clawhdf5-netcdf4: phony dimensions, skipped types and order as netCDF-C
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Read a file's metadata the way netCDF-C 4.9.3 does (libhdf5/hdf5open.c),
for the whole file on first use (src/model.rs, replacing src/scope.rs):

- links in creation order when the group tracks it, else name order;
  a group's datasets before its subgroups; dimension ids file-wide;
- variables' dimensions from _Netcdf4Coordinates (file-wide ids), else
  the scales DIMENSION_LIST attaches when the first axis has one, else
  netCDF-C's phony dimensions phony_dim_<id> (create_phony_dims: shared
  by length and unlimitedness within a group, not between two axes of
  one variable, numbered subgroups first, a zero length unlimited);
- datasets of types netCDF-C cannot represent are not variables
  (references, bit fields, time, arrays, compounds/enums/VLENs over
  them), replaying netCDF-C's file-wide type list, failed types
  included;
- unlimited lengths as nc4_find_dim_len (its group and below).

NcType gains Enum, Compound, VLen, Opaque and is #[non_exhaustive];
Variable::nc_type is netCDF-C's type (1-byte strings NC_CHAR). New
clawhdf5_format::group_v2::links_in_creation_order_in.

Tests compare with netCDF-C itself (tests/netcdf_c_view.py calls the
libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles through ctypes): new interop cases for
h5py files without dimension scales, every type class, link order; and
the gated corpus_vs_netcdf_c (CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS): 420 of the 429
conformance-corpus files netCDF-C opens match (main: 68); the other 9
are explained in tests/corpus_known_differences.txt and known-issues.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <[email protected]>
This commit is contained in:
osobh
2026-09-29 20:38:51 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5.5
parent 4260af4f70
commit e5d6f59e12
18 changed files with 2263 additions and 524 deletions
+50 -15
View File
@@ -36,23 +36,46 @@ let values: Vec<f64> = temp.read_f64()?;
| Item | What |
|---|---|
| `NetCDF4File` | `open`, `from_bytes`, `dimensions`, `variables`, `variable_names`, `variable`, `global_attrs`, `group`, `group_names`, `nc_properties`, and `hdf5_file` for the underlying `clawhdf5::File` |
| `NetCDF4File` | `open`, `from_bytes`, `dimensions`, `variables`, `variable_names`, `variable` (a name or a path into a subgroup), `global_attrs`, `group` (a name or a path), `group_names`, `nc_properties`, and `hdf5_file` for the underlying `clawhdf5::File` |
| `NetCDF4Group` | the same for a sub-group (`dimensions`, `variables`, `variable_names`, `attrs`, nested `group`) |
| `Variable` | `name`, `shape`, `stored_shape`, `dimensions`, `nc_type`, `is_coordinate`, `attrs`, `cf_attributes`; `read_f64` (CF scale/offset and fill applied), `read_raw_f32`/`_f64`/`_i32`/`_i64`/`_u64`, `read_string`, `read_raw` |
| `Dimension` | `name`, `size`, `is_unlimited` (an unlimited dimension's `size` is its current length as netCDF-C reports it: the largest extent of the variables using it) |
| `CfAttributes` | CF convention attributes: `units`, `long_name`, `standard_name`, `fill_value` (`_FillValue`), `missing_value`, `scale_factor`, `add_offset`, `valid_range`, `calendar`, `axis` |
| `NcType` | the NetCDF type of a variable |
| `NcType` | the NetCDF type of a variable: an atomic type (`Byte` ... `UInt64`, `Float`, `Double`, `Char`, `String`) or the class of a user-defined one (`Enum`, `Compound`, `VLen`, `Opaque`); `#[non_exhaustive]` |
Variables and dimensions follow netCDF-C:
Groups, dimensions and variables are what netCDF-C 4.9.3 reports
(`libhdf5/hdf5open.c`), names, order and types included. The first call
that needs them reads the metadata of the whole file, as `nc_open` does:
- A variable's dimensions are the ones the file names: the ids in its
`_Netcdf4Coordinates` attribute, else the dimension scales its
`DIMENSION_LIST` references, found in its group or a parent group. Only
