path: root/release_docs/RELEASE.txt

HDF5 version 1.8.21 currently under development
================================================================================

INTRODUCTION
============

This document describes the differences between HDF5-1.8.20 and
HDF5-1.8.21, and contains information on the platforms tested and
known problems in HDF5-1.8.21.
For more details, see the files HISTORY-1_0-1_8_0_rc3.txt
and HISTORY-1_8.txt in the release_docs/ directory of the HDF5 source.

Links to the HDF5 1.8.21 source code, documentation, and additional materials
can be found on the HDF5 web page at:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/

The HDF5 1.8.21 release can be obtained from:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/release/obtain518.html

User documentation for 1.8.21 can be accessed directly at this location:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc1.8/

New features in the HDF5-1.8.x release series, including brief general
descriptions of some new and modified APIs, are described in the "What's New
in 1.8.0?" document:

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc/ADGuide/WhatsNew180.html

All new and modified APIs are listed in detail in the "HDF5 Software Changes
from Release to Release" document, in the section "Release 1.8.21 (current
release) versus Release 1.8.20

     https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc1.8/ADGuide/Changes.html

If you have any questions or comments, please send them to the HDF Help Desk:

     help@hdfgroup.org


CONTENTS
========

- New Features
- Support for New Platforms, Languages, and Compilers
- Bug Fixes since HDF5-1.8.20
- Supported Platforms
- Supported Configuration Features Summary
- More Tested Platforms
- Known Problems


New Features
============

    Configuration
    -------------
    - CMake

      Change minimum version to 3.10.

      This change removes the need to support a copy of the FindMPI.cmake module,
      which has been removed, along with its subfolder in the config/cmake_ext_mod
      location.

      (ADB - 2018/03/09)

    - CMake

      Add pkg-config file generation

      Added pkg-config file generation for the C, C++, HL, and HL C++ libraries.
      In addition, builds on linux will create h5cXXX scripts that use the pkg-config
      files. This is a limited implementation of a script like autotools h5cc.

      (ADB - 2018/03/08, HDFFV-4359)

    - CMake

      Refactor use of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE for new variable, which understands
      the type of generator in use.

      Added new configuration macros to use new HDF_BUILD_TYPE variable. This
      variable is set correctly for the type of generator being used for the build.

      (ADB - 2018/01/08, HDFFV-10385, HDFFV-10296)

    C++ API
    -------
    - The following C++ API wrappers have been added to class H5Location
      + H5Lcreate_soft:
        // Creates a soft link from link_name to target_name.
        void link(const char *target_name, const char *link_name,...)
        void link(const H5std_string& target_name,...)

      + H5Lcreate_hard:
        // Creates a hard link from new_name to curr_name.
        void link(const char *curr_name, const Group& new_loc,...)
        void link(const H5std_string& curr_name, const Group& new_loc,...)

        // Creates a hard link from new_name to curr_name in the same location.
        void link(const char *curr_name, const hid_t same_loc,...)
        void link(const H5std_string& curr_name, const hid_t same_loc,...)

        Note: previous version CommonFG::link will be deprecated.

      + H5Lcopy:
        // Copy an object from a group of file to another.
        void copyLink(const char *src_name, const Group& dst,...)
        void copyLink(const H5std_string& src_name, const Group& dst,...)

        // Copy an object from a group of file to the same location.
        void copyLink(const char *src_name, const char *dst_name,...)
        void copyLink(const H5std_string& src_name,...)

      + H5Lmove:
        // Rename an object in a group or file to a new location.
        void moveLink(const char* src_name, const Group& dst,...)
        void moveLink(const H5std_string& src_name, const Group& dst,...)

        // Rename an object in a group or file to the same location.
        void moveLink(const char* src_name, const char* dst_name,...)
        void moveLink(const H5std_string& src_name,...)

        Note: previous version CommonFG::move will be deprecated.

      + H5Ldelete:
        // Removes the specified link from this location.
        void unlink(const char *link_name,
            const LinkAccPropList& lapl = LinkAccPropList::DEFAULT)
        void unlink(const H5std_string& link_name,
            const LinkAccPropList& lapl = LinkAccPropList::DEFAULT)

        Note: An additional parameter is added to CommonFG::unlink and it
              is moved to H5Location.

