[svn-r9727] Purpose:

    Bug Fix/Code Cleanup/Doc Cleanup/Optimization/Branch Sync :-)

Description:
    Generally speaking, this is the "signed->unsigned" change to selections.
However, in the process of merging code back, things got stickier and stickier
until I ended up doing a big "sync the two branches up" operation.  So... I
brought back all the "infrastructure" fixes from the development branch to the
release branch (which I think were actually making some improvement in
performance) as well as fixed several bugs which had been fixed in one branch,
but not the other.

    I've also tagged the repository before making this checkin with the label
"before_signed_unsigned_changes".

Platforms tested:
    FreeBSD 4.10 (sleipnir) w/parallel & fphdf5
    FreeBSD 4.10 (sleipnir) w/threadsafe
    FreeBSD 4.10 (sleipnir) w/backward compatibility
    Solaris 2.7 (arabica) w/"purify options"
    Solaris 2.8 (sol) w/FORTRAN & C++
    AIX 5.x (copper) w/parallel & FORTRAN
    IRIX64 6.5 (modi4) w/FORTRAN
    Linux 2.4 (heping) w/FORTRAN & C++


Misc. update:

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/html/RM_H5D.html b/doc/html/RM_H5D.html
index ed93c9a..cb9be00 100644
--- a/doc/html/RM_H5D.html
+++ b/doc/html/RM_H5D.html
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ as the corresponding C function.
 </table>
 
 <!-- NEW PAGE -->
+<!-- HEADER RIGHT " " -->
 <!-- NEW PAGE -->
 <!-- HEADER RIGHT "H5Dclose" -->
 <hr>
@@ -309,6 +310,29 @@ END SUBROUTINE h5dclose_f
 	&ldquo;HDF5 Datasets&rdquo; chapter of 
 	the new <cite>HDF5 User's Guide</cite>, 
 	which is being prepared for release.
+<dt><strong>Note:</strong>
+    <dd><code>H5Dcreate</code> can fail if there has been an error
+        in setting up an element of the dataset creation property list.
+        In such cases, each item in the property list must be examined
+        to ensure that the setup satisfies to all required conditions.
+        This problem is most likely to occur with the use of filters.
+        <p>
+        For example, <code>H5Dcreate</code> will fail without a meaningful
+        explanation if 
+        <ul>
+          <li>SZIP compression is being used on the dataset and 
+          <li>the SZIP parameter <code>pixels_per_block</code> 
+              is set to an inappropriate value.
+        </ul>
+        <p>
+        In such a case, one would refer to the description of 
+        <a href="RM_H5P.html#Property-SetSzip"><code>H5Pset_szip</code></a>,
+        looking for any conditions or requirements that might affect the
+        local computing environment.
+        <!--
+        <p>
+        Other known similar problems can occur with . . .
+        --> 
 <dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
     <ul><table>
         <tr>