an axis the file names no dimension for (an HDF5 file not written by a
netCDF library) gets the first dimension of the group of the same size,
else an anonymous `dim_<size>`.
- Dimension scales that are only dimensions are not variables; a dataset
- Order: a group's links in creation order when it tracks it (netCDF-4
files do), else in name order (h5py's default); groups and variables in
that order, dimensions by id.
- A dimension scale defines a dimension (its `_Netcdf4Dimid`, else the
next free id; unlimited when its first axis is or its length is 0);
scales that are only dimensions are not variables, and a dataset
`_nc4_non_coord_<name>` is the variable `<name>`.
- A variable's dimensions are the ones the file names: the ids in its
`_Netcdf4Coordinates` attribute (any group), else — when its first axis
has one — the dimension scales its `DIMENSION_LIST` attaches, found in
its group or a parent group.
- Otherwise (an HDF5 file not written by a netCDF library) its axes get
netCDF-C's **phony dimensions** `phony_dim_<n>`: per axis, the first
dimension of the variable's group with the same length and
unlimitedness that an earlier axis of the variable does not use, else a
new one. The numbers run file-wide, a group's subgroups before its own
variables.
- Datasets of types netCDF-C cannot represent are not variables:
references, bit fields, time and array types, and compounds, enums and
VLENs over members or base types that are not netCDF atomic types (4-
and 8-byte floats only) or types netCDF-C has read before in the file.
Enum, compound, VLEN and opaque datasets are variables of those classes
(netCDF4-python itself leaves out opaque ones).
- Two deliberate differences: floats of other than 4 or 8 bytes (half,
bfloat16, 4/6/8-bit floats, `long double`) are `Float`/`Double` and
read as numbers, where netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6 labels them
`NC_STRING`; and an axis netCDF-C leaves without a dimension (an id or
scale it cannot find, or no scale on an axis after a first one that has
one, where it reads uninitialised memory) gets one by the phony rule.
- A variable along an unlimited dimension has the dimension's length:
`shape` is that length, and the reads return that many values, the
records the variable has not written as its fill value (`_FillValue`,
@@ -60,11 +83,23 @@ Variables and dimensions follow netCDF-C:
`stored_shape` is the HDF5 dataset's extent.
No cargo features. Tests compare against files written by netCDF4-python,
h5py dimension scales, h5netcdf and xarray, variable by variable with what
netCDF4-python reads (`tests/interop_tests.rs`; the CI job requires them
with `CLAWHDF5_REQUIRE_INTEROP=1`; the h5netcdf cases skip when h5netcdf is
not installed). What the HDF5 reader underneath cannot read is listed in
[`docs/known-issues.md`](../../docs/known-issues.md).
h5py (with and without dimension scales, every HDF5 type class), h5netcdf
and xarray, with what netCDF4-python reads and with what netCDF-C itself
reports (`tests/interop_tests.rs`; `tests/netcdf_c_view.py` calls the
libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles; the CI job requires them with
`CLAWHDF5_REQUIRE_INTEROP=1`; the h5netcdf cases skip when h5netcdf is not
installed). `tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs` compares every file of a corpus
netCDF-C opens, when `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS` names one: over the
conformance corpus, 420 of 429 files match (tank, 2026-09-29), and the
other 9 are explained in `tests/corpus_known_differences.txt`:
```sh
CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS=conformance/.cache/corpus CLAWHDF5_PYTHON=$PWD/.venv/bin/python \
cargo test -p clawhdf5-netcdf4 --test corpus_vs_netcdf_c -- --nocapture
```
The differences from netCDF-C, and what the HDF5 reader underneath cannot
read, are listed in [`docs/known-issues.md`](../../docs/known-issues.md).
## License