extents
+   H5Sis_simple		- determine if data space is simple
+   H5Sset_extent_simple	- set simple data space dimensionality and size
+   H5Sget_simple_extent_npoints	- get number of points in simple extent
+   H5Sget_simple_extent_ndims - get simple data space dimensionality
+   H5Sget_simple_extent_dims - get simple data space size
+   H5Sget_simple_extent_type - get type of simple extent
+   H5Sset_extent_none	- reset extent to be empty
+   H5Sextent_copy	- copy the extent from one data space to another
+   H5Sget_select_npoints - get number of points selected for I/O
+   H5Sselect_hyperslab	- set hyperslab dataspace selection
+   H5Sselect_elements   - set element sequence dataspace selection
+   H5Sselect_all	- select entire extent for I/O
+   H5Sselect_none	- deselect all elements of extent
+   H5Soffset_simple	- set selection offset
+   H5Sselect_valid	- determine if selection is valid for extent
+ + H5Sget_select_hyper_nblocks   - get number of hyperslab blocks
+ + H5Sget_select_hyper_blocklist - get the list of hyperslab blocks 
+                                   currently selected
+ + H5Sget_select_elem_npoints    - get the number of element points 
+                                   in the current selection
+ + H5Sget_select_elem_pointlist  - get the list of element points 
+                                   currently selected
+ + H5Sget_select_bounds          - gets the bounding box containing 
+                                   the current selection
+
+Datatypes
+   H5Tclose		- release data type resources
+   H5Topen		- open a named data type
+   H5Tcommit		- name a data type
+   H5Tcommitted		- determine if a type is named
+   H5Tcopy		- copy a data type
+   H5Tcreate		- create a new data type
+   H5Tequal		- compare two data types
+   H5Tlock		- lock type to prevent changes
+   H5Tfind		- find a data type conversion function
+   H5Tconvert		- convert data from one type to another
+   H5Tregister    	- register a conversion function
+   H5Tunregister	- remove a conversion function
+   H5Tget_overflow	- get function that handles overflow conv. cases
+   H5Tset_overflow	- set function to handle overflow conversion cases
+   H5Tget_class		- get data type class
+   H5Tget_cset		- get character set
+   H5Tget_ebias		- get exponent bias
+   H5Tget_fields	- get floating point fields
+   H5Tget_inpad		- get inter-field padding
+   H5Tget_member_dims	- get struct member dimensions
+   H5Tget_member_name	- get struct member name
+   H5Tget_member_offset	- get struct member byte offset
+   H5Tget_member_type	- get struct member type
+   H5Tget_nmembers	- get number of struct members
+   H5Tget_norm		- get floating point normalization
+   H5Tget_offset	- get bit offset within type
+   H5Tget_order		- get byte order
+   H5Tget_pad		- get padding type
+   H5Tget_precision	- get precision in bits
+   H5Tget_sign		- get integer sign type
+   H5Tget_size		- get size in bytes
+   H5Tget_strpad	- get string padding
+   H5Tinsert		- insert scalar struct member
+   H5Tinsert_array	- insert array struct member
+   H5Tpack		- pack struct members
+   H5Tset_cset		- set character set
+   H5Tset_ebias		- set exponent bias
+   H5Tset_fields	- set floating point fields
+   H5Tset_inpad		- set inter-field padding
+   H5Tset_norm		- set floating point normalization
+   H5Tset_offset	- set bit offset within type
+   H5Tset_order		- set byte order
+   H5Tset_pad		- set padding type
+   H5Tset_precision	- set precision in bits
+   H5Tset_sign		- set integer sign type
+   H5Tset_size		- set size in bytes
+   H5Tset_strpad	- set string padding
+ + H5Tget_super         - return the base datatype from which a 
+                          datatype is derived
+ + H5Tvlen_create       - creates a new variable-length dataype
+ + H5Tenum_create       - creates a new enumeration datatype
+ + H5Tenum_insert       - inserts a new enumeration datatype member
+ + H5Tenum_nameof       - returns the symbol name corresponding to a 
+                          specified member of an enumeration datatype
+ + H5Tvalueof           - return the value corresponding to a 
+                          specified member of an enumeration datatype 
+ + H5Tget_member_value  - return the value of an enumeration datatype member
+ + H5Tset_tag           - tags an opaque datatype
+ + H5Tget_tag           - gets the tag associated with an opaque datatype
+
+ - H5Tregister_hard	- register specific type conversion function
+ - H5Tregister_soft	- register general type conversion function
+
+Filters
+   H5Tregister		- register a conversion function 
+
+Compression
+   H5Zregister		- register new compression and uncompression 
+                          functions for a method specified by a method number
+
+Identifiers
+ + H5Iget_type          - retrieve the type of an object
+
+References
+ + H5Rcreate            - creates a reference
+ + H5Rdereference       - open the HDF5 object referenced
+ + H5Rget_region        - retrieve a dataspace with the specified region selected
