CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,123 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### NetCDF-4: phony dimensions, skipped types and order as in netCDF-C (2026-09-29)
+- `clawhdf5-netcdf4` now reads a file's metadata as netCDF-C 4.9.3 does
+  (`libhdf5/hdf5open.c`), for the whole file on first use
+  (`src/model.rs`): links in creation order when the group tracks it,
+  else in name order; a group's datasets before its subgroups; dimension
+  ids file-wide (`_Netcdf4Dimid`, else the next free id); then variables'
+  dimensions, subgroups first: `_Netcdf4Coordinates` ids (looked up
+  file-wide), else the scales `DIMENSION_LIST` attaches (when the first
+  axis has one), else phony dimensions.
+- **Files without dimension scales** get netCDF-C's phony dimensions,
+  `phony_dim_<id>` (`create_phony_dims`): per axis, the first dimension of
+  the variable's group of the same length and unlimitedness not used by an
+  earlier axis of the variable (real dimensions included), else a new one;
+  a length of 0 is always unlimited. They used to be one dimension per 1-D
+  dataset, named after it, and `dim_<size>` for other axes.
+- **Datasets netCDF-C skips are not variables:** references, bit fields,
+  time and array types, and compounds, enums and VLENs whose members or
+  base type are not netCDF atomic types (4- and 8-byte floats only) or a
+  type read before — replaying netCDF-C's file-wide type list, which also
+  keeps a type it failed to read, so the second dataset of a compound with
+  a reference member is a variable, as in netCDF-C.
+- `NcType` gains `Enum`, `Compound`, `VLen` and `Opaque` and is now
+  `#[non_exhaustive]` (breaking for exhaustive matches);
+  `Variable::nc_type` is the type netCDF-C gives the variable: a 1-byte
+  fixed-length string is `Char`, a longer one `String` (both were
+  `String`); user-defined types have their class (they were `Char`).
+  `dtype_to_nctype` maps compounds and enums to their classes.
+- Groups (`group_names`), variables (`variables`, `variable_names`) and
+  dimensions (`dimensions`, by id) come in netCDF-C's order; a zero-length
+  dimension scale is unlimited; an unlimited dimension's length is the
+  longest extent along it of the variables in its group and below
+  (`nc4_find_dim_len`; was: of the variables its `REFERENCE_LIST` names).
+  `NetCDF4File::group` and `NetCDF4Group::group` take a path (`"a/b"`).
+- Deliberate differences: floats of other than 4 or 8 bytes are
+  `Float`/`Double` (netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6 labels them
+  `NC_STRING`); an axis netCDF-C leaves without a dimension (where it
+  reads uninitialised memory) gets one by the phony rule.
+- New `clawhdf5_format::group_v2::links_in_creation_order_in`: a group's
+  link names in creation order, or `None` when it does not track it.
+- Tests compare with netCDF-C itself (`tests/netcdf_c_view.py` calls the
+  libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles through ctypes, since netCDF4-python
+  hides variables of types it does not support): `interop_tests` cases of
+  h5py files without dimension scales (sharing, unlimited and zero-length
+  axes, subgroups, a real dimension taken by length), of every HDF5 type
+  class, of creation and name order in compact and dense groups, and a
+  netCDF4-python file; and the gated `tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs`
+  (`CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS=<dir>`): over the conformance corpus 420 of the
+  429 files netCDF-C 4.9.3 opens match in groups, dimensions, variables,
+  types, shapes and numeric values (up to 5000 elements); `main` at
+  `4260af4` matched 68. The other 9 (external links, values the HDF5
+  reader refuses) are explained in `tests/corpus_known_differences.txt`
+  and `docs/known-issues.md` (tank, 2026-09-29, netCDF4-python 1.7.4).
+  Affected v2.1.0 to v2.7.0.
+
+### HDF5 2.0 native complex is its own type on read; Python `libver=` (2026-09-29)
+- **`Datatype::parse` returns `Datatype::Complex { size, base_type }`** for
+  a class-11 message, also as a compound member, array base or
+  variable-length base. It used to return the equivalent `{r, i}`
+  compound (`docs/known-issues.md`, "HDF5 2.0 native complex numbers read
+  as a `{r, i}` compound"). **Breaking** for code that matched the
+  compound view of a native complex type: `Dataset::raw_datatype()` and
+  attribute datatypes are now `Datatype::Complex`;
+  `Datatype::complex_as_compound(size, base)` still gives the `{r, i}` view,
+  and `data_read::read_compound_fields` accepts a `Complex` directly.
+  Re-serializing a parsed type (e.g. copying it to another file) now writes
+  class 11 again instead of a compound.
+- **Facade:** `DType::Complex(Box<DType>)` (new variant, **breaking** for
+  exhaustive `match`es over `DType`): `Complex(F32)` is numpy `complex64`,
+  `Complex(F64)` `complex128`, a binary16 part `Complex(Other("float16"))`
+  (the same `Other` name small floats already use); `Display` prints
+  `complex<f64>`. h5py's own complex encoding, the compound `{r, i}`, is
+  still `DType::Compound`. `read_complex_f64`/`read_complex_f32` read both.
+- **`h5rs`:** `dump` prints native complex as h5dump 2.2.0 does:
+  `H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F{16,32,64}{LE,BE}` (else `H5T_COMPLEX { <base> }`), in
+  arrays and compounds too, and values as `1.5-2i` (`%g%+gi`; for binary16
+  parts, which h5dump has no C type for, `1+-2i` as it prints them). `ls`
+  shows `complex64`, `complex128-be`, `complex32` (and `complex<part>` for
+  non-IEEE parts); `ls -v` shows h5ls 2.2.0's `complex number of` /
+  `IEEE 64-bit big-endian float`. `diff` compares complex values part by
+  part and prints the difference as h5diff 2.2.0 does (`1+0i`); a native
+  complex and an `{r, i}` compound are no longer comparable (different
+  classes, as in h5diff). `dump --json` keeps the `{r, i}` compound and
+  `[re, im]` values: hdf5-json (h5json 2.0.0) has no complex class.
+- **Browser (`clawhdf5-wasm`):** native complex datasets are readable, as
+  `[re, im]` pairs: `info().elementShape` ends in `2`, `read()` returns the
+  parts interleaved in a `Float32Array`/`Float64Array` (binary16 parts
+  widened to f32), and `dtype` is `complex<f64>` (`complex<f32
+  (big-endian)>`, `array[2]<complex<f32>>`). The viewer shows each element
+  as `[re, im]` with no change to the page. h5py's `{r, i}` compound is
+  still refused, as every compound is.
+- **Python:** `clawhdf5.File(path, 'w', libver=...)` takes h5py's values:
+  `'v108'`, `'v110'`, `'v112'`, `'v114'`, `'v200'`, `'latest'` (the low
+  bound; high `'latest'`, as h5py) or a `(low, high)` tuple, mapped to
+  `FileBuilder::libver_bounds`. `'earliest'` as the low bound writes the
+  1.8 format with a `UserWarning` (clawhdf5 cannot write the pre-1.8
+  format); as the high bound it is a `ValueError`, as are unknown names and
+  a low bound above the high one. It is ignored for `'r'` and refused
+  (`NotImplementedError`) for `'r+'`/`'a'`. Native complex already read as
+  numpy `complex64`/`complex128` and still does
+  (`test_read_native_complex_from_h5py`).
+- Tests (tank, 2026-09-29): `crates/clawhdf5-tools/tests/native_complex_dump.rs`
+  compares `h5rs dump` with h5dump 2.2.0's output stored next to a fixture
+  written by h5py 3.16 / libhdf5 2.0.0
+  (`crates/clawhdf5/tests/fixtures/gen_native_complex.py`:
+  `F32LE`/`F64LE`/`F64BE`/`F16LE`, scalar, compound member, array, root
+  attribute), line for line outside the values and value for value within
+  them, and `ls`/`diff` with h5ls/h5diff 2.2.0;
+  `integration_tests::complex_datasets_and_attributes_round_trip`
+  (`DType::Complex`, `raw_datatype()`); `clawhdf5-wasm` unit tests on the
+  fixture, `h5py_interop` and `examples/wasm-viewer/test` (Node:
+  `test.mjs`, 274 + 1324 checks; the page in headless Chromium for
+  `/native_c128`, `/native_c64_be`, `/pairs`) with two native complex
+  datasets added to `make_fixture.py` (when h5py's libhdf5 is 2.0+);
+  `crates/clawhdf5-py/tests/test_libver.py` (every bound; `'v108'` output
+  opens in HDF5 1.8.23's h5dump and in h5py). `test.mjs` no longer
+  hard-codes the fixture's length.
+
 ### NetCDF-4: variables' dimensions come from the file (2026-09-28)
 - `clawhdf5-netcdf4` gave each variable the first unused dimension of
   equal size (else an anonymous `dim_<n>`), so a variable on an unlimited

README.md

@@ -115,12 +115,12 @@ Limits and open issues, with dates, are in
 |---|---|---|---|
 | **File format** | Superblock v0–v3, user blocks, v1/v2 object headers; writing the HDF5 1.10 format (default) or, with `libver_bounds(LibVer::V18, LibVer::V18)`, files HDF5 1.8 reads (checked with HDF5 1.8.23) | Metadata cache images | Writing the pre-1.8 format (version-0 superblock, symbol-table groups) |
 | **Groups and links** | Symbol-table, compact and dense groups (tested to 100 000 links), creation order, soft and hard links; writing external links | | Following external links (explicit error); user-defined links are skipped |
-| **Datatypes** | Integers and IEEE floats of every width and byte order (incl. `f16`), enums, compounds (every version, incl. HDF5 2.0's v5), arrays, fixed-length strings, opaque, complex: h5py's `{r, i}` compound (`with_complex_f64_data`) and HDF5 2.0's native class 11 (`with_native_complex_f64_data`, opt-in: only libhdf5 2.0+ reads it; reads surface it as `{r, i}`) | Variable-length strings and sequences, object references; HDF5 2.x's small floats (bfloat16, FP8 E4M3/E5M2, FP6 E2M3/E3M2, FP4 E2M1: every bit pattern decoded as libhdf5 2.2.0 decodes it) and other non-IEEE floats up to 64 bits | Writing variable-length data; writing non-IEEE floats; decoding region and attribute references; x87 long double and binary128 |
+| **Datatypes** | Integers and IEEE floats of every width and byte order (incl. `f16`), enums, compounds (every version, incl. HDF5 2.0's v5), arrays, fixed-length strings, opaque, complex: h5py's `{r, i}` compound (`with_complex_f64_data`) and HDF5 2.0's native class 11 (`with_native_complex_f64_data`, opt-in: only libhdf5 2.0+ reads it; read as its own type, `DType::Complex`, and printed by `h5rs` as h5dump 2.x prints it) | Variable-length strings and sequences, object references; HDF5 2.x's small floats (bfloat16, FP8 E4M3/E5M2, FP6 E2M3/E3M2, FP4 E2M1: every bit pattern decoded as libhdf5 2.2.0 decodes it) and other non-IEEE floats up to 64 bits | Writing variable-length data; writing non-IEEE floats; decoding region and attribute references; x87 long double and binary128 |
 | **Layouts and chunk indexes** | Compact, contiguous and chunked; chunk indexes single chunk, Fixed Array, Extensible Array and v2 B-tree (the writer picks one as libhdf5 does), and v1 B-tree (every chunked dataset under the 1.8 bound, split as libhdf5 splits it); chunks of 4 GiB or more (HDF5 2.0's layout message version 5); fill values; resizable datasets; virtual datasets (read limits in known-issues) | The implicit chunk index (the editor also changes it) | External raw data files (explicit error); chunk dimensions of 2^32 or more |
 | **Filters** | deflate (pure-Rust zlib-rs), shuffle, Fletcher-32, LZ4 (opt-in), Zstd (C, opt-in); plugins LZF, bitshuffle, bzip2, Blosc 1 | N-Bit, scale-offset, SZIP (C, opt-in); plugins Blosc2 and ZFP | Other filter IDs, unless you register a codec (`filter_registry::register_filter`) |
 | **Editing in place** | `FileEditor`: overwrite values, grow and shrink chunked datasets (every index), set attributes (compact and dense), in files from h5py or clawhdf5 | | Creating or deleting objects in an existing file; deleting attributes; new chunks in implicit indexes; VL data; rewriting chunks of 4 GiB or more; filters this build cannot encode (refused before any write) |
 | **Access** | Local files (mmap or buffered), bytes in memory, any `Storage` backend, HTTP(S) and S3/GCS/Azure via `clawhdf5-remote`, SWMR reading (`File::open_swmr`, `Dataset::refresh`) | Remote files and the browser are read-only | SWMR writing; remote SWMR; MPI collective I/O (`clawhdf5-io`'s `mpi-io` reads on one rank and broadcasts) |
-| **Bindings** | Python (read, `'w'` for numeric and complex arrays, `'r+'` editing, URLs), NetCDF-4 (CF scale/offset/fill) | WebAssembly (`open(bytes)`, `openUrl`); no Zstd/SZIP/pcodec, no compound, reference, opaque, bitfield, time or VL-sequence datasets | Node.js (the package does not work; see known-issues) |
+| **Bindings** | Python (read, `'w'` for numeric and complex arrays with h5py's `libver=`, `'r+'` editing, URLs), NetCDF-4 (CF scale/offset/fill) | WebAssembly (`open(bytes)`, `openUrl`; HDF5 2.0 native complex as `[re, im]` pairs); no Zstd/SZIP/pcodec, no compound (h5py's `{r, i}` complex included), reference, opaque, bitfield, time or VL-sequence datasets | Node.js (the package does not work; see known-issues) |
 
 Plugin filters other than LZF are cargo features (`bitshuffle`, `bzip2`,
 `blosc`, `blosc2`, `zfp`, or `plugin-filters` for all of them), all pure
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ filter).
 | `clawhdf5-filters` | Deflate backends (zlib-rs default, zlib-ng, Apple Compression) |
 | `clawhdf5-io` | I/O helpers: mmap, async, an HSDS client, `mpi-io` (not collective I/O) |
 | `clawhdf5-remote` | HTTP(S) and object-store files through a block cache |
-| `clawhdf5-netcdf4` | NetCDF-4 dimensions, variables, CF attributes |
+| `clawhdf5-netcdf4` | NetCDF-4 dimensions, variables, CF attributes, as netCDF-C reports them (phony dimensions included) |
 | `clawhdf5-derive` | Derive macros for HDF5-serialisable structs |
 | `clawhdf5-tools` | `h5rs`: `ls`, `dump`, `stat`, `diff`, `check` |
 | **Bindings** | |

crates/clawhdf5-format/src/datatype.rs

@@ -145,13 +145,16 @@ pub enum Datatype {
     /// imaginary, in rectangular form. `size` is twice the base size and the
     /// base is an IEEE float.
     ///
-    /// This variant exists for **writing** (see
+    /// [`Datatype::parse`] returns this variant for every class-11 message,
+    /// also inside compounds, arrays and variable-length types. Readers that
+    /// want the member view (`{r, i}`, as h5py writes complex numbers by
+    /// default) use [`Datatype::complex_as_compound`]; `read_compound_fields`
+    /// accepts this variant directly.
+    ///
+    /// Writing it is opt-in (see
     /// `type_builders::make_native_complex_f64_type`): only libhdf5 2.0 and
-    /// newer can read class 11, so it is opt-in and h5py's compound `{r, i}`
+    /// newer can read class 11, so h5py's compound `{r, i}` stays the
-    /// stays the default complex encoding. [`Datatype::parse`] still
+    /// default complex encoding.
-    /// surfaces a class-11 message as that equivalent `{r, i}` compound, so
-    /// every compound reader handles both encodings; parsing what this
-    /// variant serializes therefore yields a `Compound`, not a `Complex`.
     Complex { size: u32, base_type: Box<Datatype> },
 }
 
@@ -857,9 +860,7 @@ impl Datatype {
                 // Complex number (HDF5 2.0, datatype version 5). The properties
                 // are a single base floating-point datatype message; an element
                 // is two consecutive base-type values (real, imaginary). There
-                // is no member list. Surface it as the equivalent two-member
+                // is no member list.
-                // compound `{r, i}` — the same shape h5py writes for numpy
-                // complex dtypes — so downstream compound readers work as-is.
                 if version != 5 {
                     return Err(FormatError::InvalidDatatypeVersion {
                         class: class_id,
@@ -875,7 +876,13 @@ impl Datatype {
                         actual: size as usize,
                     });
                 }
-                Ok((Self::complex_as_compound(size, &base_type), pos))
+                Ok((
+                    Datatype::Complex {
+                        size,
+                        base_type: Box::new(base_type),
+                    },
+                    pos,
+                ))
             }
             _ => Err(FormatError::InvalidDatatypeClass(class_id)),
         }
@@ -1174,9 +1181,8 @@ impl Datatype {
 
     /// The `{r, i}` compound equivalent to a native complex type of `size`
     /// bytes over `base_type`: `r` at offset 0, `i` right after it — the
-    /// shape h5py writes for numpy complex dtypes, and what [`Self::parse`]
+    /// shape h5py writes for numpy complex dtypes. Readers that want a
-    /// returns for a class-11 message. Readers that meet a
+    /// [`Datatype::Complex`] as members handle it through this view.
-    /// [`Datatype::Complex`] handle it through this view.
     pub fn complex_as_compound(size: u32, base_type: &Datatype) -> Datatype {
         let base_size = base_type.type_size();
         Datatype::Compound {
@@ -1849,21 +1855,24 @@ mod tests {
     fn test_complex_v5_from_hdf5_2_0() {
         let (dt, consumed) = Datatype::parse(&COMPLEX_F64_HDF5_2_0).unwrap();
         assert_eq!(consumed, COMPLEX_F64_HDF5_2_0.len());
-        match dt {
+        match &dt {
-            Datatype::Compound { size, members } => {
+            Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
-                assert_eq!(size, 16);
+                assert_eq!(*size, 16);
-                assert_eq!(members.len(), 2);
+                assert!(matches!(
-                assert_eq!((members[0].name.as_str(), members[0].byte_offset), ("r", 0));
+                    base_type.as_ref(),
-                assert_eq!((members[1].name.as_str(), members[1].byte_offset), ("i", 8));
+                    Datatype::FloatingPoint { size: 8, .. }
-                for m in &members {
+                ));
-                    assert!(matches!(
-                        m.datatype,
-                        Datatype::FloatingPoint { size: 8, .. }
-                    ));
-                }
             }
-            other => panic!("expected Compound, got {other:?}"),
+            other => panic!("expected Complex, got {other:?}"),
         }
+        // The member view is h5py's `{r, i}` compound.
+        let Datatype::Compound { members, .. } =
+            Datatype::complex_as_compound(16, &crate::type_builders::make_f64_type())
+        else {
+            unreachable!()
+        };
+        assert_eq!((members[0].name.as_str(), members[0].byte_offset), ("r", 0));
+        assert_eq!((members[1].name.as_str(), members[1].byte_offset), ("i", 8));
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1887,7 +1896,7 @@ mod tests {
                 assert_eq!(members.len(), 2);
                 assert!(matches!(
                     &members[0].datatype,
-                    Datatype::Compound { size: 16, members } if members.len() == 2
+                    Datatype::Complex { size: 16, .. }
                 ));
                 assert_eq!(
                     (members[1].name.as_str(), members[1].byte_offset),
@@ -1918,12 +1927,9 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(dt.serialize(), COMPLEX_F64_HDF5_2_0);
         assert_eq!(dt.type_size(), 16);
         dt.check_encodable().unwrap();
-        // Parsing surfaces class 11 as the equivalent `{r, i}` compound.
+        // Parsing returns the native complex type unchanged.
         let (parsed, _) = Datatype::parse(&dt.serialize()).unwrap();
-        assert_eq!(
+        assert_eq!(parsed, dt);
-            parsed,
-            Datatype::complex_as_compound(16, &crate::type_builders::make_f64_type())
-        );
 
         let f32c = make_native_complex_f32_type().serialize();
         assert_eq!(

crates/clawhdf5-format/src/group_v2.rs

@@ -731,6 +731,49 @@ fn group_children<S: Storage + ?Sized>(
     Ok(entries)
 }
 
+/// The names of the links of the group at `group_address` in creation
+/// order — the order libhdf5 iterates them in with `H5_INDEX_CRT_ORDER`
+/// (`H5Literate`) — when the group tracks the creation order of its links;
+/// `None` when it does not (a version-1 group never does), in which case
+/// libhdf5 can only iterate by name (`H5_INDEX_NAME`: byte order of the
+/// names). Hard, soft and external links are listed (user-defined ones,
+/// which cannot be followed, are not); links without a creation order
+/// value, which a tracking group should not have, come last in the order
+/// they are stored.
+pub fn links_in_creation_order_in<S: Storage + ?Sized>(
+    file_data: &S,
+    superblock: &Superblock,
+    group_address: u64,
+) -> Result<Option<Vec<String>>, FormatError> {
+    let os = superblock.offset_size;
+    let ls = superblock.length_size;
+    let header = ObjectHeader::parse_in(file_data, checked_addr(group_address)?, os, ls)?;
+    if !is_v2_group(&header) {
+        return Ok(None);
+    }
+    let link_info = find_link_info(&header, os)?;
+    if link_info.max_creation_order.is_none() {
+        return Ok(None);
+    }
+    let mut links: Vec<(u64, String)> = Vec::new();
+    let mut visit = |link: LinkMessage| {
+        links.push((link.creation_order.unwrap_or(u64::MAX), link.name));
+    };
+    if let Some(fh_addr) = link_info.fractal_heap_address {
+        for_each_dense_link(file_data, &link_info, fh_addr, os, ls, false, visit)?;
+    } else {
+        for msg in &header.messages {
+            if msg.msg_type == MessageType::Link
+                && let Some(link) = parse_link(&msg.data, os)?
+            {
+                visit(link);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    links.sort_by_key(|&(order, _)| order);
+    Ok(Some(links.into_iter().map(|(_, name)| name).collect()))
+}
+
 /// Soft links followed while resolving one path. Guards against link cycles
 /// (`a -> b -> a`), which are legal to create.
 const MAX_SOFT_LINK_DEPTH: u8 = 16;

