HDF5 Library Environment Variables and Configuration Parameters

1. Environment Variables

The HDF5 library uses UNIX environment variables to control or adjust certain library features at runtime. The variables and their defined effects are as follows:

HDF5_DEBUG: Defines a list of debugging switches documented in the Debugging section of the HDF5 User's Guide.
HDF5_NOCLEANUP: When set to a non-empty value, the programs in the test directory do not remove temporary HDF5 data files. The default is for each test to remove the files before exit.
HDF5_DISABLE_VERSION_CHECK: When set to 1, HDF5 will not abort when the version of the HDF5 headers doesn't match the version of the HDF5 library.
HDF5_MPI_OPT_TYPES (for parallel beta version only): When set to 1, PHDF5 will use the MPI optimized code to perform parallel read/write accesses to datasets. Currently, this optimization fails when accessing extendable datasets. The default is not to use the optimized code.

2. Configuration Parameters

The HDF5 configuration script accepts a list of parameters to control configuration features when creating the Makefiles for the library. The command
configure --help
will display the current list of parameters and their effects.

HDF5 documents and links
Introduction to HDF5
HDF5 Reference Manual
HDF5 User's Guide for Release 1.6

HDF Help Desk
Describes HDF5 Release 1.4.5, February 2003

Last modified: 13 December 1999