+ + H5Rget_object_type   - retrieve the type of object that an 
+                          object reference points to
+
+Ragged Arrays (alpha)
+   H5RAcreate		- create a new ragged array
+   H5RAopen		- open an existing array
+   H5RAclose		- close a ragged array
+   H5RAwrite		- write to an array
+   H5RAread		- read from an array
+
+
diff --git a/RELEASE b/RELEASE
index 2beb58f..09cd9f5 100644
--- a/RELEASE
+++ b/RELEASE
@@ -1,531 +1,115 @@
-Changes since HDF5-1.2.0
-==========================
-* h5dump correctly displays compound datatypes.
-* Corrected an error in h5toh4 which did not convert the 32bits
-  int from HDF5 to HDF4 corectly for the T3E platform.
-* Corrected a floating point number conversion error for the
-  Cray J90 platform.  The error did not convert the value 0.0
-  correctly.
-* The multi and split file drivers did not work on big-endian
-  machines.  Fixed.
-* Added GLOBUS-GASS file driver, upgraded to Globus 1.1.
-* Incorporated DPSS file driver contributed by the Cactus group.
-  DPSS is renamed to storage grid.
-* h5dump correctly displays the committed copy of predefined types.
-
-Release information for hdf5-1.2.0beta
-------------------------------------
-
-		     CHANGES SINCE VERSION 1.0.1
-
-Documentation
--------------
-
-* More examples
-
-* Updated user guide, reference manual, and format specification.
-
-* Self-contained documentation for installations isolated from the
-  Internet.
-
-Configuration
--------------
-
-* Better detection and support for MPI-IO.
-
-* Recognition of compilers with known code generation problems.
-
-* Support for various compilers on a single architecture (e.g., the
-  native compiler and the GNU compilers).
-
-* Ability to build from read-only media and with different compilers
-  and/or options concurrently.
-
-* Added a libhdf5.settings file which summarizes the configuration
-  information and is installed along with the library.
-
-* Builds a shared library on most systems that support it.
-
-* Support for Cray T3E and Windows/NT.
-
-Debugging
----------
-
-* Improved control and redirection of debugging and tracing messages.
-
-Datatypes
----------
-
-* Optimizations to compound datatype conversions and I/O operations.
-
-* Added nearly 100 optimized conversion functions for native datatypes 
-  including support for non-aligned data.
-
-* Added support for bitfield, opaque, and enumeration types.
-
-* Added distinctions between signed and unsigned char types to the
-  list of predefined native hdf5 datatypes.
-
-* Added HDF5 type definitions for C9x types like int32_t.
-
-* Application-defined type conversion functions can handle non-packed
-  data.
-
-* Changed the H5Tunregister() function to use wildcards when matching
-  conversion functions.  H5Tregister_hard() and H5Tregister_soft()
-  were combined into H5Tregister().
-
-* Support for variable-length datatypes (arrays of varying length per
-  dataset element). Variable length strings currently supported only
-  as variable length arrays of 1-byte integers.
-
-Data Spaces
------------
-
-* New query functions for selections.
-
-* I/O operations bypass the stripmining loop and go directly to
-  storage for certain contiguous selections in the absense of type
-  conversions.  In other cases the stripmining buffers are used more
-  effectively.
-
-* Reduced the number of I/O requests under certain circumstances,
-  improving performance on systems with high I/O latency.
-
-Persistent Pointers
--------------------
-
-* Object (serial and parallel) and dataset region (serial only)
-  references are implemented.
-
-Parallel Support
-----------------
-
-* Improved parallel I/O performance.
-
-* Supported new platforms: Cray T3E, Linux, DEC Cluster.
-
-* Use vendor supported version of MPIO on SGI O2K and Cray platforms.
-
-* Improved the algorithm that translates an HDF5 hyperslab selection
-  into an MPI type for better collective I/O performance.
-
-Tools
------
-
-* Enhancements to the h5ls tool including the ability to list objects
-  from more than one file, to display raw hexadecimal data, to
-  show file addresses for raw data, to format output more reasonably,
-  to show object attributes, and to perform a recursive listing, 
-
-* Enhancements to h5dump: support new data types added since previous
-  versions.
-
-* h5toh4: An hdf5 to hdf4 converter.
-
-
-		    CHANGES SINCE THE Version 1.0.0 RELEASE
-
-* [Improvement]: configure sets up the Makefile in the parallel tests
-  suit (testpar/) correctly.
-
-* [Bug-Fix]: Configure failed for all IRIX versions other than 6.3.
-  It now configures correctly for all IRIX 6.x version.
-
-		    CHANGES SINCE THE BETA RELEASE
-
-* Added fill values for datasets.  For contiguous datasets fill value
-  performance may be quite poor since the fill value is written to the 
-  entire dataset when the dataset is created.  This will be remedied
-  in a future version.  Chunked datasets using fill values do not
-  incur any additional overhead. See H5Pset_fill_value().
 