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/README.md

@@ -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
+- Order: a group's links in creation order when it tracks it (netCDF-4
-  `_Netcdf4Coordinates` attribute, else the dimension scales its
+  files do), else in name order (h5py's default); groups and variables in
-  `DIMENSION_LIST` references, found in its group or a parent group. Only
+  that order, dimensions by id.
-  an axis the file names no dimension for (an HDF5 file not written by a
+- A dimension scale defines a dimension (its `_Netcdf4Dimid`, else the
-  netCDF library) gets the first dimension of the group of the same size,
+  next free id; unlimited when its first axis is or its length is 0);
-  else an anonymous `dim_<size>`.
+  scales that are only dimensions are not variables, and a dataset
-- Dimension scales that are only dimensions are not variables; 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
+h5py (with and without dimension scales, every HDF5 type class), h5netcdf
-netCDF4-python reads (`tests/interop_tests.rs`; the CI job requires them
+and xarray, with what netCDF4-python reads and with what netCDF-C itself
-with `CLAWHDF5_REQUIRE_INTEROP=1`; the h5netcdf cases skip when h5netcdf is
+reports (`tests/interop_tests.rs`; `tests/netcdf_c_view.py` calls the
-not installed). What the HDF5 reader underneath cannot read is listed in
+libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles; the CI job requires them with
-[`docs/known-issues.md`](../../docs/known-issues.md).
+`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
 

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/dimension.rs

@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
 //! NetCDF-4 dimension representation.
 //!
 //! Dimensions in NetCDF-4 are stored as HDF5 datasets with the CLASS=DIMENSION_SCALE
-//! attribute and a `_Netcdf4Dimid` attribute. Unlimited dimensions are detected via
+//! attribute and a `_Netcdf4Dimid` attribute; variables name theirs in
-//! the HDF5 dataspace max_dimensions (u64::MAX indicates unlimited); their length
+//! `_Netcdf4Coordinates` and `DIMENSION_LIST`. A file without them gets
-//! is the largest extent of the variables attached to them.
+//! netCDF-C's phony dimensions. How they are put together is in
+//! `crate::model`.
 
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 
 use clawhdf5::AttrValue;
 
-use crate::error::Error;
-
 /// A NetCDF-4 dimension.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq)]
 pub struct Dimension {
@@ -22,202 +21,10 @@ pub struct Dimension {
     pub is_unlimited: bool,
 }
 
-/// A dimension scale of one group: the dataset that defines a dimension.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
-pub(crate) struct Scale {
-    /// Object header address of the scale's dataset (what a variable's
-    /// `DIMENSION_LIST` references).
-    pub address: u64,
-    /// Its `_Netcdf4Dimid` (what a variable's `_Netcdf4Coordinates` lists).
-    pub dimid: Option<i64>,
-    /// Index of its dimension in [`GroupDims::dims`].
-    pub dim: usize,
-}
-
-/// The dimensions a group defines, with the scales that define them.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default)]
-pub(crate) struct GroupDims {
-    /// The group's dimensions, in `_Netcdf4Dimid` order (then discovery order).
-    pub dims: Vec<Dimension>,
-    /// The dimension scales behind `dims`; empty when the group has no
-    /// dimension scale and `dims` were inferred from 1-D datasets.
-    pub scales: Vec<Scale>,
-}
-
-impl GroupDims {
-    /// The dimension defined by the scale at `address`.
-    pub fn by_address(&self, address: u64) -> Option<&Dimension> {
-        self.scales
-            .iter()
-            .find(|s| s.address == address)
-            .map(|s| &self.dims[s.dim])
-    }
-
-    /// The dimension whose scale has `_Netcdf4Dimid` `id`.
-    pub fn by_dimid(&self, id: i64) -> Option<&Dimension> {
-        self.scales
-            .iter()
-            .find(|s| s.dimid == Some(id))
-            .map(|s| &self.dims[s.dim])
-    }
-}
-
-/// The dimensions of an HDF5 group (root or subgroup).
-///
-/// NetCDF-4 stores dimensions as datasets with `CLASS=DIMENSION_SCALE`. A fixed
-/// dimension's size is the dataset's first (and typically only) shape extent.
-/// Unlimited dimensions have `max_dimensions[0] == u64::MAX` in the HDF5 dataspace;
-/// their size is computed by `unlimited_len`. A group with no dimension
-/// scale at all (not written by a netCDF library) gets one dimension per
-/// 1-D dataset instead.
-pub(crate) fn group_dims(
-    file: &clawhdf5::File,
-    group: &clawhdf5::Group<'_>,
-) -> Result<GroupDims, Error> {
-    let addresses: HashMap<String, u64> = group.entries()?.into_iter().collect();
-    let dataset_names = group.datasets()?;
-    // (dimid, dimension, scale address), in discovery order.
-    let mut found: Vec<(Option<i64>, Dimension, u64)> = Vec::new();
-
-    for ds_name in &dataset_names {
-        let ds = group.dataset(ds_name)?;
-        let attrs = ds.attrs()?;
-        if !is_dimension_scale(&attrs) {
-            continue;
-        }
-        let Some(&address) = addresses.get(ds_name) else {
-            continue;
-        };
-        let shape = ds.shape()?;
-        let is_unlimited = is_unlimited(&ds);
-        let size = if is_unlimited {
-            unlimited_len(file, &attrs, &shape)
-        } else {
-            shape.first().copied().unwrap_or(0)
-        };
-        let dim = Dimension {
-            name: ds_name.clone(),
-            size,
-            is_unlimited,
-        };
-        found.push((get_dimid(&attrs), dim, address));
-    }
-
-    if found.is_empty() {
-        // Fallback: infer dimensions from dataset shapes and names.
-        // In NetCDF-4, coordinate variables are datasets whose name matches
-        // a dimension name. If there are no explicit DIMENSION_SCALE attributes,
-        // we look for 1-D datasets that might be coordinate variables.
-        let mut dims = Vec::new();
-        for ds_name in &dataset_names {
-            let ds = group.dataset(ds_name)?;
-            let shape = ds.shape()?;
-            if shape.len() == 1 {
-                dims.push(Dimension {
-                    name: ds_name.clone(),
-                    size: shape[0],
-                    is_unlimited: is_unlimited(&ds),
-                });
-            }
-        }
-        return Ok(GroupDims {
-            dims,
-            scales: Vec::new(),
-        });
-    }
-
-    // By dimid; scales without one keep their discovery order after those
-    // with one (the sort is stable).
-    found.sort_by_key(|(id, ..)| (id.is_none(), id.unwrap_or(0)));
-    let mut out = GroupDims::default();
-    for (i, (dimid, dim, address)) in found.into_iter().enumerate() {
-        out.dims.push(dim);
-        out.scales.push(Scale {
-            address,
-            dimid,
-            dim: i,
-        });
-    }
-    Ok(out)
-}
-
 /// The start of the `NAME` attribute netCDF-C gives a dimension scale that
 /// is only a dimension, not also a (coordinate) variable.
 const PURE_DIMENSION_NAME: &str = "This is a netCDF dimension but not a netCDF variable";
 
-/// The current length of an unlimited dimension, as netCDF-C reports it
-/// (`NC4_inq_dim` → `nc4_find_dim_len`): the largest current extent, along
-/// the dimension, of the variables that use it, in any group; 0 when none
-/// has been written. netCDF-C does not extend a dimension scale that is not
-/// also a variable, so such a scale's own extent (0) is not counted; a
-/// coordinate variable's is. The variables are the scale's attachments,
-/// listed with the axis they use in its `REFERENCE_LIST` attribute (the
-/// mirror of each variable's `DIMENSION_LIST`). Attachments that cannot be
-/// read are skipped; without a readable `REFERENCE_LIST` the length is the
-/// scale's own extent, as before.
-fn unlimited_len(file: &clawhdf5::File, attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>, shape: &[u64]) -> u64 {
-    let own = shape.first().copied().unwrap_or(0);
-    let is_variable = !is_pure_dimension(attrs);
-    let Some(refs) = reference_list(file, attrs) else {
-        return own;
-    };
-    refs.into_iter()
-        .filter_map(|(address, axis)| {
-            let shape = file.dataset_at(address).ok()?.shape().ok()?;
-            shape.get(usize::try_from(axis).ok()?).copied()
-        })
-        .chain(is_variable.then_some(own))
-        .max()
-        .unwrap_or(0)
-}
-
-/// The `(dataset address, axis)` pairs of a dimension scale's
-/// `REFERENCE_LIST` attribute (HDF5 dimension scales: a compound of an
-/// object reference `dataset` and an integer `dimension`), or `None` when it
-/// is missing or not in that form.
-fn reference_list(
-    file: &clawhdf5::File,
-    attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>,
-) -> Option<Vec<(u64, u64)>> {
-    use clawhdf5_format::data_read::{read_compound_field, read_object_references};
-    use clawhdf5_format::datatype::{Datatype, DatatypeByteOrder};
-    let Some(AttrValue::Raw { datatype, data, .. }) = attrs.get("REFERENCE_LIST") else {
-        return None;
-    };
-    let dataset = read_compound_field(data, datatype, "dataset").ok()?;
-    let addresses = read_object_references(
-        &dataset.raw_data,
-        &dataset.datatype,
-        file.superblock().offset_size,
-    )
-    .ok()?;
-    let dimension = read_compound_field(data, datatype, "dimension").ok()?;
-    let Datatype::FixedPoint {
-        size, byte_order, ..
-    } = dimension.datatype
-    else {
-        return None;
-    };
-    let size = usize::try_from(size).ok().filter(|s| (1..=8).contains(s))?;
-    let axes = dimension.raw_data.chunks_exact(size).map(|b| {
-        let mut v = [0u8; 8];
-        match byte_order {
-            DatatypeByteOrder::BigEndian => {
-                v[8 - size..].copy_from_slice(b);
-                u64::from_be_bytes(v)
-            }
-            _ => {
-                v[..size].copy_from_slice(b);
-                u64::from_le_bytes(v)
-            }
-        }
-    });
-    if axes.len() != addresses.len() {
-        return None;
-    }
-    Some(addresses.into_iter().map(|r| r.address).zip(axes).collect())
-}
-
 /// The dimension scale attached to each axis of a variable, from its
 /// `DIMENSION_LIST` attribute (HDF5 dimension scales: one variable-length
 /// sequence of object references per axis) — the address of the scale
@@ -281,13 +88,9 @@ pub(crate) fn is_dimension_scale(attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>) -> bool {
 pub(crate) fn get_dimid(attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>) -> Option<i64> {
     match attrs.get("_Netcdf4Dimid") {
         Some(AttrValue::I64(id)) => Some(*id),
-        Some(AttrValue::U64(id)) => Some(*id as i64),
+        Some(AttrValue::U64(id)) => i64::try_from(*id).ok(),
+        Some(AttrValue::I64Array(ids)) if ids.len() == 1 => Some(ids[0]),
+        Some(AttrValue::U64Array(ids)) if ids.len() == 1 => i64::try_from(ids[0]).ok(),
         _ => None,
     }
 }
-
-/// Whether a dataset's first axis is unlimited (`max_dimensions[0] ==
-/// u64::MAX` in its dataspace).
-fn is_unlimited(ds: &clawhdf5::Dataset<'_>) -> bool {
-    matches!(ds.max_dimensions(), Ok(Some(max_dims)) if max_dims.first() == Some(&u64::MAX))
-}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/group.rs

@@ -7,36 +7,36 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 
 use clawhdf5::AttrValue;
 
-use crate::dimension::{self, Dimension};
+use crate::dimension::Dimension;
 use crate::error::Error;
-use crate::scope::{self, Scope};
+use crate::model::Model;
 use crate::variable::Variable;
 
 /// A NetCDF-4 group corresponding to an HDF5 group.
 pub struct NetCDF4Group<'f> {
     /// Group name.
     name: String,
-    /// Path of the group from the root (`/`-separated).
-    path: String,
     /// Underlying HDF5 file.
     file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
-    /// Underlying HDF5 group.
+    /// The file's groups, dimensions and variables.
-    hdf5_group: clawhdf5::Group<'f>,
+    model: &'f Model,
+    /// This group's index in `model`.
+    index: usize,
 }
 
 impl<'f> NetCDF4Group<'f> {
-    /// Create a new NetCDF4Group from an HDF5 group.
+    /// The group `index` of `model`.
     pub(crate) fn new(
         name: String,
-        path: String,
         file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
-        hdf5_group: clawhdf5::Group<'f>,
+        model: &'f Model,
+        index: usize,
     ) -> Self {
         Self {
             name,
-            path,
             file,
-            hdf5_group,
+            model,
+            index,
         }
     }
 
@@ -45,52 +45,56 @@ impl<'f> NetCDF4Group<'f> {
         &self.name
     }
 
-    /// List dimensions defined in this group (not those of its parent
+    /// List dimensions defined in this group, in dimension-id order (not
-    /// groups, which its variables can also use).
+    /// those of its parent groups, which its variables can also use).
     pub fn dimensions(&self) -> Result<Vec<Dimension>, Error> {
-        Ok(dimension::group_dims(self.file, &self.hdf5_group)?.dims)
+        Ok(self.model.dimensions(self.index))
     }
 
-    /// List variables in this group: its datasets, except the dimension
+    /// List variables in this group, in netCDF-C's order: its datasets,
-    /// scales that are only dimensions. Their dimensions can be defined in
+    /// except the dimension scales that are only dimensions and datasets
-    /// this group or a parent group.
+    /// of types netCDF-C cannot represent. Their dimensions can be defined
+    /// in this group or a parent group.
     pub fn variables(&self) -> Result<Vec<Variable<'f>>, Error> {
-        Scope::new(self.file, &self.path)?.variables()
+        self.model.variables(self.file, self.index)
     }
 
-    /// Get a specific variable by name.
+    /// Get a specific variable by name (or by path, `"sub/var"`).
     pub fn variable(&self, name: &str) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
-        scope::variable_at(self.file, &self.path, name)
+        self.model.variable(self.file, self.index, name)
     }
 
     /// Read all attributes of this group.
     pub fn attrs(&self) -> Result<HashMap<String, AttrValue>, Error> {
-        Ok(self.hdf5_group.attrs()?)
+        Ok(self
+            .file
+            .group_at(self.model.group_address(self.index))
+            .attrs()?)
     }
 
-    /// List subgroup names.
+    /// List subgroup names, in netCDF-C's order.
     pub fn group_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        Ok(self.hdf5_group.groups()?)
+        Ok(self.model.group_names(self.index))
     }
 
-    /// Get a subgroup by name.
+    /// Get a subgroup by name (or by path, `"a/b"`).
     pub fn group(&self, name: &str) -> Result<NetCDF4Group<'f>, Error> {
-        let hdf5_group = self
+        let index = self
-            .hdf5_group
+            .model
-            .group(name)
+            .find_group(self.index, name)
-            .map_err(|_| Error::GroupNotFound(name.to_string()))?;
+            .ok_or_else(|| Error::GroupNotFound(name.to_string()))?;
         Ok(NetCDF4Group::new(
             name.to_string(),
-            format!("{}/{name}", self.path),
             self.file,
-            hdf5_group,
+            self.model,
+            index,
         ))
     }
 
     /// The names of this group's variables (see
     /// [`variables`](Self::variables)).
     pub fn variable_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        Scope::new(self.file, &self.path)?.variable_names()
+        Ok(self.model.variable_names(self.index))
     }
 }
 

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/lib.rs

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ pub mod cf;
 pub mod dimension;
 pub mod error;
 pub mod group;
-mod scope;
+mod model;
 pub mod types;
 pub mod variable;
 
@@ -40,26 +40,49 @@ pub use types::NcType;
 pub use variable::Variable;
 
 use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::sync::OnceLock;
+
+use model::Model;
 
 /// A NetCDF-4 file reader.
 ///
 /// Wraps a clawhdf5 File and provides NetCDF-4 semantics: dimensions,
 /// variables with CF attributes, groups, and type mapping.
+///
+/// The groups, dimensions and variables are what netCDF-C reports for the
+/// file (see the crate README): the first call that needs them reads the
+/// metadata of the whole file, as `nc_open` does, and keeps it; the values
+/// are read when asked for.
 pub struct NetCDF4File {
     hdf5: clawhdf5::File,
+    model: OnceLock<Model>,
 }
 
 impl NetCDF4File {
     /// Open a NetCDF-4 file from a filesystem path.
     pub fn open<P: AsRef<std::path::Path>>(path: P) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        let hdf5 = clawhdf5::File::open(path)?;
+        Ok(Self::from_hdf5(clawhdf5::File::open(path)?))
-        Ok(Self { hdf5 })
     }
 
     /// Open a NetCDF-4 file from in-memory bytes.
     pub fn from_bytes(data: Vec<u8>) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        let hdf5 = clawhdf5::File::from_bytes(data)?;
+        Ok(Self::from_hdf5(clawhdf5::File::from_bytes(data)?))
-        Ok(Self { hdf5 })
+    }
+
+    fn from_hdf5(hdf5: clawhdf5::File) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            hdf5,
+            model: OnceLock::new(),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The file's groups, dimensions and variables, read on first use.
+    fn model(&self) -> Result<&Model, Error> {
+        if let Some(model) = self.model.get() {
+            return Ok(model);
+        }
+        let model = Model::build(&self.hdf5)?;
+        Ok(self.model.get_or_init(|| model))
     }
 
     /// Get the _NCProperties root attribute, if present.
@@ -74,27 +97,29 @@ impl NetCDF4File {
         }
     }
 
-    /// List dimensions defined in the root group.
+    /// List dimensions defined in the root group, in dimension-id order.
     pub fn dimensions(&self) -> Result<Vec<Dimension>, Error> {
-        Ok(dimension::group_dims(&self.hdf5, &self.hdf5.root())?.dims)
+        Ok(self.model()?.dimensions(0))
     }
 
-    /// List all variables in the root group: its datasets, except the
+    /// List the variables of the root group, in netCDF-C's order: its
-    /// dimension scales that are only dimensions (netCDF-C does not list
+    /// datasets, except the dimension scales that are only dimensions and
-    /// them either).
+    /// datasets of types netCDF-C cannot represent (see
+    /// [`NcType`]).
     pub fn variables(&self) -> Result<Vec<Variable<'_>>, Error> {
-        scope::Scope::new(&self.hdf5, "/")?.variables()
+        self.model()?.variables(&self.hdf5, 0)
     }
 
     /// The names of the root group's variables (see
     /// [`variables`](Self::variables)).
     pub fn variable_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        scope::Scope::new(&self.hdf5, "/")?.variable_names()
+        Ok(self.model()?.variable_names(0))
     }
 
-    /// Get a specific variable by name from the root group.
+    /// Get a specific variable by name from the root group; the name may be
+    /// a path into a subgroup (`"sub/var"`).
     pub fn variable(&self, name: &str) -> Result<Variable<'_>, Error> {
-        scope::variable_at(&self.hdf5, "", name)
+        self.model()?.variable(&self.hdf5, 0, name)
     }
 
     /// Read all global (root group) attributes.
@@ -102,22 +127,22 @@ impl NetCDF4File {
         Ok(self.hdf5.root().attrs()?)
     }
 