      (BMR - 2018/05/11 - HDFFV-10445)

    - New property list subclasses

      Property list subclasses StrCreatPropList, LinkCreatPropList, and
      AttrCreatPropList are added for the C property list classes
      H5P_STRING_CREATE, H5P_LINK_CREATE, and H5P_ATTRIBUTE_CREATE.

      (BMR - 2018/05/11 - HDFFV-10445)

    - Another argument, LinkCreatPropList& lcpl, is added to the following
      functions for the use of link creation property list.
        Group createGroup(const char* name, size_t size_hint = 0,
                    const LinkCreatPropList& lcpl = LinkCreatPropList::DEFAULT)
        Group createGroup(const H5std_string& name, size_t size_hint = 0,
                    const LinkCreatPropList& lcpl = LinkCreatPropList::DEFAULT)

      (BMR - 2018/05/11 - HDFFV-10445)



Support for New Platforms, Languages, and Compilers
===================================================

    - Added support for Visual Studio 2017 w/ Intel Fortran 18 on Windows 10 x64.

Bug Fixes since HDF5-1.8.20
===========================

    - If an HDF5 file contains a filter pipeline message with a 'number of
      filters' field that exceeds the maximum number of allowed filters,
      the error handling code will attempt to dereference a NULL pointer.

      This issue was reported to The HDF Group as issue #CVE-2017-17505.

      NOTE: The HDF5 C library cannot produce such a file. This condition
            should only occur in a corrupt (or deliberately altered) file
            or a file created by third-party software.

      This problem arose because the error handling code assumed that
      the 'number of filters' field implied that a dynamic array of that
      size had already been created and that the cleanup code should
      iterate over that array and clean up each element's resources. If
      an error occurred before the array has been allocated, this will
      not be true.

      This has been changed so that the number of filters is set to
      zero on errors. Additionally, the filter array traversal in the
      error handling code now requires that the filter array not be NULL.

      (DER - 2018/02/06, HDFFV-10354)

    - If an HDF5 file contains a filter pipeline message which contains
      a 'number of filters' field that exceeds the actual number of
      filters in the message, the HDF5 C library will read off the end of
      the read buffer.

      This issue was reported to The HDF Group as issue #CVE-2017-17506.

      NOTE: The HDF5 C library cannot produce such a file. This condition
            should only occur in a corrupt (or deliberately altered) file
            or a file created by third-party software.

      The problem was fixed by passing the buffer size with the buffer
      and ensuring that the pointer cannot be incremented off the end
      of the buffer. A mismatch between the number of filters declared
      and the actual number of filters will now invoke normal HDF5
      error handling.

      (DER - 2018/02/26, HDFFV-10355)

    - If an HDF5 file contains a malformed compound datatype with a
      suitably large offset, the type conversion code can run off
      the end of the type conversion buffer, causing a segmentation
      fault.

      This issue was reported to The HDF Group as issue #CVE-2017-17507.

      NOTE: The HDF5 C library cannot produce such a file. This condition
            should only occur in a corrupt (or deliberately altered) file
            or a file created by third-party software.

      THE HDF GROUP WILL NOT FIX THIS BUG AT THIS TIME

      Fixing this problem would involve updating the publicly visible
      H5T_conv_t function pointer typedef and versioning the API calls
      which use it. We normally only modify the public API during
      major releases, so this bug will not be fixed at this time.

      (DER - 2018/02/26, HDFFV-10356)

    - If an HDF5 file contains a malformed compound type which contains
      a member of size zero, a division by zero error will occur while
      processing the type.

      This issue was reported to The HDF Group as issue #CVE-2017-17508.

      NOTE: The HDF5 C library cannot produce such a file. This condition
            should only occur in a corrupt (or deliberately altered) file
            or a file created by third-party software.

      Checking for zero before dividing fixes the problem. Instead of the
      division by zero, the normal HDF5 error handling is invoked.

      (DER - 2018/02/26, HDFFV-10357)

    - If an HDF5 file contains a malformed symbol table node that declares
      it contains more symbols than it actually contains, the library
      can run off the end of the metadata cache buffer while processing
      the symbol table node.

