[netcdfgroup] ExodusII LargeFile support

• To: <netcdfgroup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: [netcdfgroup] ExodusII LargeFile support
• From: John T.Foster <John.Foster@xxxxxxxx>
• Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2012 00:31:10 -0500

As you may know the ExodusII Finite Element Database model is built on top of 
NetCDF and is used by many scientist and researchers as a popular input/output 
format for FEA databases.  The ExodusII developers suggest modifying the 
netcdf.h header file with the following changes in diff/patch format:


        99      
+-#define NC_MAX_DIMS  1024  
        100     
++#define NC_MAX_DIMS  65536
        101     
+ #define NC_MAX_ATTRS  8192  
        102     
+-#define NC_MAX_VARS  8192  
        103     
++#define NC_MAX_VARS  524288
        104     
+ #define NC_MAX_NAME  256  
        105     
+-#define NC_MAX_VAR_DIMS  1024 /**< max per variable dimensions */
        106     
++#define NC_MAX_VAR_DIMS  8 /**< max per variable dimensions */

Would it be possible to add a configure option like 
"--enable-exodus-largefiles" that would allow users of ExodusII to install 
NetCDF with this patch applied without having to manually edit the netcdf.h 
file every time we have to need to install NetCDF/ExodusII.  This would also 
allow a more straightforward path for ExodusII to be put into distribution 
packages such as apt/macports/fink/homebrew, etc.  

Thanks in advance for your help.

JTF

--

John T. Foster
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
The University of Texas at San Antonio
AET 2.330
One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
210.458.5521
john.foster@xxxxxxxx