-    /// List subgroup names in the root group.
+    /// List subgroup names in the root group, in netCDF-C's order.
     pub fn group_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        Ok(self.hdf5.root().groups()?)
+        Ok(self.model()?.group_names(0))
     }
 
-    /// Get a subgroup by name.
+    /// Get a subgroup by name (or by path, `"a/b"`).
     pub fn group(&self, name: &str) -> Result<NetCDF4Group<'_>, Error> {
-        let hdf5_group = self
+        let model = self.model()?;
-            .hdf5
+        let index = model
-            .group(name)
+            .find_group(0, name)
-            .map_err(|_| Error::GroupNotFound(name.to_string()))?;
+            .ok_or_else(|| Error::GroupNotFound(name.to_string()))?;
         Ok(NetCDF4Group::new(
-            name.to_string(),
             name.to_string(),
             &self.hdf5,
-            hdf5_group,
+            model,
+            index,
         ))
     }
 

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/model.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,853 @@
+//! A file's groups, dimensions and variables, as netCDF-C reads them.
+//!
+//! netCDF-C (`libhdf5/hdf5open.c`, 4.9.3) reads a file in two passes, and
+//! the names, order and sharing of the dimensions depend on both, so this
+//! module replays them for the whole file at once:
+//!
+//! 1. `rec_read_metadata`: each group's links in creation order when the
+//!    group tracks it, else in name order; a group's datasets and named
+//!    datatypes before its subgroups, which follow in the same order. A
+//!    dimension scale (`CLASS` `DIMENSION_SCALE`) defines a dimension with
+//!    the id in its `_Netcdf4Dimid`, else the next free id (ids are
+//!    file-wide), its first extent as length, unlimited when that axis is
+//!    (or the length is 0); it is a variable too unless its `NAME` says it
+//!    is only a dimension. Every other dataset is a variable, unless its
+//!    type is one netCDF-C cannot represent ([`VarTypes::nc_type`]); a
+//!    dataset `_nc4_non_coord_<name>` is the variable `<name>`.
+//! 2. `rec_match_dimscales`, subgroups first, then the group's variables in
+//!    order: a variable gets the dimensions whose ids its
+//!    `_Netcdf4Coordinates` lists (looked up file-wide), else — when its
+//!    `DIMENSION_LIST` attaches a scale to its first axis — the scales that
+//!    list attaches, looked up in its group and then each parent, else
+//!    "phony" dimensions (`create_phony_dims`): per axis, the first
+//!    dimension of the variable's group of that length and unlimitedness
+//!    not already used by an earlier axis of the variable, else a new one
+//!    called `phony_dim_<id>`.
+//!
+//! An unlimited dimension's length is the largest extent, along it, of the
+//! variables that use it in its group and the groups below
+//! (`nc4_find_dim_len`).
+//!
+//! Where netCDF-C 4.9.3 leaves an axis without a dimension (an id or a scale
+//! it cannot find, or an axis without a scale of a variable whose first
+//! axis has one — there it reads uninitialised memory), netCDF4-python
+//! cannot open the file; this crate gives such an axis a dimension by the
+//! phony rule instead.
+
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
+use clawhdf5::AttrValue;
+use clawhdf5_format::datatype::{Datatype, DatatypeByteOrder};
+use clawhdf5_format::object_header::{ObjectClass, ObjectHeader};
+
+use crate::dimension::{self, Dimension};
+use crate::error::Error;
+use crate::types::NcType;
+use crate::variable::Variable;
+
+/// The prefix netCDF-C gives the dataset of a variable that has a
+/// dimension's name but is not that dimension's coordinate variable (the
+/// dimension's scale holds the name).
+const NON_COORD_PREFIX: &str = "_nc4_non_coord_";
+
+/// Groups read at most, a guard against files whose groups are hard-linked
+/// into each other many times over (netCDF-C reads each link as its own
+/// group).
+const MAX_GROUPS: usize = 100_000;
+
+/// A file as netCDF-C sees it.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub(crate) struct Model {
+    /// Every group; the root is the first.
+    groups: Vec<Group>,
+    /// Every dimension, in the order they were created.
+    dims: Vec<Dim>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Group {
+    /// Object header address of the HDF5 group.
+    address: u64,
+    /// Its subgroups, `(name, index in Model::groups)`, in netCDF-C's order.
+    children: Vec<(String, usize)>,
+    parent: Option<usize>,
+    /// The dimensions it defines (indexes in `Model::dims`), in creation
+    /// order.
+    dims: Vec<usize>,
+    /// Its variables, in netCDF-C's order.
+    vars: Vec<Var>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Dim {
+    id: i64,
+    name: String,
+    /// The length it was created with (for an unlimited dimension, replaced
+    /// by its current length once every variable has its dimensions).
+    len: u64,
+    unlimited: bool,
+    /// Object header address of its dimension scale; `None` for a phony
+    /// dimension.
+    scale: Option<u64>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Var {
+    /// The netCDF name.
+    name: String,
+    /// Whether its dataset is `_nc4_non_coord_<name>`.
+    non_coord: bool,
+    address: u64,
+    nc_type: NcType,
+    extent: Vec<u64>,
+    /// Whether each axis is unlimited in the dataspace.
+    unlimited: Vec<bool>,
+    /// How netCDF-C finds its dimensions.
+    source: DimSource,
+    /// Its dimensions (indexes in `Model::dims`), one per axis, once found.
+    dims: Vec<usize>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+enum DimSource {
+    /// A one-dimensional coordinate variable: its own scale's dimension.
+    OwnScale(usize),
+    /// The ids in `_Netcdf4Coordinates`; for a multi-dimensional coordinate
+    /// variable, also its own dimension (for the first axis, should an id
+    /// not be found).
+    Coordinates(Vec<i64>, Option<usize>),
+    /// The scale `DIMENSION_LIST` attaches to each axis (the first has one).
+    Scales(Vec<Option<u64>>, Option<usize>),
+    /// None: phony dimensions.
+    Phony(Option<usize>),
+}
+
+impl Model {
+    /// Read the metadata of `file` as netCDF-C does.
+    pub fn build(file: &clawhdf5::File) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        let mut builder = Builder {
+            file,
+            model: Model {
+                groups: Vec::new(),
+                dims: Vec::new(),
+            },
+            next_id: 0,
+            types: VarTypes::default(),
+        };
+        let root = file.superblock().root_group_address;
+        builder.model.groups.push(Group {
+            address: root,
+            children: Vec::new(),
+            parent: None,
+            dims: Vec::new(),
+            vars: Vec::new(),
+        });
+        builder.read_group(0, &mut vec![root])?;
+        builder.match_dims(0);
+        builder.unlimited_lengths();
+        Ok(builder.model)
+    }
+
+    /// The group at `path` (`/`-separated names), from the group `from`.
+    pub fn find_group(&self, from: usize, path: &str) -> Option<usize> {
+        path.split('/')
+            .filter(|p| !p.is_empty())
+            .try_fold(from, |g, name| {
+                self.groups[g]
+                    .children
+                    .iter()
+                    .find(|(n, _)| n == name)
+                    .map(|&(_, i)| i)
+            })
+    }
+
+    /// The object header address of group `g`.
+    pub fn group_address(&self, g: usize) -> u64 {
+        self.groups[g].address
+    }
+
+    /// The names of group `g`'s subgroups, in netCDF-C's order.
+    pub fn group_names(&self, g: usize) -> Vec<String> {
+        self.groups[g]
+            .children
+            .iter()
+            .map(|(n, _)| n.clone())
+            .collect()
+    }
+
+    /// The dimensions group `g` defines, in id order (as `nc_inq_dimids`).
+    pub fn dimensions(&self, g: usize) -> Vec<Dimension> {
+        let mut dims: Vec<&Dim> = self.groups[g].dims.iter().map(|&d| &self.dims[d]).collect();
+        dims.sort_by_key(|d| d.id);
+        dims.into_iter().map(Dim::dimension).collect()
+    }
+
+    /// The names of group `g`'s variables, in netCDF-C's order.
+    pub fn variable_names(&self, g: usize) -> Vec<String> {
+        self.groups[g].vars.iter().map(|v| v.name.clone()).collect()
+    }
+
+    /// Group `g`'s variables, in netCDF-C's order.
+    pub fn variables<'f>(
+        &self,
+        file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
+        g: usize,
+    ) -> Result<Vec<Variable<'f>>, Error> {
+        self.groups[g]
+            .vars
+            .iter()
+            .map(|v| self.open(file, v))
+            .collect()
+    }
+
+    /// The variable `name` of group `g`; `name` may be a path (`"sub/var"`)
+    /// relative to it. Of two variables of one name (datasets `<name>` and
+    /// `_nc4_non_coord_<name>`), the second.
+    pub fn variable<'f>(
+        &self,
+        file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
+        g: usize,
+        name: &str,
+    ) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
+        let not_found = || Error::VariableNotFound(name.to_string());
+        let trimmed = name.trim_start_matches('/');
+        let (g, leaf) = match trimmed.rsplit_once('/') {
+            Some((dir, leaf)) => (self.find_group(g, dir).ok_or_else(not_found)?, leaf),
+            None => (g, trimmed),
+        };
+        let vars = &self.groups[g].vars;
+        let var = vars
+            .iter()
+            .find(|v| v.name == leaf && v.non_coord)
+            .or_else(|| vars.iter().find(|v| v.name == leaf))
+            .ok_or_else(not_found)?;
+        self.open(file, var)
+    }
+
+    fn open<'f>(&self, file: &'f clawhdf5::File, var: &Var) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
+        let ds = file.dataset_at(var.address)?;
+        let attrs = ds.attrs().unwrap_or_default();
+        let dims = var.dims.iter().map(|&d| self.dims[d].dimension()).collect();
+        Ok(Variable::new(
+            var.name.clone(),
+            ds,
+            dims,
+            attrs,
+            var.nc_type,
+        ))
+    }
+}
+
+impl Dim {
+    fn dimension(&self) -> Dimension {
+        Dimension {
+            name: self.name.clone(),
+            size: self.len,
+            is_unlimited: self.unlimited,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+struct Builder<'f> {
+    file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
+    model: Model,
+    /// netCDF-C's `next_dimid`.
+    next_id: i64,
+    types: VarTypes,
+}
+
+impl Builder<'_> {
+    /// Pass 1 for group `g` and, after its own links, its subgroups.
+    /// `ancestors` holds the addresses of the groups from the root to `g`,
+    /// so that a group linked into itself is not read forever.
+    fn read_group(&mut self, g: usize, ancestors: &mut Vec<u64>) -> Result<(), Error> {
+        let address = self.model.groups[g].address;
+        let sb = self.file.superblock();
+        let mut subgroups = Vec::new();
+        for (name, child) in ordered_entries(self.file, address)? {
+            let Ok(header) =
+                ObjectHeader::parse_in(self.file.storage(), child, sb.offset_size, sb.length_size)
+            else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            match header.object_class() {
+                Some(ObjectClass::Dataset) => self.read_dataset(g, name, child),
+                Some(ObjectClass::NamedDatatype) => {
+                    if let Some(dt) = header_datatype(&header) {
+                        self.types.named(&dt);
+                    }
+                }
+                _ if is_group(&header) => subgroups.push((name, child)),
+                _ => {}
+            }
+        }
+        for (name, child) in subgroups {
+            if ancestors.contains(&child) || self.model.groups.len() >= MAX_GROUPS {
+                continue;
+            }
+            let index = self.model.groups.len();
+            self.model.groups.push(Group {
+                address: child,
+                children: Vec::new(),
+                parent: Some(g),
+                dims: Vec::new(),
+                vars: Vec::new(),
+            });
+            self.model.groups[g].children.push((name, index));
+            ancestors.push(child);
+            let read = self.read_group(index, ancestors);
+            ancestors.pop();
+            read?;
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    /// `read_dataset`: a dimension for a dimension scale, a variable for
+    /// the rest. A dataset that cannot be opened is skipped.
+    fn read_dataset(&mut self, g: usize, name: String, address: u64) {
+        let Ok(ds) = self.file.dataset_at(address) else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let attrs = ds.attrs().unwrap_or_default();
+        let Ok(extent) = ds.shape() else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let max = ds.max_dimensions().ok().flatten();
+        let unlimited: Vec<bool> = (0..extent.len())
+            .map(|i| matches!(&max, Some(m) if m.get(i) == Some(&u64::MAX)))
+            .collect();
+
+        let mut own = None;
+        if dimension::is_dimension_scale(&attrs) && !extent.is_empty() {
+            // read_scale
+            let id = match dimension::get_dimid(&attrs) {
+                Some(id) => {
+                    if id >= self.next_id {
+                        self.next_id = id.saturating_add(1);
+                    }
+                    id
+                }
+                None => self.take_id(),
+            };
+            let len = extent[0];
+            own = Some(self.add_dim(
+                g,
+                Dim {
+                    id,
+                    name: name.clone(),
+                    len,
+                    unlimited: unlimited[0] || len == 0,
+                    scale: Some(address),
+                },
+            ));
+            if dimension::is_pure_dimension(&attrs) {
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // read_var: a type netCDF-C cannot represent drops the variable
+        // (the dimension of a scale stays).
+        let Some(nc_type) = ds
+            .raw_datatype()
+            .ok()
+            .and_then(|dt| self.types.nc_type(&dt))
+        else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let rank = extent.len();
+        let coordinates = coordinates(&attrs).filter(|ids| ids.len() == rank && rank > 0);
+        let source = match (own, coordinates) {
+            (Some(dim), _) if rank == 1 => DimSource::OwnScale(dim),
+            (_, Some(ids)) => DimSource::Coordinates(ids, own),
+            _ => match dimension::dimension_list(self.file, &attrs) {
+                Some(scales)
+                    if scales.len() == rank && scales.first().is_some_and(Option::is_some) =>
+                {
+                    DimSource::Scales(scales, own)
+                }
+                _ => DimSource::Phony(own),
+            },
+        };
+        let (name, non_coord) = match name.strip_prefix(NON_COORD_PREFIX) {
+            Some(rest) if !rest.is_empty() => (rest.to_string(), true),
+            _ => (name, false),
+        };
+        self.model.groups[g].vars.push(Var {
+            name,
+            non_coord,
+            address,
+            nc_type,
+            extent,
+            unlimited,
+            source,
+            dims: Vec::new(),
+        });
+    }
+
+    fn take_id(&mut self) -> i64 {
+        let id = self.next_id;
+        self.next_id = self.next_id.saturating_add(1);
+        id
+    }
+
+    fn add_dim(&mut self, g: usize, dim: Dim) -> usize {
+        let index = self.model.dims.len();
+        self.model.dims.push(dim);
+        self.model.groups[g].dims.push(index);
+        index
+    }
+
+    /// Pass 2 (`rec_match_dimscales`): subgroups first, then the group's
+    /// variables in order.
+    fn match_dims(&mut self, g: usize) {
+        let children: Vec<usize> = self.model.groups[g]
+            .children
+            .iter()
+            .map(|&(_, c)| c)
+            .collect();
+        for child in children {
+            self.match_dims(child);
+        }
+        for v in 0..self.model.groups[g].vars.len() {
+            let var = &self.model.groups[g].vars[v];
+            let rank = var.extent.len();
+            let mut found: Vec<Option<usize>> = vec![None; rank];
+            match &var.source {
+                DimSource::OwnScale(dim) => found[0] = Some(*dim),
+                DimSource::Coordinates(ids, own) => {
+                    for (slot, id) in found.iter_mut().zip(ids) {
+                        *slot = self.dim_by_id(*id);
+                    }
+                    if found[0].is_none() {
+                        found[0] = *own;
+                    }
+                }
+                DimSource::Scales(scales, own) => {
+                    for (slot, scale) in found.iter_mut().zip(scales) {
+                        *slot = scale.and_then(|s| self.dim_by_scale(g, s));
+                    }
+                    if found[0].is_none() {
+                        found[0] = *own;
+                    }
+                }
+                DimSource::Phony(own) => {
+                    if rank > 0 {
+                        found[0] = *own;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            let mut dims: Vec<usize> = Vec::with_capacity(rank);
+            for (axis, found) in found.into_iter().enumerate() {
+                let dim = match found {
+                    Some(dim) => dim,
+                    None => {
+                        let var = &self.model.groups[g].vars[v];
+                        let (len, unlimited) = (var.extent[axis], var.unlimited[axis]);
+                        self.phony_dim(g, len, unlimited, &dims)
+                    }
+                };
+                dims.push(dim);
+            }
+            self.model.groups[g].vars[v].dims = dims;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The dimension with id `id`: the last one created with it
+    /// (`nc4_find_dim` looks ids up in a file-wide table, where a later
+    /// dimension of the same id replaces an earlier one).
+    fn dim_by_id(&self, id: i64) -> Option<usize> {
+        self.model.dims.iter().rposition(|d| d.id == id)
+    }
+
+    /// The dimension of the scale at `address`, in group `g` or the nearest
+    /// parent that has it.
+    fn dim_by_scale(&self, g: usize, address: u64) -> Option<usize> {
+        let mut group = Some(g);
+        while let Some(i) = group {
+            let found = self.model.groups[i]
+                .dims
+                .iter()
+                .copied()
+                .find(|&d| self.model.dims[d].scale == Some(address));
+            if found.is_some() {
+                return found;
+            }
+            group = self.model.groups[i].parent;
+        }
+        None
+    }
+
+    /// `create_phony_dims` for one axis: the first dimension of group `g`
+    /// of length `len` and unlimitedness `unlimited` that no earlier axis
+    /// of the variable uses (`taken`), else a new `phony_dim_<id>`.
+    fn phony_dim(&mut self, g: usize, len: u64, unlimited: bool, taken: &[usize]) -> usize {
+        let dims = &self.model.dims;
+        let existing = self.model.groups[g].dims.iter().copied().find(|&d| {
+            let dim = &dims[d];
+            dim.len == len
+                && dim.unlimited == unlimited
+                && !taken.iter().any(|&t| dims[t].id == dim.id)
+        });
+        if let Some(dim) = existing {
+            return dim;
+        }
+        let id = self.take_id();
+        self.add_dim(
+            g,
+            Dim {
+                id,
+                name: format!("phony_dim_{id}"),
+                len,
+                // `nc4_dim_list_add`: a length of 0 is NC_UNLIMITED.
+                unlimited: unlimited || len == 0,
+                scale: None,
+            },
+        )
+    }
+
+    /// Each unlimited dimension's length: the largest extent along it of
+    /// the variables using it in its group and the groups below.
+    fn unlimited_lengths(&mut self) {
+        let mut owner = vec![0usize; self.model.dims.len()];
+        for (g, group) in self.model.groups.iter().enumerate() {
+            for &d in &group.dims {
+                owner[d] = g;
+            }
+        }
+        let mut lens = vec![0u64; self.model.dims.len()];
+        for (g, group) in self.model.groups.iter().enumerate() {
+            for var in &group.vars {
+                for (&d, &e) in var.dims.iter().zip(&var.extent) {
+                    if self.model.dims[d].unlimited && self.is_within(g, owner[d]) {
+                        lens[d] = lens[d].max(e);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        for (dim, len) in self.model.dims.iter_mut().zip(lens) {
+            if dim.unlimited {
+                dim.len = len;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Whether group `g` is `ancestor` or below it.
+    fn is_within(&self, g: usize, ancestor: usize) -> bool {
+        let mut group = Some(g);
+        while let Some(i) = group {
+            if i == ancestor {
+                return true;
+            }
+            group = self.model.groups[i].parent;
+        }
+        false
+    }
+}
+
+/// A group's entries in netCDF-C's order: creation order when the group
+/// tracks it, else the byte order of the names.
+fn ordered_entries(file: &clawhdf5::File, address: u64) -> Result<Vec<(String, u64)>, Error> {
+    let mut entries = file.group_at(address).entries()?;
+    let order = clawhdf5_format::group_v2::links_in_creation_order_in(
+        file.storage(),
+        file.superblock(),
+        address,
+    )
+    .ok()
+    .flatten();
+    match order {
+        Some(names) => {
+            let position: HashMap<&str, usize> = names
+                .iter()
+                .enumerate()
+                .map(|(i, n)| (n.as_str(), i))
+                .collect();
+            entries.sort_by_key(|(n, _)| position.get(n.as_str()).copied().unwrap_or(usize::MAX));
+        }
+        None => entries.sort_by(|a, b| a.0.as_bytes().cmp(b.0.as_bytes())),
+    }
+    Ok(entries)
+}
+
+fn is_group(header: &ObjectHeader) -> bool {
+    use clawhdf5_format::message_type::MessageType;
+    header.messages.iter().any(|m| {
+        matches!(
+            m.msg_type,
+            MessageType::LinkInfo | MessageType::Link | MessageType::SymbolTable
+        )
+    })
+}
+
+/// The datatype a named datatype's header holds.
+fn header_datatype(header: &ObjectHeader) -> Option<Datatype> {
+    use clawhdf5_format::message_type::MessageType;
+    let msg = header
+        .messages
+        .iter()
+        .find(|m| m.msg_type == MessageType::Datatype)?;
+    Datatype::parse_in_header(&msg.data, header.version)
+        .ok()
+        .map(|(dt, _)| dt)
+}
+
+/// A variable's `_Netcdf4Coordinates`: the id of the dimension of each
+/// axis.
+fn coordinates(attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>) -> Option<Vec<i64>> {
+    match attrs.get("_Netcdf4Coordinates")? {
+        AttrValue::I64Array(ids) => Some(ids.clone()),
+        AttrValue::I64(id) => Some(vec![*id]),
+        AttrValue::U64Array(ids) => ids.iter().map(|&id| i64::try_from(id).ok()).collect(),
+        AttrValue::U64(id) => Some(vec![i64::try_from(*id).ok()?]),
+        _ => None,
+    }
+}
+
+/// The user-defined types netCDF-C has read so far, and the netCDF type of
+/// a dataset.
+///
+/// netCDF-C keeps every type `read_type` meets in a file-wide list and
+/// finds one again by `H5Tequal` on the native types — also a type it
+/// failed to read: `read_type` adds the type (with its class, for a
+/// compound, enum, variable-length or opaque type) before it looks at the
+/// members or base type, and does not remove it when one of those fails.
+/// So a dataset of a type netCDF-C skipped once becomes a variable the
+/// second time (a compound with a reference member, say), and a compound
+/// member of a type it skipped (a bit field) is accepted. This replays
+/// that, except that a dataset whose skipped type has no class (a bit
+/// field, time, array or complex type) stays hidden: netCDF-C lists the
+/// second such dataset with an invalid type (class 0).
+#[derive(Debug, Default)]
+pub(crate) struct VarTypes {
+    /// Every type read, with its class when it has one netCDF knows.
+    known: Vec<(Datatype, Option<NcType>)>,
+}
+
+impl VarTypes {
+    /// The netCDF type netCDF-C gives a dataset of type `dt`
+    /// (`get_type_info2`), or `None` when it skips the dataset
+    /// (`NC_EBADTYPID`): a reference, bit field, time or array type, a
+    /// compound with a member, or an enum or variable-length type with a
+    /// base type, that is not a netCDF atomic type or a type read before
+    /// (see the type docs).
+    ///
+    /// Floats other than 4 and 8 bytes (half floats, bfloat16, the 4-, 6-
+    /// and 8-bit floats, `long double`) are `Float` (up to 4 bytes) and
+    /// `Double` here; netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6 labels them
+    /// `NC_STRING` (their native type matches none of its own).
+    pub fn nc_type(&mut self, dt: &Datatype) -> Option<NcType> {
+        match dt {
+            Datatype::FixedPoint { size, signed, .. } => int_type(*size, *signed),
+            Datatype::FloatingPoint { size, .. } => Some(if *size <= 4 {
+                NcType::Float
+            } else {
+                NcType::Double
+            }),
+            Datatype::String { size, .. } => Some(if *size > 1 {
+                NcType::String
+            } else {
+                NcType::Char
+            }),
+            Datatype::VariableLength {
+                is_string: true, ..
+            } => Some(NcType::String),
+            _ => match self.find(dt) {
+                Some(class) => class,
+                None => self.read_type(dt),
+            },
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// A named datatype of the file (`read_type` on a committed type).
+    pub fn named(&mut self, dt: &Datatype) {
+        if self.find(dt).is_none() {
+            self.read_type(dt);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The type read before that is `dt`, by its class.
+    fn find(&self, dt: &Datatype) -> Option<Option<NcType>> {
+        self.known
+            .iter()
+            .find(|(k, _)| native_eq(k, dt))
+            .map(|&(_, class)| class)
+    }
+
+    /// `read_type`: remember `dt` (not a reference type), then its class if
+    /// netCDF-C can represent its members or base type.
+    fn read_type(&mut self, dt: &Datatype) -> Option<NcType> {
+        let class = match dt {
+            Datatype::Reference { .. } => return None,
+            Datatype::Compound { .. } => Some(NcType::Compound),
+            Datatype::VariableLength { .. } => Some(NcType::VLen),
+            Datatype::Opaque { .. } => Some(NcType::Opaque),
+            Datatype::Enumeration { .. } => Some(NcType::Enum),
+            _ => None,
+        };
+        self.known.push((dt.clone(), class));
+        let parts_ok = match dt {
+            Datatype::Compound { members, .. } => members.iter().all(|m| match &m.datatype {
+                Datatype::Array { base_type, .. } => self.is_member_type(base_type),
+                other => self.is_member_type(other),
+            }),
+            Datatype::VariableLength { base_type, .. }
+            | Datatype::Enumeration { base_type, .. } => self.is_member_type(base_type),
+            _ => true,
+        };
+        class.filter(|_| parts_ok)
+    }
+
+    /// `get_netcdf_type`: whether netCDF-C takes `dt` as the type of a
+    /// compound member or the base of an enum or variable-length type — an
+    /// atomic type (4- and 8-byte floats only) or a type read before.
+    fn is_member_type(&self, dt: &Datatype) -> bool {
+        match dt {
+            Datatype::FixedPoint { size, signed, .. } => int_type(*size, *signed).is_some(),
+            Datatype::FloatingPoint { size: 4 | 8, .. }
+            | Datatype::String { .. }
+            | Datatype::VariableLength {
+                is_string: true, ..
+            } => true,
+            _ => self.find(dt).is_some(),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// The netCDF integer type of an HDF5 integer: the native integer libhdf5
+/// converts it to (`H5Tget_native_type`: the smallest at least as wide).
+fn int_type(size: u32, signed: bool) -> Option<NcType> {
+    Some(match (size, signed) {
+        (1, true) => NcType::Byte,
+        (1, false) => NcType::UByte,
+        (2, true) => NcType::Short,
+        (2, false) => NcType::UShort,
+        (3..=4, true) => NcType::Int,
+        (3..=4, false) => NcType::UInt,
+        (5..=8, true) => NcType::Int64,
+        (5..=8, false) => NcType::UInt64,
+        _ => return None,
+    })
+}
+
+/// Whether two datatypes have the same native type (`H5Tequal` after
+/// `H5Tget_native_type`): byte order, padding and compound member offsets
+/// do not count.
+fn native_eq(a: &Datatype, b: &Datatype) -> bool {
+    use Datatype as D;
+    match (a, b) {
+        (
+            D::FixedPoint {
+                size: s1,
+                signed: g1,
+                ..
+            },
+            D::FixedPoint {
+                size: s2,
+                signed: g2,
+                ..
+            },
+        ) => g1 == g2 && int_type(*s1, *g1) == int_type(*s2, *g2),
+        (D::FloatingPoint { size: s1, .. }, D::FloatingPoint { size: s2, .. }) => s1 == s2,
+        (
+            D::String {
+                size: s1,
+                padding: p1,
+                charset: c1,
+            },
+            D::String {
+                size: s2,
+                padding: p2,
+                charset: c2,
+            },
+        ) => s1 == s2 && p1 == p2 && c1 == c2,
+        (
+            D::VariableLength {
+                is_string: i1,
+                base_type: b1,
+                charset: c1,
+                ..
+            },
+            D::VariableLength {
+                is_string: i2,
+                base_type: b2,
+                charset: c2,
+                ..
+            },
+        ) => i1 == i2 && if *i1 { c1 == c2 } else { native_eq(b1, b2) },
+        (D::Compound { members: m1, .. }, D::Compound { members: m2, .. }) => {
+            m1.len() == m2.len()
+                && m1
+                    .iter()
+                    .zip(m2)
+                    .all(|(x, y)| x.name == y.name && native_eq(&x.datatype, &y.datatype))
+        }
+        (
+            D::Enumeration {
+                base_type: b1,
+                members: m1,
+                ..
+            },
+            D::Enumeration {
+                base_type: b2,
+                members: m2,
+                ..
+            },
+        ) => {
+            native_eq(b1, b2)
+                && m1.len() == m2.len()
+                && m1.iter().zip(m2).all(|(x, y)| {
+                    x.name == y.name && enum_value(&x.value, b1) == enum_value(&y.value, b2)
+                })
+        }
+        (D::Opaque { size: s1, tag: t1 }, D::Opaque { size: s2, tag: t2 }) => s1 == s2 && t1 == t2,
+        (
+            D::Array {
+                base_type: b1,
+                dimensions: d1,
+            },
+            D::Array {
+                base_type: b2,
+                dimensions: d2,
+            },
+        ) => d1 == d2 && native_eq(b1, b2),
+        (
+            D::Reference {
+                size: s1,
+                ref_type: r1,
+            },
+            D::Reference {
+                size: s2,
+                ref_type: r2,
+            },
+        ) => s1 == s2 && r1 == r2,
+        (D::BitField { size: s1, .. }, D::BitField { size: s2, .. })
+        | (D::Time { size: s1, .. }, D::Time { size: s2, .. }) => s1 == s2,
+        (
+            D::Complex {
+                size: s1,
+                base_type: b1,
+            },
+            D::Complex {
+                size: s2,
+                base_type: b2,
+            },
+        ) => s1 == s2 && native_eq(b1, b2),
+        _ => false,
+    }
+}
+
+/// An enum member's value, in the order of its base type's bytes.
+fn enum_value(value: &[u8], base: &Datatype) -> Vec<u8> {
+    let big = matches!(
+        base,
+        Datatype::FixedPoint {
+            byte_order: DatatypeByteOrder::BigEndian,
+            ..
+        }
+    );
+    let mut v = value.to_vec();
+    if big {
+        v.reverse();
+    }
+    v
+}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/scope.rs