      This issue was reported to The HDF Group as issue #CVE-2017-17509.

      NOTE: The HDF5 C library cannot produce such a file. This condition
            should only occur in a corrupt (or deliberately altered) file
            or a file created by third-party software.

      Performing bounds checks on the buffer while processing fixes the
      problem. Instead of the segmentation fault, the normal HDF5 error
      handling is invoked.

      (DER - 2018/03/12, HDFFV-10358)


    Configuration
    -------------
    - Library

      Moved the location of gcc attribute.

      The gcc attribute(no_sanitize), named as the macro HDF_NO_UBSAN,
      was located after the function name. Builds with GCC 7 did not
      indicate any problem, but GCC 8 issued errors. Moved the
      attribute before the function name, as required.

      (ADB 2018/05/22, HDFFV-10473)

    - CMake

      Update CMake commands configuration.

      A number of improvements were made to the CMake commands. Most
      changes simplify usage or eliminate unused constructs. Also,
      some changes support better cross-platform support.

      (ADB - 2018/02/01, HDFFV-10398)

    - CMake

      Correct usage of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE variable.

      The use of the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE is incorrect for multi-config
      generators (Visual Studio and XCode) and is optional for single
      config generators. Created a new macro to check
        GLOBAL PROPERTY -> GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG
      Created two new HDF variable, HDF_BUILD_TYPE and HDF_CFG_BUILD_TYPE.
      Defaults for these variables is "Release".

      (ADB - 2018/01/10, HDFFV-10385)

    - CMake

      Add replacement of fortran flags if using static CRT.

      Added TARGET_STATIC_CRT_FLAGS call to HDFUseFortran.cmake file in
      config/cmake_ext_mod folder.

      (ADB - 2018/01/08, HDFFV-10334)


    Library
    -------
    - Utility function can not handle lowercase Windows drive letters

      Added call to toupper function for drive letter.

      (ADB - 2017/12/18, HDFFV-10307)


    Tools
    -----
    - h5repack

      h5repack changes the chunk parameters when a change of layout is not
      specified and a filter is applied.

      HDFFV-10297, HDFFV-10319 reworked code for h5repack and h5diff code
      in the tools library. The check for an existing layout was incorrectly
      placed into an if block and not executed. The check was moved into
      the normal path of the function.

      (ADB - 2018/02/21, HDFFV-10412)

    - h5dump

      the tools library will hide the error stack during file open.

      While this is preferable almost always, there are reasons to enable
      display of the error stack when a tool will not open a file. Adding an
      optional argument to the --enable-error-stack will provide this use case.
      As an optional argument it will not affect the operation of the
      --enable-error-stack. h5dump is the only tool to implement this change.

      (ADB - 2018/02/15, HDFFV-10384)

    - h5dump

      h5dump would output an indented blank line in the filters section.

      h5dump overused the h5tools_simple_prefix function, which is a
      function intended to account for the data index (x,y,z) option.
      Removed the function call for header information.

      (ADB - 2018/01/25, HDFFV-10396)

    - h5repack

      h5repack incorrectly searched internal object table for name.

      h5repack would search the table of objects for a name, if the
      name did not match it tried to determine if the name without a
      leading slash would match. The logic was flawed! The table
      stored names(paths) without a leading slash and did a strstr
      of the table path to the name.
      The assumption was that if there was a difference of one then
      it was a match, however "pressure" would match "/pressure" as
      well as "/pressure1", "/pressure2", etc. Changed logic to remove
      any leading slash and then do a full compare of the name.

      (ADB - 2018/01/18, HDFFV-10393)

    - h5repack

      h5repack failed to handle command line parameters for customer filters.

      User defined filter parameter conversions would fail whenintegers were 
      represented on the command line with character string
      larger then 9 characters. Increased local variable array for storing
      the current command line parameter to prevent buffer overflows.

      (ADB - 2018/01/17, HDFFV-10392)

    - h5diff

      h5diff seg faulted if comparing VL strings against fixed strings.