-* Multiple hdf5 files can be "mounted" on one another to create a
-  larger virtual file. See H5Fmount().
+ 
+                       HDF5 Release 1.3.x
+    			Under Development
 
-* Object names can be removed or changed but objects are never
-  actually removed from the file yet. See H5Gunlink() and H5Gmove().
 
-* Added a tuning mechanism for B-trees to insure that sequential
-  writes to chunked datasets use less overhead.  See H5Pset_btree_ratios().
+INTRODUCTION
 
-* Various optimizations and bug fixes.
+This document describes the differences between HDF5-1.2.0 and 
+HDF5-1.3.x, and contains information on the platforms where HDF5-1.3.x
+was tested (????? careful, under construction)
+and known problems in HDF5-1.3.x. For more details check the
+HISTORY file in the HDF5 source.
 
+The HDF5 documentation can be found on the NCSA ftp server 
+(ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu) in the directory:
 
-		    CHANGES SINCE THE SECOND ALPHA
+     /HDF/HDF5/docs/
 
-* Strided hyperslab selections in dataspaces now working.
+For more information look at the HDF5 home page at:
+   
+    http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HDF5/
 
-* The compression API has been replaced with a more general filter
-  API.  See doc/html/Filters.html for details.
+If you have any questions or comments, please send them to:
 
-* Alpha-quality 2d ragged arrays are implemented as a layer built on
-  top of other hdf5 objects.  The API and storage format will almost
-  certainly change.
+    hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu
 
-* More debugging support including API tracing.  See Debugging.html.
 
-* C and Fortran style 8-bit fixed-length character string types are
-  supported with space or null padding or null termination and
-  translations between them.
+CONTENTS
 
-* Added function H5Fflush() to write all cached data immediately to
-  the file.
+- New features
+- Bug fixes since HDF5-1.2.0 
+- Platforms Tested
+- Known Problems
 
-* Datasets maintain a modification time which can be retrieved with
-  H5Gstat().
+New features
+============
+VFL(?) 
 