@@ -1,231 +0,0 @@
-//! A group's variables and the dimensions they are defined on.
-//!
-//! netCDF-C (`libhdf5/hdf5open.c`) gives a variable its dimensions from the
-//! file, never by size: the dimension ids in its `_Netcdf4Coordinates`
-//! attribute (each dimension scale's `_Netcdf4Dimid`), else the dimension
-//! scales its `DIMENSION_LIST` attribute references, looked up in the
-//! variable's group and then each parent group up to the root. Only an axis
-//! with neither (a file not written by a netCDF library) gets a dimension
-//! by size. Dimension scales that are only dimensions are not variables, and
-//! a variable stored as `_nc4_non_coord_<name>` (a variable sharing a
-//! dimension's name without being its coordinate variable) is `<name>`.
-
-use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
-
-use clawhdf5::AttrValue;
-
-use crate::dimension::{self, Dimension, GroupDims};
-use crate::error::Error;
-use crate::variable::Variable;
-
-/// The prefix netCDF-C gives the dataset of a variable that has a
-/// dimension's name but is not that dimension's coordinate variable (the
-/// dimension's scale holds the name).
-const NON_COORD_PREFIX: &str = "_nc4_non_coord_";
-
-/// A group, with the dimensions visible from it.
-pub(crate) struct Scope<'f> {
-    file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
-    group: clawhdf5::Group<'f>,
-    /// This group's dimensions, then its parent's, and so on to the root's.
-    levels: Vec<GroupDims>,
-}
-
-impl<'f> Scope<'f> {
-    /// The group at `path` (`/`-separated from the root; `""` or `"/"` is
-    /// the root).
-    pub fn new(file: &'f clawhdf5::File, path: &str) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        let parts: Vec<&str> = path.split('/').filter(|p| !p.is_empty()).collect();
-        let mut levels = Vec::with_capacity(parts.len() + 1);
-        for n in (0..=parts.len()).rev() {
-            let group = file.group(&parts[..n].join("/"))?;
-            levels.push(dimension::group_dims(file, &group)?);
-        }
-        let group = file.group(&parts.join("/"))?;
-        Ok(Self {
-            file,
-            group,
-            levels,
-        })
-    }
-
-    /// The group's datasets, as `(dataset name, object header address)` in
-    /// listing order.
-    fn datasets(&self) -> Result<Vec<(String, u64)>, Error> {
-        let datasets: HashSet<String> = self.group.datasets()?.into_iter().collect();
-        Ok(self
-            .group
-            .entries()?
-            .into_iter()
-            .filter(|(name, _)| datasets.contains(name))
-            .collect())
-    }
-
-    /// The group's variables: every dataset but the dimension scales that
-    /// are only dimensions.
-    pub fn variables(&self) -> Result<Vec<Variable<'f>>, Error> {
-        let mut variables = Vec::new();
-        for (ds_name, address) in self.datasets()? {
-            let ds = self.file.dataset_at(address)?;
-            let attrs = ds.attrs()?;
-            if dimension::is_pure_dimension(&attrs) {
-                continue;
-            }
-            variables.push(self.variable_from(nc_name(&ds_name), address, ds, attrs)?);
-        }
-        Ok(variables)
-    }
-
-    /// The names of the group's variables.
-    pub fn variable_names(&self) -> Result<Vec<String>, Error> {
-        let mut names = Vec::new();
-        for (ds_name, address) in self.datasets()? {
-            let attrs = self.file.dataset_at(address)?.attrs()?;
-            if !dimension::is_pure_dimension(&attrs) {
-                names.push(nc_name(&ds_name));
-            }
-        }
-        Ok(names)
-    }
-
-    /// The variable called `name`: the dataset `_nc4_non_coord_<name>` if
-    /// there is one, else the dataset `<name>` unless it is only a
-    /// dimension.
-    pub fn variable(&self, name: &str) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
-        let not_found = || Error::VariableNotFound(name.to_string());
-        let datasets = self.datasets()?;
-        let prefixed = format!("{NON_COORD_PREFIX}{name}");
-        let address = datasets
-            .iter()
-            .find(|(n, _)| *n == prefixed)
-            .or_else(|| datasets.iter().find(|(n, _)| n == name))
-            .map(|&(_, address)| address)
-            .ok_or_else(not_found)?;
-        let ds = self.file.dataset_at(address)?;
-        let attrs = ds.attrs()?;
-        if dimension::is_pure_dimension(&attrs) {
-            return Err(not_found());
-        }
-        self.variable_from(nc_name(name), address, ds, attrs)
-    }
-
-    fn variable_from(
-        &self,
-        name: String,
-        address: u64,
-        ds: clawhdf5::Dataset<'f>,
-        attrs: HashMap<String, AttrValue>,
-    ) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
-        let shape = ds.shape()?;
-        let dims = self.variable_dims(address, &attrs, &shape);
-        Ok(Variable::new(name, ds, dims, attrs))
-    }
-
-    /// The first dimension, searching this group and then its ancestors,
-    /// that `find` picks.
-    fn find<'a>(
-        &'a self,
-        find: impl Fn(&'a GroupDims) -> Option<&'a Dimension>,
-    ) -> Option<Dimension> {
-        self.levels.iter().find_map(find).cloned()
-    }
-
-    /// The dimensions of the dataset at `address`, one per axis of `shape`,
-    /// as netCDF-C resolves them (see the module docs).
-    fn variable_dims(
-        &self,
-        address: u64,
-        attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>,
-        shape: &[u64],
-    ) -> Vec<Dimension> {
-        let rank = shape.len();
-        let mut dims: Vec<Option<Dimension>> = vec![None; rank];
-        if rank == 0 {
-            return Vec::new();
-        }
-        // A coordinate variable is the scale of its (first) dimension.
-        dims[0] = self.levels[0].by_address(address).cloned();
-
-        if let Some(ids) = coordinates(attrs).filter(|ids| ids.len() == rank) {
-            for (slot, id) in dims.iter_mut().zip(ids) {
-                if slot.is_none() {
-                    *slot = self.find(|level| level.by_dimid(id));
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        if dims.iter().any(Option::is_none)
-            && let Some(scales) =
-                dimension::dimension_list(self.file, attrs).filter(|s| s.len() == rank)
-        {
-            for (slot, scale) in dims.iter_mut().zip(scales) {
-                if slot.is_none()
-                    && let Some(scale) = scale
-                {
-                    *slot = self.find(|level| level.by_address(scale));
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        // Neither: the first dimension of this group of the same size not
-        // already taken by another such axis, else an anonymous one.
-        let own = &self.levels[0].dims;
-        let mut used = vec![false; own.len()];
-        dims.into_iter()
-            .zip(shape)
-            .map(|(dim, &size)| {
-                dim.unwrap_or_else(|| {
-                    match own
-                        .iter()
-                        .enumerate()
-                        .find(|&(i, d)| !used[i] && d.size == size)
-                    {
-                        Some((i, d)) => {
-                            used[i] = true;
-                            d.clone()
-                        }
-                        None => Dimension {
-                            name: format!("dim_{size}"),
-                            size,
-                            is_unlimited: false,
-                        },
-                    }
-                })
-            })
-            .collect()
-    }
-}
-
-/// The variable `name` of the group at `group_path`; `name` may itself be
-/// a path (`"sub/var"`), relative to that group.
-pub(crate) fn variable_at<'f>(
-    file: &'f clawhdf5::File,
-    group_path: &str,
-    name: &str,
-) -> Result<Variable<'f>, Error> {
-    match name.trim_start_matches('/').rsplit_once('/') {
-        Some((dir, leaf)) => Scope::new(file, &format!("{group_path}/{dir}"))
-            .map_err(|_| Error::VariableNotFound(name.to_string()))?
-            .variable(leaf),
-        None => Scope::new(file, group_path)?.variable(name.trim_start_matches('/')),
-    }
-}
-
-/// The netCDF name of the dataset `ds_name`.
-fn nc_name(ds_name: &str) -> String {
-    ds_name
-        .strip_prefix(NON_COORD_PREFIX)
-        .unwrap_or(ds_name)
-        .to_string()
-}
-
-/// A variable's `_Netcdf4Coordinates`: the `_Netcdf4Dimid` of the dimension
-/// of each axis.
-fn coordinates(attrs: &HashMap<String, AttrValue>) -> Option<Vec<i64>> {
-    match attrs.get("_Netcdf4Coordinates")? {
-        AttrValue::I64Array(ids) => Some(ids.clone()),
-        AttrValue::I64(id) => Some(vec![*id]),
-        AttrValue::U64Array(ids) => ids.iter().map(|&id| i64::try_from(id).ok()).collect(),
-        AttrValue::U64(id) => Some(vec![i64::try_from(*id).ok()?]),
-        _ => None,
-    }
-}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/types.rs

@@ -4,8 +4,16 @@
 
 use clawhdf5::DType;
 
-/// NetCDF-4 data types corresponding to the standard NetCDF type system.
+/// NetCDF-4 data types corresponding to the standard NetCDF type system:
+/// the atomic types, and the class of a user-defined type.
+///
+/// A dataset whose type netCDF-C cannot represent — a reference, bit
+/// field, time or array type; a compound with such a member, a
+/// half-precision float member, or a member of a user-defined type not
+/// read before it; an enum or variable-length type over such a base — is
+/// not a variable, as in netCDF-C.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
+#[non_exhaustive]
 pub enum NcType {
     /// NC_BYTE: signed 8-bit integer
     Byte,
@@ -29,8 +37,18 @@ pub enum NcType {
     Double,
     /// NC_STRING: variable-length string
     String,
-    /// NC_CHAR: fixed-length string / character data
+    /// NC_CHAR: a fixed-length string of one byte (longer ones are
+    /// `String`, as netCDF-C reads them)
     Char,
+    /// NC_ENUM: an enumeration (user-defined type)
+    Enum,
+    /// NC_COMPOUND: a compound (user-defined type)
+    Compound,
+    /// NC_VLEN: a variable-length sequence (user-defined type)
+    VLen,
+    /// NC_OPAQUE: an opaque type (user-defined type; netCDF4-python skips
+    /// such variables)
+    Opaque,
 }
 
 impl std::fmt::Display for NcType {
@@ -48,11 +66,16 @@ impl std::fmt::Display for NcType {
             NcType::Double => write!(f, "NC_DOUBLE"),
             NcType::String => write!(f, "NC_STRING"),
             NcType::Char => write!(f, "NC_CHAR"),
+            NcType::Enum => write!(f, "NC_ENUM"),
+            NcType::Compound => write!(f, "NC_COMPOUND"),
+            NcType::VLen => write!(f, "NC_VLEN"),
+            NcType::Opaque => write!(f, "NC_OPAQUE"),
         }
     }
 }
 