      Reworked solution for HDFFV-8625 and HDFFV-8639. Implemented the check
      for string objects of same type in the diff_can_type function by
      adding an if(tclass1 == H5T_STRING) block. This "if block" moves the
      same check that was added for attributes to this function, which is
      used by all object types. This function handles complex type structures.
      Also added a new test file in h5diffgenttest for testing this issue
      and removed the temporary files used in the test scripts.

      (ADB - 2018/01/04, HDFFV-8745)


    C++ API
    -------
    - Removal of memory leaks

      A private function was inadvertently called, causing memory leaks.  This
      is now fixed.

      (BMR - 2018/04/12 - User reported in email)

    - Changes in exception classes

      Some exception classes are reorganized to reflect the HDF5 object
      hierarchy and allow customization.
        DataSetIException -> LocationException -> Exception
        DataTypeIException -> LocationException -> Exception
        GroupIException -> LocationException -> Exception
        AttributeIException -> LocationException -> Exception
        FileIException -> GroupIException -> LocationException -> Exception
      Member functions in H5Location and H5Object now throw specific exceptions
      associated with the invoking objects.

      (BMR - 2018/05/11)

    - H5Location::closeObjId is made static
      (BMR - 2018/05/11)

    - H5A wrappers in H5Location are removed as they have been in H5Object.
      (BMR - 2018/05/11)


Supported Platforms
===================
The following platforms are supported and have been tested for this release.
They are built with the configure process unless specified otherwise.

    Linux 2.6.32-573.22.1.el6     GNU C (gcc), Fortran (gfortran), C++ (g++)
    #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux       compilers:
    (platypus/mayll)              Version 4.4.7 20120313
                                     Versions 4.9.3, 5.3.0, 6.2.0
                                  PGI C, Fortran, C++ for 64-bit target on
                                  x86-64;
                                      Version 17.10-0
                                  Intel(R) C (icc), C++ (icpc), Fortran (icc)
                                  compilers:
                                     Version 17.0.4.196 Build 20160721
                                  MPICH 3.1.4 compiled with GCC 4.9.3
                                  OpenMPI 2.0.1 compiled with GCC 4.9.3

    Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6     gcc (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-16)
    #1 SMP ppc64 GNU/Linux        g++ (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-16)
    (ostrich)                     GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-16)
                                  IBM XL C/C++ V13.1
                                  IBM XL Fortran V15.1

    Linux 3.10.0-327.10.1.el7     GNU C (gcc), Fortran (gfortran), C++ (g++)
    #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux       compilers:
    (kituo/moohan/jelly           Version 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)
                                     Versions 4.9.3, 5.3.0, 6.2.0
                                  Intel(R) C (icc), C++ (icpc), Fortran (icc)
                                  compilers:
                                     Version 17.0.4.196 Build 20170411
                                  MPICH 3.1.4 compiled with GCC 4.9.3
                                  NAG Fortran Compiler Release 6.1(Tozai) Build 6116

    SunOS 5.11 32- and 64-bit     Sun C 5.12 SunOS_sparc
    (emu)                         Sun Fortran 95 8.6 SunOS_sparc
                                  Sun C++ 5.12 SunOS_sparc

    Windows 7                     Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)

    Windows 7 x64                 Visual Studio 2012 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2013 w/ Intel Fortran 15 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel C, Fortran 2017 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2015 w/ MSMPI 8 (cmake)

    Windows 10                    Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)

    Windows 10 x64                Visual Studio 2015 w/ Intel Fortran 16 (cmake)
                                  Visual Studio 2017 w/ Intel Fortran 18 (cmake)

    Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5     Apple LLVM version 6.0 (clang-600.0.57)
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.9.2
    (wren/quail)                  Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 15.0.3

    Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5     Apple LLVM version 6.1 (clang-602.0.53)
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.9.2
    (osx1010dev/osx1010test)      Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 15.0.3

    Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6   Apple LLVM version 7.3.0 (clang-703.0.29)
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 5.2.0
    (VM osx1011dev/osx1011test)   Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 16.0.2

    Mac OS Sierra 10.12.6         Apple LLVM version 8.1 (clang-802.0.42)
    64-bit                        gfortran GNU Fortran (GCC) 7.1.0
    (kite)                        Intel icc/icpc/ifort version 17.0.2


