crates/clawhdf5-format/src/file_writer.rs

@@ -63,6 +63,19 @@ fn build_paged_superblock_extension(page_size: u32) -> Result<Vec<u8>, FormatErr
     w.serialize()
 }
 
+/// A group or dataset name must be one path component: not empty, not ".",
+/// and without '/'. `FileWriter` writes a root group plus one level of
+/// groups, and cannot create intermediate groups for a path.
+fn check_link_name(name: &str) -> Result<(), FormatError> {
+    if name.is_empty() || name == "." || name.contains('/') {
+        return Err(FormatError::SerializationError(format!(
+            "invalid object name {name:?}: names must be a single path component \
+             (FileWriter does not create nested groups)"
+        )));
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 /// Threshold for switching from compact (inline) to dense attribute storage.
 const DENSE_ATTR_THRESHOLD: usize = 8;
 
@@ -1137,6 +1150,19 @@ impl FileWriter {
             })
         };
 
+        // Every name becomes a single link in its parent group. The writer
+        // has no nested groups, so a path like "a/b" would be stored as one
+        // link literally named "a/b" — which no HDF5 reader can resolve.
+        let root_names = self.root_datasets.iter().map(|d| d.name.as_str());
+        let group_names = self.groups.iter().flat_map(|g| {
+            core::iter::once(g.name.as_str())
+                .chain(g.datasets.iter().map(|d| d.name.as_str()))
+                .chain(g.external_links.iter().map(|l| l.0.as_str()))
+        });
+        for name in root_names.chain(group_names) {
+            check_link_name(name)?;
+        }
+
         let mut all_ds: Vec<DsFlat> = Vec::new();
         let mut groups: Vec<GrpFlat> = Vec::new();
         let mut root_ds_indices: Vec<usize> = Vec::new();

crates/clawhdf5-format/tests/writer_meta_tests.rs

@@ -524,3 +524,42 @@ fn h5py_reads_all_attributes_next_to_an_empty_string() {
     assert_eq!(out, r#"["", "héllo", ["", ""], 3]"#);
     h5dump_ok(&path);
 }
+
+// ---- 6. path-like names ----
+
+#[test]
+fn slash_in_a_group_or_dataset_name_is_an_error() {
+    // Measured: create_group("a/b") wrote one link literally named "a/b",
+    // which h5py cannot reach ("component not found"). The writer has no
+    // nested groups, so such names are refused.
+    let mut fw = FileWriter::new();
+    let mut g = fw.create_group("a/b");
+    g.create_dataset("c").with_f64_data(&[1.0]);
+    fw.add_group(g.finish());
+    assert!(fw.finish().is_err());
+
+    let mut fw = FileWriter::new();
+    fw.create_dataset("x/y").with_f64_data(&[1.0]);
+    assert!(fw.finish().is_err());
+
+    let mut fw = FileWriter::new();
+    let mut g = fw.create_group("g");
+    g.create_dataset("x/y").with_f64_data(&[1.0]);
+    fw.add_group(g.finish());
+    assert!(fw.finish().is_err());
+
+    for bad in ["", "."] {
+        let mut fw = FileWriter::new();
+        fw.create_dataset(bad).with_f64_data(&[1.0]);
+        assert!(fw.finish().is_err(), "{bad:?}");
+    }
+
+    // One level of groups still works, and '/' stays legal in attribute names.
+    let mut fw = FileWriter::new();
+    let mut g = fw.create_group("g");
+    g.create_dataset("c").with_f64_data(&[1.0]);
+    g.set_attr("m/s", AttrValue::I64(1));
+    fw.add_group(g.finish());
+    let bytes = fw.finish().unwrap();
+    header_at(&bytes, "g/c");
+}