-/// Map a clawhdf5 DType to a NetCDF type.
+/// Map a clawhdf5 DType to a NetCDF type. A variable's own type, as
+/// netCDF-C reads it, is [`Variable::nc_type`](crate::Variable::nc_type).
 pub fn dtype_to_nctype(dtype: &DType) -> NcType {
     match dtype {
         DType::I8 => NcType::Byte,
@@ -66,6 +89,8 @@ pub fn dtype_to_nctype(dtype: &DType) -> NcType {
         DType::F32 => NcType::Float,
         DType::F64 => NcType::Double,
         DType::String | DType::VariableLengthString => NcType::String,
+        DType::Compound(_) => NcType::Compound,
+        DType::Enum(_) => NcType::Enum,
         _ => NcType::Char, // fallback for other types
     }
 }

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/variable.rs

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use clawhdf5::AttrValue;
 use crate::cf::{self, CfAttributes, FillValue};
 use crate::dimension::Dimension;
 use crate::error::Error;
-use crate::types::{NcType, dtype_to_nctype};
+use crate::types::NcType;
 
 /// A NetCDF-4 variable backed by an HDF5 dataset.
 pub struct Variable<'f> {
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ pub struct Variable<'f> {
     dims: Vec<Dimension>,
     /// The dataset's attributes.
     attrs: HashMap<String, AttrValue>,
+    /// Its netCDF type.
+    nc_type: NcType,
 }
 
 impl<'f> Variable<'f> {
@@ -37,12 +39,14 @@ impl<'f> Variable<'f> {
         dataset: clawhdf5::Dataset<'f>,
         dims: Vec<Dimension>,
         attrs: HashMap<String, AttrValue>,
+        nc_type: NcType,
     ) -> Self {
         Self {
             name,
             dataset,
             dims,
             attrs,
+            nc_type,
         }
     }
 
@@ -51,11 +55,12 @@ impl<'f> Variable<'f> {
         &self.name
     }
 
-    /// The dimensions of this variable, one per axis: the ones the file
+    /// The dimensions of this variable, one per axis, as netCDF-C gives
-    /// gives it (`_Netcdf4Coordinates`, else `DIMENSION_LIST`), found in its
+    /// them: the ones the file names (`_Netcdf4Coordinates`, else the
-    /// group or a parent group. An axis the file gives no dimension (a file
+    /// scales `DIMENSION_LIST` attaches), found in its group or a parent
-    /// not written by a netCDF library) gets the first dimension of the
+    /// group; for a dataset without them (a file not written by a netCDF
-    /// variable's group of the same size, else an anonymous `dim_<size>`.
+    /// library), netCDF-C's phony dimensions `phony_dim_<n>`, shared by
+    /// the variables of a group by length.
     pub fn dimensions(&self) -> &[Dimension] {
         &self.dims
     }
@@ -75,10 +80,11 @@ impl<'f> Variable<'f> {
         Ok(self.dataset.shape()?)
     }
 
-    /// The NetCDF data type of this variable.
+    /// The NetCDF data type of this variable, as netCDF-C reads it (a
+    /// fixed-length string longer than one byte is `String`, one byte
+    /// long `Char`).
     pub fn nc_type(&self) -> Result<NcType, Error> {
-        let dtype = self.dataset.dtype()?;
+        Ok(self.nc_type)
-        Ok(dtype_to_nctype(&dtype))
     }
 
     /// Read all attributes as a HashMap.
@@ -297,6 +303,9 @@ fn default_fill(nc_type: NcType) -> FillValue {
         NcType::Double => FillValue::Float(9.969_209_968_386_869e36),
         NcType::String => FillValue::String(String::new()),
         NcType::Char => FillValue::Int(0),
+        // User-defined types have no default fill value in netCDF-C; their
+        // values are not read through these methods.
+        _ => FillValue::Int(0),
     }
 }
 

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/common/mod.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,281 @@
+//! clawhdf5-netcdf4 compared with netCDF-C itself: `tests/netcdf_c_view.py`
+//! prints what netCDF-C (the libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles) reports for
+//! a file, and [`differences`] lists how clawhdf5-netcdf4's reading differs.
+#![allow(dead_code)]
+
+use std::collections::{BTreeMap, BTreeSet};
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::process::Command;
+use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+
+use clawhdf5_netcdf4::{NcType, NetCDF4File, NetCDF4Group, Variable};
+
+/// The Python with netCDF4-python (`CLAWHDF5_PYTHON`, else `python3`).
+pub fn python() -> String {
+    std::env::var("CLAWHDF5_PYTHON").unwrap_or_else(|_| "python3".to_string())
+}
+
+/// netCDF-C's view of one file.
+#[derive(Default)]
+pub struct View {
+    /// `G`, `D` and `V` lines, in order.
+    pub meta: Vec<String>,
+    /// `(group, variable)` → values, from the `X` lines.
+    pub values: BTreeMap<(String, String), Vec<f64>>,
+}
+
+/// netCDF-C's view of each file (`None`: netCDF-C cannot open it), from
+/// `tests/netcdf_c_view.py`.
+pub fn netcdf_c_views(files: &[PathBuf]) -> BTreeMap<PathBuf, Option<View>> {
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let list = dir.path().join("files.txt");
+    let mut paths = String::new();
+    for f in files {
+        paths.push_str(&f.to_string_lossy());
+        paths.push('\n');
+    }
+    std::fs::write(&list, paths).unwrap();
+    let script = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("tests/netcdf_c_view.py");
+    let out = Command::new(python())
+        .arg(&script)
+        .arg("--list")
+        .arg(&list)
+        .output()
+        .expect("failed to run python");
+    assert!(
+        out.status.success(),
+        "netcdf_c_view.py failed: {}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr)
+    );
+    parse_views(&String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout))
+}
+
+/// The views in the output of `tests/netcdf_c_view.py`.
+pub fn parse_views(text: &str) -> BTreeMap<PathBuf, Option<View>> {
+    let mut views = BTreeMap::new();
+    let mut current: Option<(PathBuf, Option<View>)> = None;
+    for line in text.lines() {
+        let fields: Vec<&str> = line.split('\t').collect();
+        match fields[0] {
+            "FILE" => current = Some((PathBuf::from(fields[1]), Some(View::default()))),
+            "END" => {
+                let (path, view) = current.take().expect("END without FILE");
+                views.insert(path, view);
+            }
+            "ERROR" => current.as_mut().expect("ERROR without FILE").1 = None,
+            "X" => {
+                let view = current.as_mut().and_then(|c| c.1.as_mut()).unwrap();
+                let vals = if fields[3] == "-" {
+                    Vec::new()
+                } else {
+                    fields[3]
+                        .split(' ')
+                        .map(|v| v.parse().expect("value"))
+                        .collect()
+                };
+                view.values
+                    .insert((fields[1].to_string(), fields[2].to_string()), vals);
+            }
+            _ => {
+                let view = current.as_mut().and_then(|c| c.1.as_mut()).unwrap();
+                view.meta.push(line.to_string());
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    views
+}
+
+/// Variables whose type is labelled as netCDF-C labels it rather than as
+/// clawhdf5-netcdf4 does (see [`nc_type_label`]).
+pub static RELABELLED: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+/// Values not compared because this build of the HDF5 reader lacks a
+/// filter (a cargo feature).
+pub static FILTER_SKIPPED: AtomicUsize = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+
+/// The same `G`/`D`/`V` lines from clawhdf5-netcdf4.
+pub fn our_meta(file: &NetCDF4File) -> Result<Vec<String>, String> {
+    let e = |e: clawhdf5_netcdf4::Error| e.to_string();
+    let mut out = Vec::new();
+    out.push("G\t/".to_string());
+    push_group(
+        &mut out,
+        file.hdf5_file(),
+        "/",
+        file.dimensions().map_err(e)?,
+        file.variables().map_err(e)?,
+    )?;
+    for name in file.group_names().map_err(e)? {
+        walk(
+            &mut out,
+            file.hdf5_file(),
+            &format!("/{name}"),
+            &file.group(&name).map_err(e)?,
+        )?;
+    }
+    Ok(out)
+}
+
+fn walk(
+    out: &mut Vec<String>,
+    hdf5: &clawhdf5::File,
+    path: &str,
+    group: &NetCDF4Group<'_>,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    let e = |e: clawhdf5_netcdf4::Error| e.to_string();
+    out.push(format!("G\t{path}"));
+    push_group(
+        out,
+        hdf5,
+        path,
+        group.dimensions().map_err(e)?,
+        group.variables().map_err(e)?,
+    )?;
+    for name in group.group_names().map_err(e)? {
+        walk(
+            out,
+            hdf5,
+            &format!("{path}/{name}"),
+            &group.group(&name).map_err(e)?,
+        )?;
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// The type of variable `name` of the group at `path` as the `V` line
+/// shows it: its `NcType`, except for the one deliberate difference from
+/// netCDF-C — a float of other than 4 or 8 bytes (half, bfloat16, the 4-,
+/// 6- and 8-bit floats, `long double`), `NC_FLOAT`/`NC_DOUBLE` here, is
+/// labelled `NC_STRING` by netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6; such a
+/// variable is shown as netCDF-C shows it, and counted.
+fn nc_type_label(hdf5: &clawhdf5::File, path: &str, var: &Variable<'_>) -> Result<String, String> {
+    let nc_type = var.nc_type().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    if matches!(nc_type, NcType::Float | NcType::Double) {
+        let dataset = format!("{}/{}", path.trim_end_matches('/'), var.name());
+        if let Ok(ds) = hdf5.dataset(&dataset)
+            && let Ok(clawhdf5_format::datatype::Datatype::FloatingPoint { size, .. }) =
+                ds.raw_datatype()
+            && size != 4
+            && size != 8
+        {
+            RELABELLED.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+            return Ok("NC_STRING".to_string());
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(nc_type.to_string())
+}
+
+fn push_group(
+    out: &mut Vec<String>,
+    hdf5: &clawhdf5::File,
+    path: &str,
+    dims: Vec<clawhdf5_netcdf4::Dimension>,
+    vars: Vec<Variable<'_>>,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
+    for d in dims {
+        out.push(format!(
+            "D\t{path}\t{}\t{}\t{}",
+            d.name,
+            d.size,
+            u8::from(d.is_unlimited)
+        ));
+    }
+    for v in vars {
+        let dims: Vec<&str> = v.dimensions().iter().map(|d| d.name.as_str()).collect();
+        let shape: Vec<String> = v
+            .shape()
+            .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?
+            .iter()
+            .map(u64::to_string)
+            .collect();
+        let or_dash = |s: String| if s.is_empty() { "-".to_string() } else { s };
+        out.push(format!(
+            "V\t{path}\t{}\t{}\t{}\t{}",
+            v.name(),
+            nc_type_label(hdf5, path, &v)?,
+            or_dash(dims.join(",")),
+            or_dash(shape.join(","))
+        ));
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// The values of variable `name` of group `group`.
+fn our_values(file: &NetCDF4File, group: &str, name: &str) -> Result<Vec<f64>, String> {
+    let var = if group == "/" {
+        file.variable(name)
+    } else {
+        file.variable(&format!("{}/{name}", group.trim_start_matches('/')))
+    }
+    .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    match var.nc_type().map_err(|e| e.to_string())? {
+        NcType::String | NcType::Char => Err("not numeric".into()),
+        _ => var.read_raw_f64().map_err(|e| e.to_string()),
+    }
+}
+
+/// How clawhdf5-netcdf4's reading of `path` differs from `want`; empty
+/// when it does not.
+pub fn differences(path: &Path, want: &View) -> Vec<String> {
+    let file = match NetCDF4File::open(path) {
+        Ok(f) => f,
+        Err(e) => return vec![format!("netCDF-C opens it, clawhdf5-netcdf4 does not: {e}")],
+    };
+    let meta = match std::panic::catch_unwind(std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe(|| our_meta(&file))) {
+        Ok(Ok(meta)) => meta,
+        Ok(Err(e)) => return vec![format!("error: {e}")],
+        Err(_) => return vec!["panic".to_string()],
+    };
+    let mut diffs = Vec::new();
+    if meta != want.meta {
+        let ours: BTreeSet<&String> = meta.iter().collect();
+        let theirs: BTreeSet<&String> = want.meta.iter().collect();
+        for line in want.meta.iter().filter(|l| !ours.contains(l)) {
+            diffs.push(format!("netCDF-C: {line}"));
+        }
+        for line in meta.iter().filter(|l| !theirs.contains(l)) {
+            diffs.push(format!("ours:     {line}"));
+        }
+        if diffs.is_empty() {
+            diffs.push("same lines, different order".to_string());
+        }
+    }
+    for ((group, name), want) in &want.values {
+        let got = std::panic::catch_unwind(std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe(|| {
+            our_values(&file, group, name)
+        }))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| Err("panic".to_string()));
+        match got {
+            Ok(got) => {
+                let same = got.len() == want.len()
+                    && got
+                        .iter()
+                        .zip(want)
+                        .all(|(a, b)| a.to_bits() == b.to_bits() || (a.is_nan() && b.is_nan()));
+                if !same {
+                    diffs.push(format!("values of {group} {name} differ"));
+                }
+            }
+            Err(e) if e.contains("this build lacks the") => {
+                FILTER_SKIPPED.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+            }
+            Err(e) => diffs.push(format!("values of {group} {name}: {e}")),
+        }
+    }
+    diffs
+}
+
+/// clawhdf5-netcdf4 reads the file at `path` as netCDF-C does: the same
+/// groups, dimensions, variables and values (see [`differences`]).
+pub fn assert_matches_netcdf_c(path: &Path) {
+    let views = netcdf_c_views(&[path.to_path_buf()]);
+    let Some(Some(want)) = views.get(path) else {
+        panic!("netCDF-C cannot open {}", path.display());
+    };
+    let diffs = differences(path, want);
+    assert!(
+        diffs.is_empty(),
+        "{} differs from netCDF-C:\n{}",
+        path.display(),
+        diffs.join("\n")
+    );
+}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/corpus_known_differences.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Files of the conformance corpus (conformance/.cache/corpus) that netCDF-C
+# opens and clawhdf5-netcdf4 reads differently, with the reason.
+# <path relative to the corpus root><TAB><reason>
+# Read by tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs; see docs/known-issues.md
+# ("NetCDF-4: differences from netCDF-C").
+#
+# External links: libhdf5 follows them into the other file (present in the
+# corpus); clawhdf5 does not follow external links (known-issues: "External
+# links and external raw data are not followed"), so the linked groups and
+# datasets are missing and, in files without dimension scales, the phony
+# dimension numbers after them shift.
+hdf5/test/testfiles/be_extlink1.h5	external link not followed
+hdf5/test/testfiles/le_extlink1.h5	external link not followed
+hdf5/tools/test/testfiles/h5diff_ext2softlink_src.h5	external link not followed
+hdf5/tools/test/testfiles/h5diff_grp_recurse_ext2-1.h5	external link not followed
+hdf5/tools/test/testfiles/h5diff_grp_recurse_ext2-2.h5	external link not followed
+#
+# Values the HDF5 reader refuses and libhdf5 1.14.6 (the netCDF4-python
+# wheel's) returns; metadata matches. The first three are the scale-offset
+# and N-Bit ref-bug / our-error files of CONFORMANCE.md (libhdf5 reads past
+# the stored data); bad_nbit_decompress.h5 is not in the conformance run and
+# is not investigated yet.
+cve_hdf5/cvefiles/cve-2025-2308.h5	values: scale-offset chunk shorter than its values (libhdf5 over-read)
+cve_hdf5/cvefiles/cve-2025-44904.h5	values: unfiltered chunks shorter than a chunk (libhdf5 over-read)
+hdf5/test/testfiles/bad_nbit_parms_walk.h5	values: N-Bit parameters too short (conformance our-error/ref-bug)
+hdf5/test/testfiles/bad_nbit_decompress.h5	values: N-Bit chunk refused ("element count exceeds chunk size"); not investigated

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+//! Every file of a corpus that netCDF-C opens, read by clawhdf5-netcdf4 and
+//! compared with what netCDF-C reports: groups (order), dimensions (names,
+//! lengths, unlimited, order), variables (names, order, types, dimensions,
+//! shapes) and the values of numeric variables of at most 5000 elements.
+//!
+//! Gated: set `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS` to a directory (relative to the
+//! workspace root, or absolute) — the conformance corpus
+//! (`conformance/.cache/corpus`) or any tree of HDF5/netCDF-4 files — and
+//! `CLAWHDF5_PYTHON` to a Python with netCDF4-python (whose bundled
+//! libnetcdf `tests/netcdf_c_view.py` calls). Without the variable the test
+//! does nothing. netCDF-C reads each file in its own process (4 at a time,
+//! `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_JOBS`), under a 60 s timeout and a 4 GiB address-space
+//! limit: 40 s to 3 minutes for the conformance corpus on tank.
+//! `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_VIEW` may name the saved output of an earlier
+//! `netcdf_c_view.py --list <file of paths>` run over the same (absolute)
+//! paths, to skip that.
+//!
+//! A file whose differences are explained is listed, with the reason, in
+//! `tests/corpus_known_differences.txt` (and in `docs/known-issues.md`); a
+//! listed file that matches fails the test too, so the list stays true.
+//!
+//! ```sh
+//! CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS=conformance/.cache/corpus CLAWHDF5_PYTHON=$PWD/.venv/bin/python \
+//!     cargo test -p clawhdf5-netcdf4 --test corpus_vs_netcdf_c -- --nocapture
+//! ```
+
+mod common;
+
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::sync::atomic::Ordering;
+
+use common::{FILTER_SKIPPED, RELABELLED, differences, netcdf_c_views, parse_views};
+
+/// The file extensions `conformance/list_files.py` sweeps.
+const EXTS: [&str; 7] = ["h5", "hdf5", "he5", "nc", "nc4", "hdf", "h5f"];
+
+/// The files of the corpus: those with an HDF5/netCDF-4 extension, except
+/// netCDF classic files (magic `CDF`), following directory symlinks, in
+/// byte order of their paths.
+fn corpus_files(root: &Path) -> Vec<PathBuf> {
+    fn walk(dir: &Path, out: &mut Vec<PathBuf>, depth: usize) {
+        let Ok(entries) = std::fs::read_dir(dir) else {
+            return;
+        };
+        for entry in entries.flatten() {
+            let path = entry.path();
+            if path.file_name().is_some_and(|n| n == ".git") {
+                continue;
+            }
+            let Ok(meta) = std::fs::metadata(&path) else {
+                continue;
+            };
+            if meta.is_dir() && depth < 32 {
+                walk(&path, out, depth + 1);
+            } else if meta.is_file()
+                && path
+                    .extension()
+                    .and_then(|e| e.to_str())
+                    .is_some_and(|e| EXTS.contains(&e.to_ascii_lowercase().as_str()))
+            {
+                let mut magic = [0u8; 3];
+                let classic = std::fs::File::open(&path)
+                    .and_then(|mut f| std::io::Read::read_exact(&mut f, &mut magic))
+                    .is_ok()
+                    && &magic == b"CDF";
+                if !classic {
+                    out.push(path);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    let mut out = Vec::new();
+    walk(root, &mut out, 0);
+    out.sort_by(|a, b| {
+        a.as_os_str()
+            .as_encoded_bytes()
+            .cmp(b.as_os_str().as_encoded_bytes())
+    });
+    out
+}
+
+/// The files `tests/corpus_known_differences.txt` explains: path relative
+/// to the corpus root → reason.
+fn known_differences() -> BTreeMap<String, String> {
+    let list = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("tests/corpus_known_differences.txt");
+    std::fs::read_to_string(list)
+        .expect("tests/corpus_known_differences.txt")
+        .lines()
+        .filter(|l| !l.trim().is_empty() && !l.starts_with('#'))
+        .map(|l| {
+            let (path, reason) = l.split_once('\t').unwrap_or((l, ""));
+            (path.trim().to_string(), reason.trim().to_string())
+        })
+        .collect()
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn corpus_matches_netcdf_c() {
+    let Ok(root) = std::env::var("CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS") else {
+        eprintln!("SKIP: set CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS to a corpus directory");
+        return;
+    };
+    // A relative path is from the workspace root (cargo runs the test in
+    // the crate's directory).
+    let root = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+        .join("../..")
+        .join(root);
+    let root = std::fs::canonicalize(&root).unwrap_or(root);
+    let files = corpus_files(&root);
+    assert!(!files.is_empty(), "no files under {}", root.display());
+    // `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_VIEW`: the output of an earlier run of
+    // `tests/netcdf_c_view.py` over the same files, which takes a few
+    // minutes over the conformance corpus.
+    let views = match std::env::var("CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_VIEW") {
+        Ok(saved) => parse_views(&std::fs::read_to_string(saved).expect("CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_VIEW")),
+        Err(_) => netcdf_c_views(&files),
+    };
+    let known = known_differences();
+
+    let (mut opened, mut matched) = (0, 0);
+    let mut explained = Vec::new();
+    let mut unexplained = Vec::new();
+    let mut stale = Vec::new();
+    for path in &files {
+        let Some(Some(want)) = views.get(path) else {
+            continue;
+        };
+        opened += 1;
+        let rel = path
+            .strip_prefix(&root)
+            .unwrap_or(path)
+            .to_string_lossy()
+            .into_owned();
+        let diffs = differences(path, want);
+        match (diffs.is_empty(), known.get(&rel)) {
+            (true, None) => matched += 1,
+            (true, Some(_)) => stale.push(rel),
+            (false, Some(reason)) => explained.push((rel, reason.clone(), diffs)),
+            (false, None) => unexplained.push((rel, diffs)),
+        }
+    }
+    eprintln!(
+        "{} files; netCDF-C opens {opened}; {matched} match; {} differ as explained; \
+         {} differ unexplained; {} listed but match; {} variables relabelled \
+         (floats of other than 4 or 8 bytes); {} variables' values not compared \
+         (filter not in this build)",
+        files.len(),
+        explained.len(),
+        unexplained.len(),
+        stale.len(),
+        RELABELLED.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+        FILTER_SKIPPED.load(Ordering::Relaxed),
+    );
+    for (rel, reason, diffs) in &explained {
+        eprintln!("explained: {rel} ({reason}): {} differences", diffs.len());
+    }
+    for (rel, diffs) in &unexplained {
+        eprintln!("DIFFERS: {rel}");
+        for d in diffs.iter().take(20) {
+            eprintln!("    {d}");
+        }
+    }
+    assert!(
+        unexplained.is_empty(),
+        "{} files differ from netCDF-C unexplained",
+        unexplained.len()
+    );
+    assert!(
+        stale.is_empty(),
+        "listed in corpus_known_differences.txt but match: {stale:?}"
+    );
+}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/interop_tests.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 //!
 //! Tests are skipped if python3 or netCDF4/xarray Python packages are not available.
 
