NetCDF development

• To: mjl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• Subject: NetCDF development
• From: Russ Rew <russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Date: Tue, 14 Jul 1992 14:51:34 -0600

Hi Maurice,

>   o who are currently developing and maintaining NetCDF?

Currently we are.  The Unidata Program Center in Boulder, Colorado, has four
systems programmers and three user-support programmers, but netCDF is only a
small part of the software we develop and maintain.  Consequently, we have
less than one full-time programmer for netCDF development, and lately that
has been less than one half-time programer.

>   o are "outsiders" allowed to be part of the club?

We encourage and accept bug fixes, enhancements, and contributions.
Proposals for library extensions should, if possible, first be implemented
above the library layer to demonstrate their usefulness and practicality.
Currently we keep a list of ongoing netCDF developments at other places in
the file

        host: unidata.ucar.edu
        file: pub/netcdf/utilities.txt

The README file in pub/netcdf is also kept up-to-date with the availability
of contributed documents and code.

>   o if so, does this include access to the central CVS or RCS repository?

No, we only distribute source releases after they have undergone testing on
the platforms we support.

>   o if not, (to either of the above), how are user-contributed enhancements
>   handled and how do the outside developers stay current with recent
>   versions of the code? 

We only release about two versions per year, and most of the work lately has
been above the level of the netCDF library, so working from the latest
source release should be OK.  If you're worried about running into bugs
we've fixed, I can tar up a snapshot of the current state of the library,
but it won't be as well-tested as a release and we can't provide support for
such snapshots.

----
Russ Rew                  University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Unidata Program Center    P.O. Box 3000
russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx     Boulder, Colorado 80307-3000

• References:
  • NetCDF development
    • From: Maurice J . LeBrun