-* The h5ls tool can display much more information, including all the
-  values of a dataset.
-
-		    CHANGES SINCE THE FIRST ALPHA
-
-* Two of the packages have been renamed.  The data space API has been
-  renamed from `H5P' to `H5S' and the property list (template) API has 
-  been renamed from `H5C' to `H5P'.
-
-* The new attribute API `H5A' has been added.  An attribute is a small 
-  dataset which can be attached to some other object (for instance, a
-  4x4 transformation matrix attached to a 3-dimensional dataset, or an 
-  English abstract attached to a group).
-
-* The error handling API `H5E' has been completed.  By default, when an
-  API function returns failure an error stack is displayed on the
-  standard error stream.  The H5Eset_auto() controls the automatic
-  printing and H5E_BEGIN_TRY/H5E_END_TRY macros can temporarily
-  disable the automatic error printing.
-
-* Support for large files and datasets (>2GB) has been added.  There
-  is an html document that describes how it works.  Some of the types
-  for function arguments have changed to support this: all arguments
-  pertaining to sizes of memory objects are `size_t' and all arguments 
-  pertaining to file sizes are `hsize_t'.
-
-* More data type conversions have been added although none of them are
-  fine tuned for performance.  There are new converters from integer
-  to integer and float to float, but not between integers and floating
-  points.  A bug has been fixed in the converter between compound
-  types.
-
-* The numbered types have been removed from the API: int8, uint8,
-  int16, uint16, int32, uint32, int64, uint64, float32, and float64.
-  Use standard C types instead.  Similarly, the numbered types were
-  removed from the H5T_NATIVE_* architecture; use unnumbered types
-  which correspond to the standard C types like H5T_NATIVE_INT.
-
-* More debugging support was added.  If tracing is enabled at
-  configuration time (the default) and the HDF5_TRACE environment
-  variable is set to a file descriptor then all API calls will emit
-  the function name, argument names and values, and return value on
-  that file number.  There is an html document that describes this.
-  If appropriate debugging options are enabled at configuration time,
-  some packages will display performance information on stderr.
-
-* Data types can be stored in the file as independent objects and
-  multiple datasets can share a data type.
-
-* The raw data I/O stream has been implemented and the application can 
-  control meta and raw data caches, so I/O performance should be
-  improved from the first alpha release.
-
-* Group and attribute query functions have been implemented so it is
-  now possible to find out the contents of a file with no prior
-  knowledge.
-
-* External raw data storage allows datasets to be written by other
-  applications or I/O libraries and described and accessed through
-  HDF5.
-
-* Hard and soft (symbolic) links are implemented which allow groups to 
-  share objects. Dangling and recursive symbolic links are supported.
-
-* User-defined data compression is implemented although we may
-  generalize the interface to allow arbitrary user-defined filters
-  which can be used for compression, checksums, encryption,
-  performance monitoring, etc.  The publicly-available `deflate'
-  method is predefined if the GNU libz.a can be found at configuration 
-  time.
-
-* The configuration scripts have been modified to make it easier to
-  build debugging vs. production versions of the library.
-
-* The library automatically checks that the application was compiled
-  with the correct version of header files.
-
-
-		    Parallel HDF5 Changes
-
-* Parallel support for fixed dimension datasets with contiguous or
-  chunked storages.  Also, support unlimited dimension datasets which
-  must use chunk storage.  No parallel support for compressed datasets.
-
-* Collective data transfer for H5Dread/H5Dwrite.  Collective access
-  support for datasets with contiguous storage only, thus only fixed
-  dimension datasets for now.
-
-* H5Pset_mpi and H5Pget_mpi no longer have the access_mode
-  argument.  It is taken over by the data-transfer property list
-  of H5Dread/H5Dwrite.
-
-* New functions H5Pset_xfer and H5Pget_xfer to handle the
-  specification of independent or collective data transfer_mode
-  in the dataset transfer properties list.  The properties
-  list can be used to specify data transfer mode in the H5Dwrite
-  and H5Dread function calls.
-
-* Added parallel support for datasets with chunked storage layout.
-  When a dataset is extend in a PHDF5 file, all processes that open
-  the file must collectively call H5Dextend with identical new dimension
-  sizes.
-
-
-			LIST OF API FUNCTIONS
-
-The following functions are implemented. Errors are returned if an
-attempt is made to use some feature which is not implemented and
-printing the error stack will show `not implemented yet'.
+Bug fixes since HDF5-1.2.0
+==========================
 