+mod common;
+
 use std::process::Command;
 
 use clawhdf5_netcdf4::{AttrValue, NcType, NetCDF4File};
@@ -842,3 +844,267 @@ ds.to_netcdf({path:?}, engine={engine:?}, unlimited_dims=["time"])
         assert_same_view(&path);
     }
 }
+
+// ===========================================================================
+// Compared with netCDF-C itself (tests/netcdf_c_view.py): groups,
+// dimensions, variables, types and values, in netCDF-C's order
+// ===========================================================================
+
+/// The dimensions of the variable `name` (a path) of `file`.
+fn dim_names(file: &NetCDF4File, name: &str) -> Vec<String> {
+    file.variable(name)
+        .unwrap()
+        .dimensions()
+        .iter()
+        .map(|d| d.name.clone())
+        .collect()
+}
+
+/// An h5py file without dimension scales: netCDF-C's phony dimensions,
+/// numbered file-wide (subgroups before their parent's variables, each
+/// group's datasets in name order, as h5py does not track creation order),
+/// shared by length within a group — but not between two axes of one
+/// variable, nor between a fixed and an unlimited axis — with a length of 0
+/// always unlimited and never shared with a fixed axis, and the real
+/// dimension of a scale taken by length too.
+#[test]
+fn phony_dimensions_match_netcdf_c() {
+    skip_if_no_netcdf4!();
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let path = dir.path().join("phony.h5");
+    run_python(&format!(
+        r#"
+import h5py
+import numpy as np
+with h5py.File({path:?}, "w") as f:
+    f["zz"] = np.arange(12.0).reshape(2, 2, 3)
+    f["aa"] = np.arange(6, dtype="i4").reshape(3, 2)
+    f.create_dataset("un", data=np.ones((2, 3), "f4"), maxshape=(None, 3))
+    f.create_dataset("un2", data=np.ones(2, "f4"), maxshape=(None,))
+    f["zero"] = np.zeros((0,))
+    f.create_dataset("zero_un", (0,), "f4", maxshape=(None,))
+    f["zero2"] = np.zeros((0, 2))
+    f["s"] = 1.5
+    g = f.create_group("g")
+    g["x"] = np.arange(5, dtype="i2")
+    g["y"] = np.arange(2, dtype="u1")
+    g.create_group("h")["q"] = np.arange(7.0)
+    f.create_group("b")["w"] = np.arange(18, dtype="i8").reshape(2, 9)
+    f["sc"] = np.arange(6.0)
+    f["sc"].make_scale("sc")
+    f["second_only"] = np.zeros((2, 6))
+    f["second_only"].dims[1].attach_scale(f["sc"])
+"#,
+        path = path.display().to_string()
+    ));
+    common::assert_matches_netcdf_c(&path);
+
+    let file = NetCDF4File::open(&path).unwrap();
+    // `sc` is dimension 0; /b gets 1 and 2, /g/h 3, /g 4 and 5, / from 6.
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "b/w"), ["phony_dim_1", "phony_dim_2"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "g/h/q"), ["phony_dim_3"]);
+    let h = file.group("g/h").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(h.variable_names().unwrap(), ["q"]);
+    assert_eq!(h.dimensions().unwrap()[0].name, "phony_dim_3");
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "aa"), ["phony_dim_6", "phony_dim_7"]);
+    assert_eq!(
+        dim_names(&file, "zz"),
+        ["phony_dim_7", "phony_dim_11", "phony_dim_6"]
+    );
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "second_only"), ["phony_dim_7", "sc"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "un"), ["phony_dim_8", "phony_dim_6"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "un2"), ["phony_dim_8"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "zero"), ["phony_dim_9"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "zero_un"), ["phony_dim_9"]);
+    assert_eq!(dim_names(&file, "zero2"), ["phony_dim_10", "phony_dim_7"]);
+    let root: Vec<(String, u64, bool)> = file
+        .dimensions()
+        .unwrap()
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|d| (d.name, d.size, d.is_unlimited))
+        .collect();
+    assert_eq!(root[0], ("sc".to_string(), 6, false));
+    assert!(root.contains(&("phony_dim_8".to_string(), 2, true)));
+    assert!(root.contains(&("phony_dim_9".to_string(), 0, true)));
+    assert!(root.contains(&("phony_dim_10".to_string(), 0, true)));
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.variable_names().unwrap(),
+        [
+            "aa",
+            "s",
+            "sc",
+            "second_only",
+            "un",
+            "un2",
+            "zero",
+            "zero2",
+            "zero_un",
+            "zz"
+        ]
+    );
+}
+
+/// Datasets of types netCDF-C cannot represent are not variables:
+/// references, bit fields, array types, a compound with a reference member
+/// or a half-float member, a compound nesting a compound not seen before;
+/// enum, compound, variable-length and opaque types are variables of those
+/// classes. netCDF-C also remembers a type it failed to read, so the second
+/// dataset of a compound with a reference member is a variable, and a
+/// nested compound is accepted once a dataset of the inner type was read.
+#[test]
+fn types_netcdf_c_skips_are_not_variables() {
+    skip_if_no_netcdf4!();
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let path = dir.path().join("types.h5");
+    run_python(&format!(
+        r#"
+import h5py
+import numpy as np
+inner = np.dtype([("x", "i2"), ("y", "f4")])
+with h5py.File({path:?}, "w") as f:
+    f["i4"] = np.arange(3, dtype="i4")
+    f["f2"] = np.arange(3, dtype="f2")
+    f["s1"] = np.array([b"a", b"b"], dtype="S1")
+    f["s5"] = np.array([b"abc", b"b"], dtype="S5")
+    f["vs"] = np.array(["x", "yy"], dtype=h5py.string_dtype())
+    f["bool"] = np.array([True, False])
+    f["cmp"] = np.array([(1, 2.0)], dtype=[("a", "i4"), ("b", "f8")])
+    f["en"] = np.array([0, 1], dtype=h5py.enum_dtype({{"A": 0, "B": 1}}, basetype="i1"))
+    d = f.create_dataset("vl", (2,), dtype=h5py.vlen_dtype("i4"))
+    d[0] = [1, 2]
+    d[1] = [3]
+    f["op"] = np.array([b"ab", b"cd"], dtype="V2")
+    f.create_dataset("ref", (1,), dtype=h5py.ref_dtype)[0] = f["i4"].ref
+    f["cref1"] = np.array([(1, f["i4"].ref)], dtype=[("a", "i4"), ("r", h5py.ref_dtype)])
+    f["cref2"] = np.array([(2, f["i4"].ref)], dtype=[("a", "i4"), ("r", h5py.ref_dtype)])
+    f["cmp_f2"] = np.zeros(2, dtype=[("a", "f2")])
+    f["in1"] = np.zeros(2, dtype=inner)
+    f["nested"] = np.zeros(2, dtype=[("a", "i4"), ("in", inner)])
+    f["a_nested"] = np.zeros(2, dtype=[("b", "i4"), ("in", np.dtype([("p", "i1")]))])
+    sid = h5py.h5s.create_simple((2,))
+    h5py.h5d.create(f.id, b"bitf", h5py.h5t.STD_B8LE.copy(), sid)
+    h5py.h5d.create(f.id, b"arr", h5py.h5t.array_create(h5py.h5t.NATIVE_INT32, (3,)), sid)
+"#,
+        path = path.display().to_string()
+    ));
+    common::assert_matches_netcdf_c(&path);
+
+    let file = NetCDF4File::open(&path).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.variable_names().unwrap(),
+        [
+            "bool", "cmp", "cref2", "en", "f2", "i4", "in1", "nested", "op", "s1", "s5", "vl", "vs"
+        ]
+    );
+    let nc_type = |name: &str| file.variable(name).unwrap().nc_type().unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("bool"), NcType::Enum);
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("cmp"), NcType::Compound);
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("vl"), NcType::VLen);
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("op"), NcType::Opaque);
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("s1"), NcType::Char);
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("s5"), NcType::String);
+    // netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6 says NC_STRING (deliberate
+    // difference, see the README).
+    assert_eq!(nc_type("f2"), NcType::Float);
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.variable("f2").unwrap().read_raw_f32().unwrap(),
+        [0.0, 1.0, 2.0]
+    );
+    assert!(matches!(
+        file.variable("ref"),
+        Err(clawhdf5_netcdf4::Error::VariableNotFound(_))
+    ));
+}
+
+/// The order of groups and variables: creation order where the group
+/// tracks it (every netCDF-4 file; also h5py with `track_order`), compact
+/// or dense (more than 8 links), else name order (h5py by default).
+#[test]
+fn group_and_variable_order_match_netcdf_c() {
+    skip_if_no_netcdf4!();
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let nc = dir.path().join("order.nc");
+    let h5 = dir.path().join("order.h5");
+    run_python(&format!(
+        r#"
+import h5py
+import netCDF4 as nc
+import numpy as np
+names = ["zeta", "alpha", "mid", "beta", "omega", "gamma", "k", "a", "zz", "c"]
+with nc.Dataset({nc:?}, "w") as f:
+    f.createDimension("x", 2)
+    for i, n in enumerate(names):
+        f.createVariable(n, "i4", ("x",))[:] = [i, i + 1]
+    for n in ["gz", "ga", "gm"]:
+        f.createGroup(n).createVariable("v", "f8", ("x",))[:] = [1, 2]
+    small = f.createGroup("small")
+    for n in ["q", "b", "p"]:
+        small.createVariable(n, "i2", ("x",))[:] = [3, 4]
+with h5py.File({h5:?}, "w") as f:
+    for i, n in enumerate(names):
+        f[n] = np.arange(i + 1)
+    t = f.create_group("tracked", track_order=True)
+    for i, n in enumerate(names):
+        t[n] = np.arange(3, dtype="i1")
+    for n in ["gz", "ga"]:
+        f.create_group(n)["v"] = np.arange(4.0)
+"#,
+        nc = nc.display().to_string(),
+        h5 = h5.display().to_string()
+    ));
+    common::assert_matches_netcdf_c(&nc);
+    common::assert_matches_netcdf_c(&h5);
+
+    let file = NetCDF4File::open(&nc).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.variable_names().unwrap(),
+        [
+            "zeta", "alpha", "mid", "beta", "omega", "gamma", "k", "a", "zz", "c"
+        ]
+    );
+    assert_eq!(file.group_names().unwrap(), ["gz", "ga", "gm", "small"]);
+    let file = NetCDF4File::open(&h5).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(file.group_names().unwrap(), ["ga", "gz", "tracked"]);
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.variable_names().unwrap(),
+        [
+            "a", "alpha", "beta", "c", "gamma", "k", "mid", "omega", "zeta", "zz"
+        ]
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.group("tracked").unwrap().variable_names().unwrap(),
+        [
+            "zeta", "alpha", "mid", "beta", "omega", "gamma", "k", "a", "zz", "c"
+        ]
+    );
+}
+
+/// The files of the earlier tests, compared with netCDF-C itself too:
+/// dimension scales of h5py, netCDF4-python files with groups, unlimited
+/// dimensions and non-coordinate variables named like a dimension.
+#[test]
+fn netcdf4_python_files_match_netcdf_c() {
+    skip_if_no_netcdf4!();
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let path = dir.path().join("mixed.nc");
+    run_python(&format!(
+        r#"
+import netCDF4 as nc
+import numpy as np
+with nc.Dataset({path:?}, "w") as f:
+    f.createDimension("time", None)
+    f.createDimension("p", 2)
+    f.createDimension("q", 2)
+    f.createVariable("a", "i4", ("time",))[0:2] = [1, 2]
+    f.createVariable("b", "f4", ("time", "q"))[0:5, :] = np.arange(10).reshape(5, 2)
+    f.createVariable("q", "f4", ("q",))[:] = [0, 1]
+    f.createVariable("p", "f4", ("q", "p"))[:] = np.array([[0, 1], [2, 3]])
+    g = f.createGroup("g")
+    g.createDimension("r", 3)
+    g.createVariable("w", "i4", ("r", "time"))[:, 0:1] = np.ones((3, 1))
+    g.createGroup("h").createVariable("z", "i8", ("p", "r"))[:] = np.arange(6).reshape(2, 3)
+"#,
+        path = path.display().to_string()
+    ));
+    common::assert_matches_netcdf_c(&path);
+}

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/netcdf4_tests.rs

@@ -776,9 +776,12 @@ fn test_pure_dimensions_hidden_and_non_coord_names() {
         .with_shape(&[2]);
     let file = NetCDF4File::from_bytes(b.finish().unwrap()).unwrap();
 
+    // `x`, and the phony dimension netCDF-C gives the 3 values of
+    // `_nc4_non_coord_x` (no dimension scale attached).
     let dims = file.dimensions().unwrap();
-    assert_eq!(dims.len(), 1);
+    let names: Vec<&str> = dims.iter().map(|d| d.name.as_str()).collect();
-    assert_eq!(dims[0].name, "x");
+    assert_eq!(names, ["x", "phony_dim_1"]);
+    assert_eq!(dims[1].size, 3);
     let mut names = file.variable_names().unwrap();
     names.sort();
     assert_eq!(names, ["v", "x"]);
@@ -786,7 +789,8 @@ fn test_pure_dimensions_hidden_and_non_coord_names() {
     assert_eq!(x.name(), "x");
     assert_eq!(x.read_raw_f64().unwrap(), [1.0, 2.0, 3.0]);
     assert!(!x.is_coordinate());
-    // No DIMENSION_LIST: `v` gets `x` by size, as before.
+    // No DIMENSION_LIST: `v` gets the group's first dimension of its length
+    // (netCDF-C's phony rule, which also takes real dimensions).
     assert_eq!(file.variable("v").unwrap().dimensions()[0].name, "x");
 }
 

crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/netcdf_c_view.py

@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""netcdf_c_view.py FILE...: print each file as netCDF-C sees it.
+
+The metadata comes from netCDF-C itself (the libnetcdf that netCDF4-python
+bundles, called through ctypes), not from netCDF4-python's objects, which
+leave out variables of types netCDF-C supports but netCDF4-python does not
+(opaque, compounds of vlen strings, ...). Values come from netCDF4-python.
+Each file is read in its own process under a timeout, so a file that crashes
+or hangs libnetcdf only costs that file.
+
+Output, per file, fields separated by tabs:
+
+    FILE <path>
+    ERROR <message>                      netCDF-C cannot open it; nothing else
+    G <group>                            every group, pre-order, children in
+                                         netCDF-C's order ("/" is the root)
+    D <group> <name> <length> <0|1>      its dimensions in dimension-id order
+                                         (1: unlimited)
+    V <group> <name> <type> <dims> <shape>
+                                         its variables in netCDF-C's order;
+                                         <dims> and <shape> comma-separated,
+                                         "-" when there are none; <type> as
+                                         clawhdf5_netcdf4::NcType prints it
+    X <group> <name> <values>            the values of a numeric variable of
+                                         at most MAX_VALUES elements, as
+                                         space-separated Python float reprs
+                                         ("-" when there are none)
+    END
+
+Used by tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs (CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS).
+"""
+import concurrent.futures
+import ctypes
+import glob
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+MAX_VALUES = 5000
+TIMEOUT = 60
+MEMORY = 4 << 30  # address space of each file's process
+
+ATOMIC = {
+    1: "NC_BYTE", 2: "NC_CHAR", 3: "NC_SHORT", 4: "NC_INT", 5: "NC_FLOAT",
+    6: "NC_DOUBLE", 7: "NC_UBYTE", 8: "NC_USHORT", 9: "NC_UINT",
+    10: "NC_INT64", 11: "NC_UINT64", 12: "NC_STRING",
+}
+USER_CLASS = {13: "NC_VLEN", 14: "NC_OPAQUE", 15: "NC_ENUM", 16: "NC_COMPOUND"}
+NUMERIC = {"NC_BYTE", "NC_SHORT", "NC_INT", "NC_FLOAT", "NC_DOUBLE",
+           "NC_UBYTE", "NC_USHORT", "NC_UINT", "NC_INT64", "NC_UINT64"}
+NAME = 257  # NC_MAX_NAME + 1
+MAXDIMS = 1024
+
+
+def libnetcdf():
+    """The libnetcdf netCDF4-python is linked with (same process, same copy)."""
+    import netCDF4
+    site = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(netCDF4.__file__))
+    found = glob.glob(os.path.join(site, "netcdf4.libs", "libnetcdf*.so*")) + \
+        glob.glob(os.path.join(site, "netCDF4.libs", "libnetcdf*.so*"))
+    if found:
+        return ctypes.CDLL(found[0])
+    return ctypes.CDLL("libnetcdf.so")
+
+
+def view(path, out):
+    nc = libnetcdf()
+    ncid = ctypes.c_int()
+    rc = nc.nc_open(path.encode(), 0, ctypes.byref(ncid))  # NC_NOWRITE
+    if rc != 0:
+        nc.nc_strerror.restype = ctypes.c_char_p
+        out.append("ERROR\t" + nc.nc_strerror(rc).decode(errors="replace"))
+        return
+    numeric = []  # (group path, variable name)
+    try:
+        walk(nc, ncid.value, "/", out, numeric)
+    finally:
+        nc.nc_close(ncid)
+    values(path, numeric, out)
+
+
+def check(rc, what):
+    if rc != 0:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"{what} failed: {rc}")
+
+
+def name_of(fn, *args):
+    buf = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+    check(fn(*args, buf), fn.__name__)
+    return buf.value.decode(errors="replace")
+
+
+def walk(nc, gid, path, out, numeric):
+    out.append(f"G\t{path}")
+    n = ctypes.c_int()
+    ids = (ctypes.c_int * MAXDIMS)()
+    check(nc.nc_inq_dimids(gid, ctypes.byref(n), ids, 0), "nc_inq_dimids")
+    for dimid in ids[: n.value]:
+        length = ctypes.c_size_t()
+        dname = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+        check(nc.nc_inq_dim(gid, dimid, dname, ctypes.byref(length)), "nc_inq_dim")
+        out.append(f"D\t{path}\t{dname.value.decode(errors='replace')}\t{length.value}\t"
+                   f"{int(is_unlimited(nc, gid, dimid))}")
+    nvars = ctypes.c_int()
+    varids = (ctypes.c_int * 65536)()
+    check(nc.nc_inq_varids(gid, ctypes.byref(nvars), varids), "nc_inq_varids")
+    for varid in varids[: nvars.value]:
+        vname = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+        xtype = ctypes.c_int()
+        ndims = ctypes.c_int()
+        dimids = (ctypes.c_int * MAXDIMS)()
+        natts = ctypes.c_int()
+        check(nc.nc_inq_var(gid, varid, vname, ctypes.byref(xtype), ctypes.byref(ndims),
+                            dimids, ctypes.byref(natts)), "nc_inq_var")
+        names, shape = [], []
+        for dimid in dimids[: ndims.value]:
+            dname = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+            length = ctypes.c_size_t()
+            if nc.nc_inq_dim(gid, dimid, dname, ctypes.byref(length)) != 0:
+                names.append("?")
+                shape.append("?")
+                continue
+            names.append(dname.value.decode(errors="replace"))
+            shape.append(str(length.value))
+        tname = type_name(nc, gid, xtype.value)
+        vn = vname.value.decode(errors="replace")
+        out.append(f"V\t{path}\t{vn}\t{tname}\t{','.join(names) or '-'}\t{','.join(shape) or '-'}")
+        if tname in NUMERIC and "?" not in shape:
+            count = 1
+            for s in shape:
+                count *= int(s)
+            if count <= MAX_VALUES:
+                numeric.append((path, vn))
+    ngrps = ctypes.c_int()
+    grps = (ctypes.c_int * 65536)()
+    check(nc.nc_inq_grps(gid, ctypes.byref(ngrps), grps), "nc_inq_grps")
+    for child in grps[: ngrps.value]:
+        cname = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+        check(nc.nc_inq_grpname(child, cname), "nc_inq_grpname")
+        cpath = path.rstrip("/") + "/" + cname.value.decode(errors="replace")
+        walk(nc, child, cpath, out, numeric)
+
+
+def is_unlimited(nc, gid, dimid):
+    n = ctypes.c_int()
+    ids = (ctypes.c_int * MAXDIMS)()
+    # Unlimited dimensions visible from this group include its parents'.
+    if nc.nc_inq_unlimdims(gid, ctypes.byref(n), ids) != 0:
+        return False
+    return dimid in ids[: n.value]
+
+
+def type_name(nc, gid, xtype):
+    if xtype in ATOMIC:
+        return ATOMIC[xtype]
+    size = ctypes.c_size_t()
+    base = ctypes.c_int()
+    nfields = ctypes.c_size_t()
+    klass = ctypes.c_int()
+    tname = ctypes.create_string_buffer(NAME)
+    if nc.nc_inq_user_type(gid, xtype, tname, ctypes.byref(size), ctypes.byref(base),
+                           ctypes.byref(nfields), ctypes.byref(klass)) != 0:
+        return f"type{xtype}"
+    return USER_CLASS.get(klass.value, f"class{klass.value}")
+
+
+def values(path, numeric, out):
+    if not numeric:
+        return
+    import numpy as np
+    import netCDF4
+    try:
+        ds = netCDF4.Dataset(path)
+    except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 - netCDF4-python refuses some files netCDF-C opens
+        return
+    with ds:
+        for gpath, name in numeric:
+            try:
+                group = ds if gpath == "/" else ds[gpath]
+                var = group.variables[name]
+                var.set_auto_maskandscale(False)
+                # A whole-variable read through netCDF-C 4.9.3 lays out a
+                # variable shorter than an unlimited dimension that is not its
+                # first wrongly (written values first); reads of one index of
+                # the leading axis are right.
+                if var.ndim >= 2:
+                    data = np.stack([np.asarray(var[i]) for i in range(var.shape[0])]) \
+                        if var.shape[0] else np.zeros(var.shape)
+                else:
+                    data = np.asarray(var[...])
+                flat = np.asarray(data, dtype=np.float64).ravel()
+            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001
+                continue
+            vals = " ".join(repr(float(v)) for v in flat) or "-"
+            out.append(f"X\t{gpath}\t{name}\t{vals}")
+
+
+def limit_memory():
+    import resource
+    resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS, (MEMORY, MEMORY))
+
+
+def one(path):
+    """Run view() for one file in a child process."""
+    try:
+        proc = subprocess.run([sys.executable, __file__, "--one", path],
+                              capture_output=True, timeout=TIMEOUT, text=True,
+                              preexec_fn=limit_memory)
+    except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
+        return [f"FILE\t{path}", "ERROR\ttimeout", "END"]
+    lines = proc.stdout.splitlines()
+    if proc.returncode != 0 or not lines or lines[-1] != "END":
+        err = (proc.stderr.strip().splitlines() or [f"exit {proc.returncode}"])[-1]
+        return [f"FILE\t{path}", f"ERROR\tchild failed: {err}", "END"]
+    return lines
+
+
+def main(argv):
+    if argv and argv[0] == "--one":
+        out = [f"FILE\t{argv[1]}"]
+        try:
+            view(argv[1], out)
+        except Exception as e:  # noqa: BLE001
+            out = [f"FILE\t{argv[1]}", f"ERROR\t{e}"]
+        out.append("END")
+        sys.stdout.write("\n".join(out) + "\n")
+        return
+    if argv and argv[0] == "--list":
+        with open(argv[1]) as fh:
+            argv = [line.rstrip("\n") for line in fh if line.strip()]
+    jobs = int(os.environ.get("CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_JOBS", "4"))
+    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(jobs) as pool:
+        for lines in pool.map(one, argv):
+            sys.stdout.write("\n".join(lines) + "\n")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main(sys.argv[1:])