Tested Configuration Features Summary
=====================================

    In the tables below
          y   = tested
          n   = not tested in this release
          C   = Cluster
          W   = Workstation
          x   = not working in this release
          dna = does not apply
          ( ) = footnote appears below second table
          <blank> = testing incomplete on this feature or platform

Platform                              C         F90/   F90      C++  zlib  SZIP
                                      parallel  F2003  parallel
SunOS 5.11 32-bit                       n        y/y    n        y    y     y
SunOS 5.11 64-bit                       n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 7                               y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 7 x64                           y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 7 Cygwin                        n        y/n    n        y    y     y
Windows 7 x64 Cygwin                    n        y/n    n        y    y     y
Windows 10                              y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Windows 10 x64                          y        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 64-bit    n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 64-bit        n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 64-bit        n        y/y    n        y    y     y
AIX 6.1 32- and 64-bit                  n        y/n    n        y    y     y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 GNU      y        y/y    y        y    y     y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 Intel    n        y/y    n        y    y     y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 PGI      n        y/y    n        y    y     y
CentOS 7.1 Linux 3.10.0 x86_64 GNU      y        y/y    y        y    y     y
CentOS 7.1 Linux 3.10.0 x86_64 Intel    n        y/y    n        y    y     y
Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64         n        y/n    n        y    y     y

Platform                                 Shared  Shared    Shared    Thread-
                                         C libs  F90 libs  C++ libs  safe
SunOS 5.11 32-bit                          y       y         y         y
SunOS 5.11 64-bit                          y       y         y         y
Windows 7                                  y       y         y         y
Windows 7 x64                              y       y         y         y
Windows 7 Cygwin                           n       n         n         y
Windows 7 x64 Cygwin                       n       n         n         y
Windows 10                                 y       y         y         y
Windows 10 x64                             y       y         y         y
Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 64-bit       y       n         y         y
Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 64-bit           y       n         y         y
Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 64-bit           y       n         y         y
AIX 6.1 32- and 64-bit                     y       n         n         y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 GNU         y       y         y         y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 Intel       y       y         y         y
CentOS 6.7 Linux 2.6.32 x86_64 PGI         y       y         y         y
CentOS 7.1 Linux 3.10.0 x86_64 GNU         y       y         y         y
CentOS 7.1 Linux 3.10.0 x86_64 Intel       y       y         y         y
Linux 2.6.32-573.18.1.el6.ppc64            y       y         y         y

Compiler versions for each platform are listed in the preceding
"Supported Platforms" table.


More Tested Platforms
=====================
The following platforms are not supported but have been tested for this release.

    Linux 2.6.32-573.22.1.el6     g95 (GCC 4.0.3 (g95 0.94!)
    #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux
    (mayll)

    Debian8.4.0 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.36-1 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2
                                  GNU Fortran (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    Fedora24 4.7.2-201.fc24.x86_64 #1 SMP x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc (GCC) 6.1.1 20160621 (Red Hat 6.1.1-3)
                                  GNU Fortran (GCC) 6.1.1 20160621 (Red Hat 6.1.1-3)
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    CentOS 7.2 3.10.0-327.28.2.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc (GCC) 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)
                                  GNU Fortran (GCC) 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-4)
                                  (cmake and autotools)

    Ubuntu 16.04 4.4.0-38-generic #62-Ubuntu SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux
                                  gcc (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.2) 5.4.0
                                  GNU Fortran (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.2) 5.4.0
                                  (cmake and autotools)


Known Problems
==============

    The dynamically loaded plugin test libraries require undefined references
    to HDF5 functions to be resolved at runtime in order to function properly.
    With autotools on CYGWIN this results in build errors, and we have not
    found a solution that satisfies both.  Therefore the dynamically loaded
    plugin tests have been disabled on CYGWIN.

    Mac OS X 10.13 added additional subdirectory structure in .libs for shared
    libraries.  Consequently "make check" will fail testing java and dynamically
    loaded plugin test libraries attempting to copy files from the previous
    locations in .libs directories.  This will be addressed in the next release
    when support for the Mac OS X 10.13 platform is added.

    Known problems in previous releases can be found in the HISTORY*.txt files
    in the HDF5 source. Please report any new problems found to
    help@hdfgroup.org.