 Library
-   H5check		- check that lib version matches header version
-   H5open		- initialize library (happens automatically)
-   H5close		- shut down the library (happens automatically)
-   H5dont_atexit	- don't call H5close on exit
-   H5get_libversion	- retrieve library version info
-   H5check_version	- check for specific library version
-
-Property Lists
-   H5Pclose		- release template resources
-   H5Pcopy		- copy a template
-   H5Pcreate		- create a new template
-   H5Pget_chunk		- get chunked storage properties
-   H5Pset_chunk		- set chunked storage properties
-   H5Pget_class		- get template class
-   H5Pget_istore_k	- get chunked storage properties
-   H5Pset_istore_k	- set chunked storage properties
-   H5Pget_layout	- get raw data layout class
-   H5Pset_layout	- set raw data layout class
-   H5Pget_sizes		- get address and size sizes
-   H5Pset_sizes		- set address and size sizes
-   H5Pget_sym_k		- get symbol table storage properties
-   H5Pset_sym_k		- set symbol table storage properties
-   H5Pget_userblock	- get user-block size
-   H5Pset_userblock	- set user-block size
-   H5Pget_version	- get file version numbers
-   H5Pget_alignment	- get data alignment properties
-   H5Pset_alignment	- set data alignment properties
-   H5Pget_external_count- get count of external data files
-   H5Pget_external	- get information about an external data file
-   H5Pset_external	- add a new external data file to the list
-   H5Pget_driver	- get low-level file driver class
-   H5Pget_stdio		- get properties for stdio low-level driver
-   H5Pset_stdio		- set properties for stdio low-level driver
-   H5Pget_sec2		- get properties for sec2 low-level driver
-   H5Pset_sec2		- set properties for sec2 low-level driver
-   H5Pget_core		- get properties for core low-level driver
-   H5Pset_core		- set properties for core low-level driver
-   H5Pget_split		- get properties for split low-level driver
-   H5Pset_split		- set properties for split low-level driver
-   H5P_get_family	- get properties for family low-level driver
-   H5P_set_family	- set properties for family low-level driver
-   H5Pget_cache		- get meta- and raw-data caching properties
-   H5Pset_cache		- set meta- and raw-data caching properties
-   H5Pget_buffer	- get raw-data I/O pipe buffer properties
-   H5Pset_buffer	- set raw-data I/O pipe buffer properties
-   H5Pget_preserve	- get type conversion preservation properties
-   H5Pset_preserve	- set type conversion preservation properties
-   H5Pget_nfilters	- get number of raw data filters
-   H5Pget_filter	- get raw data filter properties
-   H5Pset_filter	- set raw data filter properties
-   H5Pset_deflate	- set deflate compression filter properties
-   H5Pget_mpi		- get MPI-IO properties
-   H5Pset_mpi		- set MPI-IO properties
-   H5Pget_xfer		- get data transfer properties
-   H5Pset_xfer		- set data transfer properties
-
-Datasets
-   H5Dclose		- release dataset resources
-   H5Dcreate		- create a new dataset
-   H5Dget_space		- get data space
-   H5Dget_type		- get data type
-   H5Dget_create_plist	- get dataset creation properties
-   H5Dopen		- open an existing dataset
-   H5Dread		- read raw data
-   H5Dwrite		- write raw data
-   H5Dextend		- extend a dataset
-
-Attributes
-   H5Acreate		- create a new attribute
-   H5Aopen_name		- open an attribute by name
-   H5Aopen_idx		- open an attribute by number
-   H5Awrite		- write values into an attribute
-   H5Aread		- read values from an attribute
-   H5Aget_space		- get attribute data space
-   H5Aget_type		- get attribute data type
-   H5Aget_name		- get attribute name
-   H5Anum_attrs		- return the number of attributes for an object
-   H5Aiterate		- iterate over an object's attributes
-   H5Adelete		- delete an attribute
-   H5Aclose		- close an attribute
-
-Errors
-   H5Eclear		- clear the error stack
-   H5Eprint		- print an error stack
-   H5Eget_auto		- get automatic error reporting settings
-   H5Eset_auto		- set automatic error reporting
-   H5Ewalk		- iterate over the error stack
-   H5Ewalk_cb		- the default error stack iterator function
-   H5Eget_major		- get the message for the major error number
-   H5Eget_minor		- get the message for the minor error number
-
-Files
-   H5Fclose		- close a file and release resources
-   H5Fcreate		- create a new file
-   H5Fget_create_plist	- get file creation property list
-   H5Fget_access_plist	- get file access property list
-   H5Fis_hdf5		- determine if a file is an hdf5 file
-   H5Fopen		- open an existing file
-
-Groups
-   H5Gclose		- close a group and release resources