crates/clawhdf5-py/README.md

@@ -104,7 +104,22 @@ writes `float64`, `float32`, `int64`, `int32`, `uint8`, `complex64` and
 `complex128` arrays; the file is written on `close()`. Complex arrays are
 stored as h5py stores them, a compound `{r, i}` that every libhdf5 reads
 (not HDF5 2.0's native complex type, which only libhdf5 2.0+ reads; the
-Rust API writes that on request).
+Rust API writes that on request). Both forms read back as numpy
+`complex64`/`complex128`.
+
+`libver=` sets the library version bounds as in h5py: `'v108'`,
+`'v110'`, `'v112'`, `'v114'`, `'v200'` or `'latest'` (the low bound; the
+high bound is then `'latest'`), or a `(low, high)` tuple. With `'v108'`
+the file is written in the HDF5 1.8 format (version-2 superblock,
+version-1 B-tree chunk indexes), which HDF5 1.8 reads; the default is the
+HDF5 1.10 format. `'earliest'` as the low bound writes the 1.8 format too,
+with a `UserWarning`: clawhdf5 cannot write the pre-1.8 format. The
+argument is ignored when reading and refused for `'r+'`/`'a'`.
+
+```python
+with clawhdf5.File("old.h5", "w", libver="v108") as f:   # HDF5 1.8 reads it
+    f.create_dataset("x", data=np.arange(10.0), chunks=(5,), compression="gzip")
+```
 
 ## Editing a file in place
 

crates/clawhdf5-py/src/file.rs

@@ -13,10 +13,13 @@ use crate::attrs::PyAttrs;
 use crate::group::{PyGroup, ReadGroup, WriteGroupState, finalize_write_group};
 use crate::handle::Handle;
 use crate::{DatasetSpec, OwnedAttrValue, apply_dataset_spec, extract_numpy_data, to_py_err};
+use clawhdf5_rs::LibVer;
 
 /// Internal state for write mode.
 struct WriteState {
     path: PathBuf,
+    /// `libver=` as (low, high); `None` keeps the writer's default.
+    libver: Option<(LibVer, LibVer)>,
     root_datasets: Vec<DatasetSpec>,
     root_attrs: Arc<Mutex<Vec<(String, OwnedAttrValue)>>>,
     groups: Vec<Arc<Mutex<WriteGroupState>>>,
@@ -80,10 +83,32 @@ impl PyFile {
     ///     `az://`; which schemes work depends on how the wheel was built)
     ///     to read the file remotely with default options (see `open_url`)
     ///   mode: 'r' for read (default), 'w' for write
+    ///   libver: library version bounds for mode 'w', as h5py's: one of
+    ///     'earliest', 'v108', 'v110', 'v112', 'v114', 'v200', 'latest' (the
+    ///     low bound; the high bound is then 'latest') or a (low, high)
+    ///     tuple of them. The low bound is the oldest HDF5 release whose
+    ///     format the file uses ('v108': HDF5 1.8 can read it); the high
+    ///     bound the newest whose features it may use. clawhdf5 cannot write
+    ///     the pre-1.8 format, so a low bound of 'earliest' writes the 1.8
+    ///     format (with a warning) and a high bound of 'earliest' is an
+    ///     error. Default (None): the HDF5 1.10 format clawhdf5 has always
+    ///     written. Ignored for reading; not supported with 'r+' / 'a'.
     #[new]
-    #[pyo3(signature = (path, mode="r"))]
+    #[pyo3(signature = (path, mode="r", libver=None))]
-    fn new(py: Python<'_>, path: &str, mode: &str) -> PyResult<Self> {
+    fn new(
+        py: Python<'_>,
+        path: &str,
+        mode: &str,
+        libver: Option<&Bound<'_, PyAny>>,
+    ) -> PyResult<Self> {
         let filename = path.to_string();
+        let libver = libver.map(|v| parse_libver(py, v)).transpose()?;
+        if libver.is_some() && matches!(mode, "r+" | "a") {
+            return Err(PyNotImplementedError::new_err(format!(
+                "libver with mode '{mode}': clawhdf5's in-place editor keeps the format \
+                 versions the file already uses"
+            )));
+        }
         if is_url(path) {
             if mode != "r" {
                 return Err(PyValueError::new_err(format!(
@@ -113,6 +138,7 @@ impl PyFile {
                     // Absolute now: the file is written at close, possibly
                     // after the working directory changed.
                     path: std::path::absolute(path).unwrap_or_else(|_| PathBuf::from(path)),
+                    libver,
                     root_datasets: Vec::new(),
                     root_attrs: Arc::new(Mutex::new(Vec::new())),
                     groups: Vec::new(),
@@ -460,10 +486,71 @@ fn parse_compression(
     }
 }
 
+/// One of h5py's `libver` names as a bound; `high` says which end it is.
+/// `Ok(None)` is 'earliest' as the low bound: the pre-1.8 format, which
+/// clawhdf5 cannot write.
+fn libver_name(name: &str, high: bool) -> PyResult<Option<LibVer>> {
+    Ok(Some(match name {
+        "earliest" if high => {
+            return Err(PyValueError::new_err(
+                "libver high bound 'earliest' (the pre-1.8 format) cannot be written by \
+                 clawhdf5; the oldest format it writes is 'v108'",
+            ));
+        }
+        "earliest" => return Ok(None),
+        "v108" => LibVer::V18,
+        "v110" => LibVer::V110,
+        "v112" => LibVer::V112,
+        "v114" => LibVer::V114,
+        "v200" => LibVer::V200,
+        "latest" => LibVer::Latest,
+        other => {
+            return Err(PyValueError::new_err(format!(
+                "unknown libver '{other}'; expected 'earliest', 'v108', 'v110', 'v112', \
+                 'v114', 'v200' or 'latest'"
+            )));
+        }
+    }))
+}
+
+/// h5py's `libver=`: a name (the low bound, high bound 'latest') or a
+/// `(low, high)` pair.
+fn parse_libver(py: Python<'_>, v: &Bound<'_, PyAny>) -> PyResult<(LibVer, LibVer)> {
+    let (low, high): (String, String) = match v.extract::<String>() {
+        Ok(name) => (name, "latest".into()),
+        Err(_) => v.extract().map_err(|_| {
+            PyValueError::new_err("libver must be a string or a (low, high) tuple of strings")
+        })?,
+    };
+    let Some(high) = libver_name(&high, true)? else {
+        unreachable!("a high bound is never None")
+    };
+    let low = match libver_name(&low, false)? {
+        Some(low) => low,
+        None => {
+            PyModule::import(py, "warnings")?.getattr("warn")?.call1((
+                "libver 'earliest': clawhdf5 cannot write the pre-1.8 format; the file \
+                 is written in the HDF5 1.8 format ('v108') instead",
+                py.get_type::<pyo3::exceptions::PyUserWarning>(),
+            ))?;
+            LibVer::V18
+        }
+    };
+    if low > high {
+        return Err(PyValueError::new_err(format!(
+            "libver low bound {low} is newer than the high bound {high}"
+        )));
+    }
+    Ok((low, high))
+}
+
 /// Build and write the HDF5 file from accumulated write state.
 fn finalize_write(state: WriteState) -> PyResult<()> {
     crate::no_panic(|| {
         let mut builder = clawhdf5_rs::FileBuilder::new();
+        if let Some((low, high)) = state.libver {
+            builder.libver_bounds(low, high);
+        }
 
         // Root attributes
         let root_attrs = state.root_attrs.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
@@ -520,6 +607,7 @@ mod tests {
 
         let state = WriteState {
             path: path.clone(),
+            libver: None,
             root_datasets: vec![DatasetSpec {
                 name: "data".into(),
                 data: crate::DatasetData::F64(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0]),

crates/clawhdf5-py/tests/test_libver.py

@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+"""`clawhdf5.File(path, 'w', libver=...)`: h5py's library version bounds.
+
+A file written with libver='v108' must open in HDF5 1.8. Its h5dump is
+found through CLAWHDF5_H5DUMP18 or at ~/.cache/hdf5-1.8.23/bin/h5dump
+(scripts/build-hdf5-1.8.sh builds it); without it that check is skipped.
+"""
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+
+import clawhdf5
+
+
+def superblock_version(path):
+    with open(path, "rb") as f:
+        head = f.read(9)
+    assert head[:8] == b"\x89HDF\r\n\x1a\n"
+    return head[8]
+
+
+def h5dump18():
+    path = os.environ.get("CLAWHDF5_H5DUMP18") or os.path.expanduser(
+        "~/.cache/hdf5-1.8.23/bin/h5dump"
+    )
+    try:
+        out = subprocess.run([path, "--version"], capture_output=True, text=True)
+    except OSError:
+        return None
+    return path if "1.8." in out.stdout else None
+
+
+def write_sample(path, libver):
+    with clawhdf5.File(path, "w", libver=libver) as f:
+        f.create_dataset("x", data=np.arange(10, dtype=np.float64))
+        f.create_dataset(
+            "chunked",
+            data=np.arange(100, dtype=np.int32),
+            chunks=(30,),
+            compression="gzip",
+        )
+        f.create_dataset("z", data=np.array([1 + 2j, -3j], dtype=np.complex128))
+        g = f.create_group("g")
+        g.create_dataset("y", data=np.ones(3, dtype=np.float32))
+        f.attrs["version"] = 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "libver, sb",
+    [
+        (None, 3),
+        ("v108", 2),
+        (("v108", "v108"), 2),
+        (("v108", "latest"), 2),
+        ("v110", 3),
+        ("v112", 3),
+        ("v114", 3),
+        ("v200", 3),
+        ("latest", 3),
+        (("v110", "v200"), 3),
+    ],
+)
+def test_libver_bounds(h5py, tmp_path, libver, sb):
+    path = str(tmp_path / "libver.h5")
+    write_sample(path, libver)
+    # v108 low bound: HDF5 1.8's version-2 superblock; 1.10 and later: 3.
+    assert superblock_version(path) == sb
+    with h5py.File(path, "r") as f:
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["x"][:], np.arange(10.0))
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["chunked"][:], np.arange(100))
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["z"][:], [1 + 2j, -3j])
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["g/y"][:], np.ones(3))
+        assert f.attrs["version"] == 1
+    with clawhdf5.File(path, "r") as f:
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["chunked"][:], np.arange(100))
+
+
+def test_libver_v108_opens_in_hdf5_1_8(tmp_path):
+    h5dump = h5dump18()
+    if h5dump is None:
+        pytest.skip("no HDF5 1.8 h5dump (CLAWHDF5_H5DUMP18)")
+    path = str(tmp_path / "v108.h5")
+    write_sample(path, "v108")
+    out = subprocess.run([h5dump, path], capture_output=True, text=True)
+    assert out.returncode == 0, out.stderr
+    assert "h5dump error" not in out.stderr
+    assert 'DATASET "y"' in out.stdout
+    # The chunked, deflated dataset (a version-1 B-tree) reads in full.
+    out = subprocess.run(
+        [h5dump, "-w", "0", "-d", "/chunked", path], capture_output=True, text=True
+    )
+    assert out.returncode == 0, out.stderr
+    assert "(0): " + ", ".join(str(k) for k in range(100)) + "\n" in out.stdout
+    # The default (1.10 format) does not open in 1.8: the bound matters.
+    path = str(tmp_path / "default.h5")
+    write_sample(path, None)
+    out = subprocess.run([h5dump, path], capture_output=True, text=True)
+    assert out.returncode != 0
+
+
+def test_libver_earliest_writes_v108_with_a_warning(h5py, tmp_path):
+    path = str(tmp_path / "earliest.h5")
+    with pytest.warns(UserWarning, match="pre-1.8"):
+        write_sample(path, "earliest")
+    assert superblock_version(path) == 2
+    with h5py.File(path, "r") as f:
+        np.testing.assert_array_equal(f["x"][:], np.arange(10.0))
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "libver, match",
+    [
+        (("v108", "earliest"), "high bound 'earliest'"),
+        ("v109", "unknown libver 'v109'"),
+        (("latest", "v108"), "newer than the high bound"),
+        (("v108",), "tuple"),
+        (3, "tuple"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_libver_errors(tmp_path, libver, match):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=match):
+        clawhdf5.File(str(tmp_path / "bad.h5"), "w", libver=libver)
+
+
+def test_libver_v108_high_bound_writes_everything(tmp_path):
+    # Native complex numbers need HDF5 2.0; the Python writer stores complex
+    # as h5py's {r, i} compound, which 1.8 reads, so the 1.8 high bound is
+    # fine for everything clawhdf5.File writes.
+    path = str(tmp_path / "v18only.h5")
+    write_sample(path, ("v108", "v108"))
+    assert superblock_version(path) == 2
+
+
+def test_libver_not_for_editing(tmp_path):
+    path = str(tmp_path / "e.h5")
+    write_sample(path, None)
+    with pytest.raises(NotImplementedError, match="libver"):
+        clawhdf5.File(path, "r+", libver="latest")
+    # Reading ignores it, as the bounds only affect what is written.
+    with clawhdf5.File(path, "r", libver="v108") as f:
+        assert f["x"].shape == (10,)

crates/clawhdf5-tools/src/diff.rs

@@ -603,7 +603,22 @@ impl Diff {
                 let dif = match (int_of(&va), int_of(&vb), number(&va), number(&vb)) {
                     (Some(x), Some(y), ..) => x.abs_diff(y).to_string(),
                     (_, _, Some(x), Some(y)) => value::fmt_float((x - y).abs(), 64),
-                    _ => String::new(),
+                    // Each part's absolute difference, as h5diff 2.x prints
+                    // it (`1+0i`).
+                    _ => match (&va, &vb) {
+                        (
+                            Value::Complex { re: ar, im: ai, .. },
+                            Value::Complex { re: br, im: bi, .. },
+                        ) => match (number(ar), number(ai), number(br), number(bi)) {
+                            (Some(ar), Some(ai), Some(br), Some(bi)) => format!(
+                                "{}+{}i",
+                                value::fmt_float((ar - br).abs(), 64),
+                                value::fmt_float((ai - bi).abs(), 64)
+                            ),
+                            _ => String::new(),
+                        },
+                        _ => String::new(),
+                    },
                 };
                 rows.push(format!("{pos:<24}{ta:<24}{tb:<24}{dif}"));
             }
@@ -713,6 +728,9 @@ impl Diff {
             (Value::Array(p), Value::Array(q)) | (Value::Seq(p), Value::Seq(q)) => {
                 p.len() == q.len() && p.iter().zip(q).all(|(u, v)| self.equal(a, b, u, v))
             }
+            (Value::Complex { re: pr, im: pi, .. }, Value::Complex { re: qr, im: qi, .. }) => {
+                self.equal(a, b, pr, qr) && self.equal(a, b, pi, qi)
+            }
             (Value::Ref(None), Value::Ref(None)) => true,
             (Value::Ref(Some(p)), Value::Ref(Some(q))) => {
                 // Addresses mean nothing across files: compare the paths the
@@ -846,7 +864,10 @@ fn types_comparable(a: &Datatype, b: &Datatype) -> bool {
         (
             Datatype::Enumeration { base_type: x, .. },
             Datatype::Enumeration { base_type: y, .. },
-        ) => types_comparable(x, y),
+        )
+        | (Datatype::Complex { base_type: x, .. }, Datatype::Complex { base_type: y, .. }) => {
+            types_comparable(x, y)
+        }
         _ => true,
     }
 }