-   H5Gcreate    	- create a new group
-   H5Gopen		- open an existing group
-   H5Gpop		- pop a group from the cwg stack
-   H5Gpush		- push a group onto the cwg stack
-   H5Gset		- set the current working group (cwg)
-   H5Giterate   	- iterate over the contents of a group
-   H5Gmove		- change the name of some object
-   H5Glink		- create a hard or soft link to an object
-   H5Gunlink    	- break the link between a name and an object
-   H5Gget_objinfo	- get information about a group entry
-   H5Gget_linkval	- get the value of a soft link
-   H5Gget_comment	- get the comment string for an object
-   H5Gset_comment	- set the comment string for an object
-
-Dataspaces
-   H5Screate	        - create a new data space
-   H5Scopy		- copy a data space
-   H5Sclose		- release data space
-   H5Screate_simple	- create a new simple data space
-   H5Sset_space		- set simple data space extents
-   H5Sis_simple		- determine if data space is simple
-   H5Sset_extent_simple	- set simple data space dimensionality and size
-   H5Sget_simple_extent_npoints	- get number of points in simple extent
-   H5Sget_simple_extent_ndims - get simple data space dimensionality
-   H5Sget_simple_extent_dims - get simple data space size
-   H5Sget_simple_extent_type - get type of simple extent
-   H5Sset_extent_none	- reset extent to be empty
-   H5Sextent_copy	- copy the extent from one data space to another
-   H5Sget_select_npoints - get number of points selected for I/O
-   H5Sselect_hyperslab	- set hyperslab dataspace selection
-   H5Sselect_elements   - set element sequence dataspace selection
-   H5Sselect_all	- select entire extent for I/O
-   H5Sselect_none	- deselect all elements of extent
-   H5Soffset_simple	- set selection offset
-   H5Sselect_valid	- determine if selection is valid for extent
-
-Datatypes
-   H5Tclose		- release data type resources
-   H5Topen		- open a named data type
-   H5Tcommit		- name a data type
-   H5Tcommitted		- determine if a type is named
-   H5Tcopy		- copy a data type
-   H5Tcreate		- create a new data type
-   H5Tequal		- compare two data types
-   H5Tlock		- lock type to prevent changes
-   H5Tfind		- find a data type conversion function
-   H5Tconvert		- convert data from one type to another
-   H5Tregister_hard	- register specific type conversion function
-   H5Tregister_soft	- register general type conversion function
-   H5Tunregister	- remove a type conversion function
-   H5Tget_overflow	- get function that handles overflow conv. cases
-   H5Tset_overflow	- set function to handle overflow conversion cases
-   H5Tget_class		- get data type class
-   H5Tget_cset		- get character set
-   H5Tget_ebias		- get exponent bias
-   H5Tget_fields	- get floating point fields
-   H5Tget_inpad		- get inter-field padding
-   H5Tget_member_dims	- get struct member dimensions
-   H5Tget_member_name	- get struct member name
-   H5Tget_member_offset	- get struct member byte offset
-   H5Tget_member_type	- get struct member type
-   H5Tget_nmembers	- get number of struct members
-   H5Tget_norm		- get floating point normalization
-   H5Tget_offset	- get bit offset within type
-   H5Tget_order		- get byte order
-   H5Tget_pad		- get padding type
-   H5Tget_precision	- get precision in bits
-   H5Tget_sign		- get integer sign type
-   H5Tget_size		- get size in bytes
-   H5Tget_strpad	- get string padding
-   H5Tinsert		- insert scalar struct member
-   H5Tinsert_array	- insert array struct member
-   H5Tpack		- pack struct members
-   H5Tset_cset		- set character set
-   H5Tset_ebias		- set exponent bias
-   H5Tset_fields	- set floating point fields
-   H5Tset_inpad		- set inter-field padding
-   H5Tset_norm		- set floating point normalization
-   H5Tset_offset	- set bit offset within type
-   H5Tset_order		- set byte order
-   H5Tset_pad		- set padding type
-   H5Tset_precision	- set precision in bits
-   H5Tset_sign		- set integer sign type
-   H5Tset_size		- set size in bytes
-   H5Tset_strpad	- set string padding
-
-Filters
-   H5Tregister		- register a new filter method
-
-Ragged Arrays (alpha)
-   H5Rcreate		- create a new ragged array
-   H5Ropen		- open an existing array
-   H5Rclose		- close a ragged array
-   H5Rwrite		- write to an array
-   H5Rread		- read from an array
-
-
-			PLATFORMS SUPPORTED
-			-------------------
+-------
+   * Corrected a floating point number conversion error for the
+     Cray J90 platform.  The error did not convert the value 0.0
+     correctly.
+   * Error was fixed which was not allowing dataset region references to have
+     their regions retrieved correctly.
 
-Operating systems listed below with compiler information and MPI library, if
-applicable, are systems that HDF5 1.2.0beta was tested.
-
-                           Compiler & libraries
-  Platform                      Information              Comment
-  --------                      ----------               -------- 
-                                
-  AIX 4.3.2 (IBM SP)
-
-  FreeBSD 3.2                   gcc 2.8.1
-
-  HP-UX 10.20                   cc A.10.32.03
+Configuration
+-------------
 
-  IRIX 6.5                      cc 7.2.1
+   * The hdf5.h include file was fixed to allow the HDF5 Library to be compiled
+     with other libraries/applications that use GNU autoconf. 
+   * Configuration for parallel HDF5 was improved. Configure now attempts to
+     link with libmpi.a and/or libmpio.a as the MPI libraries by default.
+     It also uses "mpirun" to launch MPI tests by default.  It tests to
+     link MPIO routines during the configuration stage, rather than failing
+     later as before.  One can just do "./configure --enable-parallel"
+     if the MPI library is in the system library.
 
-  IRIX64 6.5 (64 & n32)         cc 7.30 
-  			        mpt.1.3 (SGI MPI 3.2.0.0)
+Tools
+------
+    * h5dump correctly displays compound datatypes.
+    * Corrected an error in h5toh4 which did not convert the 32bits
+      int from HDF5 to HDF4 corectly for the T3E platform.
+    * h5dump correctly displays the committed copy of predefined types
+      correctly.
+    * Added an option, -V, to show the version information of h5dump.
+    * Fixed a core dumping bug of h5toh4 when executed on platforms like 
+      TFLOPS.
+    * The test script for h5toh4 used to not able to detect the hdp
+      dumper command was not valid.  It now detects and reports the
+      failure of hdp execution.
 
-  Linux (SuSE and RedHat)       egcs-1.1.2               configured with
-  						         --disable-hsizet
+Documentation
+-------------
 
-  OSF1 V4.0                     DEC-V5.2-033
+    * User's Guide and Reference Manual were updated. 
+      See doc/html/PSandPDF/index.html for more details. 
 
-  SunOS 5.6                     cc 4.2                   no optimization
-  			        gcc 2.8.1
+   
+Platforms Tested:
+================
+ Note: Due to the nature of bug fixes, only static versions of the library and tools were tested.
 
-  SunOS 5.5.1                   gcc 2.7.2                configured with
-  						         --disable-hsizet
-  TFLOPS O/S 1.0.4              cicc (pgcc Rel 1.7-6i)
-  			        mpich-1.1.2 with local changes
 
-  Unicos 2.0.4.61 (T3E)         cc 6.2.1.0 
+  AIX 4.3.2 (IBM SP)            3.6.6
+  Cray T3E 2.0.4.81             cc 6.3.0.1
                                 mpt.1.3
-
-  Windows/NT 4.0/SP3            MSVC++ 5.0 and 6.0
-
-  Cygwin                        gcc egcs-2.91.57
-
-
-
+  FreeBSD 3.3-STABLE            gcc 2.95.2
+  HP-UX B.10.20                 HP C  HP92453-01 A.10.32
+  IRIX 6.5                      MIPSpro cc 7.30
+  IRIX64 6.5 (64 & n32)         MIPSpro cc 7.3.1m
+                                mpt.1.3 (SGI MPI 3.2.0.0)
+
+  Linux 2.2.10 SuSE             egcs-2.91.66               configured with
+  (i686-pc-linux-gnu)                                      --disable-hsizet
+                                mpich-1.2.0 egcs-2.91.66 19990314/Linux 
+
+  OSF1 V4.0                     DEC-V5.2-040
+  SunOS 5.6                     cc WorkShop Compilers 4.2  no optimization
+  SunOS 5.7                     cc WorkShop Compilers 5.0
+  TFLOPS 2.8                    cicc (pgcc Rel 3.0-5i)
+                                mpich-1.1.2 with local changes
+  Windows NT4.0 sp5             MSVC++ 6.0
+
+Known Problems:
+==============
+
+o SunOS 5.6 with C WorkShop Compilers 4.2:  Hyperslab selections will 
+  fail if library is compiled using optimization of any level.