crates/clawhdf5-tools/src/dtype.rs

@@ -135,9 +135,16 @@ pub fn short(dt: &Datatype) -> String {
         return f.short.into();
     }
     match dt {
-        Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
+        // numpy's names (`complex64` is two `float32`) for IEEE parts,
-            short(&Datatype::complex_as_compound(*size, base_type))
+        // `complex<part>` otherwise.
-        }
+        Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => match base_type.as_ref() {
+            Datatype::FloatingPoint { byte_order, .. } if is_ieee(base_type) => format!(
+                "complex{}{}",
+                u64::from(*size) * 8,
+                if be(byte_order) { "-be" } else { "" }
+            ),
+            _ => format!("complex<{}>", short(base_type)),
+        },
         Datatype::FixedPoint {
             size,
             signed,
@@ -216,8 +223,9 @@ pub fn long(dt: &Datatype) -> String {
         return f.long.into();
     }
     match dt {
-        Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
+        // As h5ls 2.x prints a complex type it has no native name for.
-            long(&Datatype::complex_as_compound(*size, base_type))
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
+            format!("complex number of\n                   {}", long(base_type))
         }
         Datatype::FixedPoint {
             size,
@@ -361,6 +369,19 @@ fn atomic_ddl(dt: &Datatype) -> Option<String> {
         )),
         // As h5dump 2.x names them (checked against h5dump 2.2.0).
         Datatype::FloatingPoint { .. } => small_float(dt).map(|f| f.ddl.to_string()),
+        // h5dump 2.x's predefined complex names: IEEE binary16/32/64 parts.
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => match base_type.as_ref() {
+            Datatype::FloatingPoint {
+                size, byte_order, ..
+            } if is_ieee(base_type) && !matches!(byte_order, DatatypeByteOrder::Vax) => {
+                Some(format!(
+                    "H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F{}{}",
+                    u64::from(*size) * 8,
+                    order_suffix(byte_order)
+                ))
+            }
+            _ => None,
+        },
         Datatype::BitField {
             size, byte_order, ..
         } => Some(format!(
@@ -418,6 +439,10 @@ pub fn ddl(dt: &Datatype, ind: usize) -> String {
         Datatype::VariableLength { base_type, .. } => {
             format!("H5T_VLEN {{ {} }}", ddl(base_type, ind))
         }
+        // Parts h5dump has no predefined complex name for.
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
+            format!("H5T_COMPLEX {{ {} }}", ddl(base_type, ind))
+        }
         Datatype::Opaque { size, tag } => {
             let tag = String::from_utf8_lossy(tag);
             format!(
@@ -498,6 +523,9 @@ fn string_ddl(
 /// hdf5-json type object.
 pub fn json(dt: &Datatype) -> J {
     match dt {
+        // hdf5-json (h5json 2.0.0) has no complex class: a native complex
+        // is written as the `{r, i}` compound h5py uses for complex numbers,
+        // its values as `[re, im]` pairs.
         Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
             json(&Datatype::complex_as_compound(*size, base_type))
         }
@@ -598,7 +626,7 @@ fn pad_json(p: &StringPadding) -> &'static str {
 /// Class name used to decide whether two datatypes can be compared.
 pub fn class(dt: &Datatype) -> &'static str {
     match dt {
-        Datatype::Complex { .. } => "compound",
+        Datatype::Complex { .. } => "complex",
         Datatype::FixedPoint { .. } => "integer",
         Datatype::FloatingPoint { .. } => "float",
         Datatype::Time { .. } => "time",

crates/clawhdf5-tools/src/value.rs

@@ -27,6 +27,15 @@ pub enum Value {
     /// An enum member (name, when the value matches one) and its value.
     Enum(Option<String>, i128),
     Compound(Vec<(String, Value)>),
+    /// A native complex number (HDF5 2.0 class 11): real and imaginary
+    /// part. `sign_free` is set when h5dump joins the parts with a bare `+`
+    /// (parts it has no native C type for: binary16, non-IEEE), giving
+    /// `1+-2i`; otherwise the imaginary part carries its sign (`1-2i`).
+    Complex {
+        re: Box<Value>,
+        im: Box<Value>,
+        sign_free: bool,
+    },
     Array(Vec<Value>),
     /// A variable-length sequence.
     Seq(Vec<Value>),
@@ -183,11 +192,18 @@ impl<'a> Decoder<'a> {
             return Value::Error("short element".into());
         };
         match dt {
-            Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => self.decode(
+            Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
-                &Datatype::complex_as_compound(*size, base_type),
+                let part = base_type.type_size() as usize;
-                b,
+                let (re, im) = b.split_at(part.min(b.len()));
-                depth + 1,
+                Value::Complex {
-            ),
+                    re: Box::new(self.decode(base_type, re, depth + 1)),
+                    im: Box::new(self.decode(base_type, im, depth + 1)),
+                    // h5dump prints `float`/`double` complex (whatever the
+                    // byte order) with `%g%+gi`, anything else as
+                    // `<re>+<im>i`.
+                    sign_free: !(dtype::is_ieee(base_type) && matches!(part, 4 | 8)),
+                }
+            }
             Datatype::FixedPoint { .. } => match decode_int(dt, b) {
                 Some(v) => Value::Int(v),
                 None => Value::Bytes(b.to_vec()),
@@ -354,6 +370,15 @@ pub fn text(v: &Value, h5paths: &dyn Fn(u64) -> Option<String>) -> String {
                 .collect::<Vec<_>>()
                 .join(", ")
         ),
+        Value::Complex { re, im, sign_free } => {
+            let (re, im) = (text(re, h5paths), text(im, h5paths));
+            let plus = if *sign_free || !im.starts_with('-') {
+                "+"
+            } else {
+                ""
+            };
+            format!("{re}{plus}{im}i")
+        }
         Value::Array(vs) => format!(
             "[ {} ]",
             vs.iter()
@@ -408,6 +433,7 @@ pub fn to_json(v: &Value, h5paths: &dyn Fn(u64) -> Option<String>) -> J {
         Value::Bytes(b) | Value::OtherRef(b) => J::from(hex(b)),
         Value::Enum(_, i) => to_json(&Value::Int(*i), h5paths),
         Value::Compound(ms) => J::Array(ms.iter().map(|(_, v)| to_json(v, h5paths)).collect()),
+        Value::Complex { re, im, .. } => J::Array(vec![to_json(re, h5paths), to_json(im, h5paths)]),
         Value::Array(vs) | Value::Seq(vs) => {
             J::Array(vs.iter().map(|v| to_json(v, h5paths)).collect())
         }

crates/clawhdf5-tools/tests/native_complex_dump.rs

@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+//! `h5rs dump` and `h5rs ls` of HDF5 2.0 native complex numbers (datatype
+//! class 11), against the output of h5dump 2.2.0 and h5ls 2.2.0 (the Debian
+//! h5dump CI installs, 1.14.x, predates the type). The h5dump output is
+//! stored next to the fixture; see
+//! `crates/clawhdf5/tests/fixtures/gen_native_complex.py`.
+
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::process::Command;
+
+fn fixture(name: &str) -> PathBuf {
+    PathBuf::from(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+        .join("../clawhdf5/tests/fixtures")
+        .join(name)
+}
+
+fn h5rs(args: &[&str]) -> String {
+    let out = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_h5rs"))
+        .args(args)
+        .output()
+        .unwrap();
+    assert!(out.status.success(), "h5rs {args:?}: {out:?}");
+    String::from_utf8(out.stdout).unwrap()
+}
+
+/// Split a dump into its lines, with the data lines (`(i): ...`) replaced
+/// by their index, and the data values in order.
+fn split(ddl: &str) -> (Vec<String>, Vec<String>) {
+    let (mut frame, mut data) = (Vec::new(), Vec::new());
+    for line in ddl.lines() {
+        match line.split_once("):") {
+            Some((idx, body)) if idx.trim_start().starts_with('(') => {
+                frame.push(format!("{idx}):"));
+                // Values are split at `, `; array elements come bracketed.
+                data.extend(
+                    body.split(", ")
+                        .map(|s| s.trim().trim_matches(|c| c == '[' || c == ']' || c == ','))
+                        .map(str::trim)
+                        .filter(|s| !s.is_empty() && *s != "{")
+                        .map(String::from),
+                );
+            }
+            _ => {
+                let t = line.trim().trim_end_matches(',');
+                if t.ends_with('i') || t.parse::<f64>().is_ok() {
+                    // A compound member's value on its own line.
+                    data.push(t.to_string());
+                } else {
+                    frame.push(line.to_string());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    (frame, data)
+}
+
+/// `a+bi`, `a-bi` or `a+-bi` as its two parts (a real number as one).
+fn parts(v: &str) -> Vec<f64> {
+    let Some(z) = v.strip_suffix('i') else {
+        return vec![v.parse().unwrap()];
+    };
+    let b = z.as_bytes();
+    let at = (1..b.len())
+        .find(|&k| (b[k] == b'+' || b[k] == b'-') && !matches!(b[k - 1], b'e' | b'E' | b'+'))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("not a complex value: {v}"));
+    let (re, im) = z.split_at(at);
+    let im = im.strip_prefix('+').unwrap_or(im);
+    vec![re.parse().unwrap(), im.parse().unwrap()]
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn dump_matches_h5dump_2_2() {
+    let path = fixture("native_complex_hdf5_2.h5");
+    let ours = h5rs(&["dump", path.to_str().unwrap()]);
+    let reference = std::fs::read_to_string(fixture("native_complex_hdf5_2.ddl")).unwrap();
+    let (mut our_frame, our_data) = split(&ours);
+    let (mut ref_frame, ref_data) = split(&reference);
+    // The first line names the file as it was given.
+    our_frame.remove(0);
+    ref_frame.remove(0);
+    // Everything but the values is h5dump's byte for byte: the types print
+    // as H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, H5T_ARRAY { [2] H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE }, ...
+    assert_eq!(our_frame, ref_frame);
+    assert_eq!(our_data.len(), ref_data.len(), "{our_data:?}\n{ref_data:?}");
+    assert_eq!(our_data.len(), 36);
+    // Values: h5dump prints `%g` (6 digits), inf/nan, and the binary16
+    // parts it has no C type for as `<re>+<im>i` (`1+-2i`); h5rs prints
+    // the shortest round-trip string and Inf/NaN, joined the same way.
+    for (i, (o, r)) in our_data.iter().zip(&ref_data).enumerate() {
+        assert_eq!(o.contains("+-"), r.contains("+-"), "[{i}] {o} vs {r}");
+        let (op, rp) = (parts(o), parts(r));
+        assert_eq!(op.len(), rp.len(), "[{i}] {o} vs {r}");
+        for (x, y) in op.iter().zip(&rp) {
+            let same = if y.is_nan() || y.is_infinite() {
+                x.is_nan() == y.is_nan() && (y.is_nan() || x == y)
+            } else {
+                *x as f32 == *y as f32 || (x - y).abs() <= 5e-6 * y.abs()
+            };
+            assert!(same, "[{i}] h5rs {o}, h5dump {r}");
+            assert_eq!(
+                x.is_sign_negative(),
+                y.is_sign_negative(),
+                "[{i}] {o} vs {r}"
+            );
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn ls_describes_complex_like_h5ls_2_2() {
+    let path = fixture("native_complex_hdf5_2.h5");
+    // h5ls 2.2.0 -v, `Type:` of the types it has no native C name for (it
+    // prints `native double _Complex` for the others, as it prints `native
+    // double` where h5rs prints `IEEE 64-bit little-endian float`).
+    for (name, long) in [
+        (
+            "c128be",
+            "complex number of\n                   IEEE 64-bit big-endian float",
+        ),
+        (
+            "c128",
+            "complex number of\n                   IEEE 64-bit little-endian float",
+        ),
+        (
+            "c32",
+            "complex number of\n                   IEEE 16-bit little-endian float",
+        ),
+        (
+            "array",
+            "[2] complex number of\n                   IEEE 32-bit little-endian float",
+        ),
+    ] {
+        let target = format!("{}/{name}", path.display());
+        let verbose = h5rs(&["ls", "-v", &target]);
+        assert!(
+            verbose.contains(&format!("    Type:      {long}\n")),
+            "{name}:\n{verbose}"
+        );
+    }
+    let listing = h5rs(&["ls", path.to_str().unwrap()]);
+    for (name, short) in [
+        ("c64", "complex64"),
+        ("c128", "complex128"),
+        ("c128be", "complex128-be"),
+        ("c32", "complex32"),
+        ("scalar", "complex128"),
+        ("array", "array[2]<complex64>"),
+        ("compound", "compound{z: complex128, k: int64}"),
+    ] {
+        assert!(
+            listing
+                .lines()
+                .any(|l| l.starts_with(&format!("{name} ")) && l.ends_with(&format!(" {short}"))),
+            "{name}:\n{listing}"
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn json_dump_uses_the_r_i_compound() {
+    // hdf5-json (h5json 2.0.0) has no complex class: the type is written as
+    // the `{r, i}` compound h5py uses, the values as `[re, im]` pairs.
+    let path = fixture("native_complex_hdf5_2.h5");
+    let j: serde_json::Value =
+        serde_json::from_str(&h5rs(&["dump", "--json", path.to_str().unwrap()])).unwrap();
+    let ds = j["datasets"]
+        .as_object()
+        .unwrap()
+        .values()
+        .find(|d| d["alias"][0] == "/scalar")
+        .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(ds["type"]["class"], "H5T_COMPOUND");
+    assert_eq!(ds["type"]["fields"][0]["name"], "r");
+    assert_eq!(ds["type"]["fields"][1]["type"]["base"], "H5T_IEEE_F64LE");
+    assert_eq!(ds["value"], serde_json::json!([2.5, -0.5]));
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn diff_compares_complex_values() {
+    let path = fixture("native_complex_hdf5_2.h5");
+    let p = path.to_str().unwrap();
+    // Same values, different byte order: no differences.
+    let out = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_h5rs"))
+        .args(["diff", p, p, "/c128", "/c128be"])
+        .output()
+        .unwrap();
+    assert!(out.status.success(), "{out:?}");
+    // One element differs in its imaginary part: one difference, exit
+    // status 1, as h5diff 2.2.0 reports it.
+    let out = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_h5rs"))
+        .args(["diff", "-r", p, p, "/c128", "/c128x"])
+        .output()
+        .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(out.status.code(), Some(1), "{out:?}");
+    let text = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout);
+    assert!(text.contains("1 difference(s) found"), "{text}");
+    // h5diff 2.2.0: `[ 1 1 ]  0+1i  1+1i  1+0i`.
+    let row = text.lines().find(|l| l.starts_with("[ 1 1 ]")).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        row.split_whitespace().collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+        ["[", "1", "1", "]", "0+1i", "1+1i", "1+0i"]
+    );
+}

crates/clawhdf5-wasm/src/core.rs

@@ -312,11 +312,14 @@ impl Reader {
         let base = array_base(dt);
         let is_array = !std::ptr::eq(base, dt);
         Ok(match base {
+            // Read as the part type: an array or complex element is its
+            // parts stored one after another (a complex number's real, then
+            // imaginary part).
             Datatype::FloatingPoint { size, .. } if *size <= 4 => {
-                Data::F32(data_read::read_as_f32(raw, dt).map_err(err)?)
+                Data::F32(data_read::read_as_f32(raw, base).map_err(err)?)
             }
             Datatype::FloatingPoint { .. } => {
-                Data::F64(data_read::read_as_f64(raw, dt).map_err(err)?)
+                Data::F64(data_read::read_as_f64(raw, base).map_err(err)?)
             }
             Datatype::FixedPoint { size, signed, .. } => {
                 let signed_ints = || data_read::read_as_i64(raw, dt).map_err(err);
@@ -393,10 +396,13 @@ fn narrow<S: Copy + std::fmt::Display, T: TryFrom<S>>(v: Vec<S>) -> Result<Vec<T
         .collect()
 }
 
-/// Innermost element type of (possibly nested) array datatypes.
+/// Innermost element type of (possibly nested) array datatypes; for a
+/// native complex type, its part type (each element holds two).
 fn array_base(dt: &Datatype) -> &Datatype {
     match dt {
-        Datatype::Array { base_type, .. } => array_base(base_type),
+        Datatype::Array { base_type, .. } | Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
+            array_base(base_type)
+        }
         _ => dt,
     }
 }
@@ -411,6 +417,12 @@ fn element_shape(dt: &Datatype) -> Vec<u64> {
             dims.extend(element_shape(base_type));
             dims
         }
+        // `[re, im]`: a complex element reads as its two parts.
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
+            let mut dims = vec![2];
+            dims.extend(element_shape(base_type));
+            dims
+        }
         _ => Vec::new(),
     }
 }
@@ -487,9 +499,7 @@ pub fn describe(dt: &Datatype) -> String {
         }
     }
     match dt {
-        Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => format!("complex<{}>", describe(base_type)),
-            describe(&Datatype::complex_as_compound(*size, base_type))
-        }
         Datatype::FixedPoint {
             size,
             signed,
@@ -681,6 +691,74 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(e.contains("not supported"), "{e}");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn native_complex_reads_as_re_im_pairs() {
+        let z = [[1.0f64, -2.0], [0.5, 0.0], [-0.0, 3.25], [f64::MAX, 1e-300]];
+        let mut b = FileBuilder::new();
+        b.create_dataset("z")
+            .with_native_complex_f64_data(&z)
+            .with_shape(&[2, 2]);
+        b.create_dataset("z32")
+            .with_native_complex_f32_data(&[[1.5f32, -2.5]]);
+        let r = Reader::open(b.finish().unwrap()).unwrap();
+        let i = r.info("z").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            (i.shape, i.dtype, i.element_shape),
+            (vec![2, 2], "complex<f64>".to_string(), vec![2])
+        );
+        let all = r.read("z", None).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(all.shape, vec![2, 2, 2]);
+        assert_eq!(all.data, Data::F64(z.iter().flatten().copied().collect()));
+        let slab = Hyperslab {
+            start: vec![1, 0],
+            count: vec![1, 2],
+            stride: None,
+            block: None,
+        };
+        let part = r.read("z", Some(&slab)).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(part.shape, vec![1, 2, 2]);
+        assert_eq!(part.data, Data::F64(vec![-0.0, 3.25, f64::MAX, 1e-300]));
+        let z32 = r.read("z32", None).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            (z32.shape, z32.data),
+            (vec![1, 2], Data::F32(vec![1.5, -2.5]))
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn native_complex_written_by_libhdf5_2() {
+        // Written by h5py 3.16 / libhdf5 2.0.0 (gen_native_complex.py).
+        let path = concat!(
+            env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"),
+            "/../clawhdf5/tests/fixtures/native_complex_hdf5_2.h5"
+        );
+        let r = Reader::open(std::fs::read(path).unwrap()).unwrap();
+        let be = r.read("c128be", None).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(be.shape, vec![2, 3, 2]);
+        assert_eq!(be.data, r.read("c128", None).unwrap().data);
+        assert_eq!(r.info("c128be").unwrap().dtype, "complex<f64 (big-endian)>");
+        // binary16 parts widen to f32.
+        assert_eq!(
+            r.read("c32", None).unwrap().data,
+            Data::F32(vec![1.0, -2.0, 0.5, 65504.0, 0.0, -0.0])
+        );
+        // An array of complex: array dimensions, then the two parts.
+        let i = r.info("array").unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(
+            (i.dtype.as_str(), i.element_shape),
+            ("array[2]<complex<f32>>", vec![2, 2])
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            r.read("array", None).unwrap().data,
+            Data::F32(vec![1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, -1.0, -1.0, 0.0, 0.0])
+        );
+        let s = r.read("scalar", None).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!((s.shape, s.data), (vec![2], Data::F64(vec![2.5, -0.5])));
+        // A compound holding a complex member is still refused.
+        let e = r.read("compound", None).unwrap_err();
+        assert!(e.contains("compound{z: complex<f64>, k: i64}"), "{e}");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn garbage_is_an_error() {
         assert!(Reader::open(vec![0u8; 64]).is_err());

crates/clawhdf5/src/reader.rs

@@ -1342,7 +1342,10 @@ impl<'f> Dataset<'f> {
     ) -> Result<(Vec<T>, Vec<T>), Error> {
         let dt = self.datatype()?;
         let is_complex = match &dt {
-            // Class 11 parses to this same `{r, i}` compound.
+            Datatype::Complex { size, base_type } => {
+                matches!(base_type.as_ref(), Datatype::FloatingPoint { .. })
+                    && *size == 2 * base_type.type_size()
+            }
             Datatype::Compound { size, members } => {
                 matches!(members.as_slice(), [r, i]
                     if r.name == "r" && i.name == "i"

crates/clawhdf5/src/types.rs

@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ pub enum DType {
     Array(Box<DType>, Vec<u32>),
     /// Variable-length UTF-8 string stored via a global heap reference.
     VariableLengthString,
+    /// HDF5 2.0 native complex number (datatype class 11) over the given
+    /// floating-point part type: `Complex(F32)` is numpy `complex64`,
+    /// `Complex(F64)` `complex128`, and a half-precision part is
+    /// `Complex(Other("float16"))`. h5py's default complex encoding, the
+    /// compound `{r, i}`, stays a [`DType::Compound`]; `read_complex_f64`
+    /// and `read_complex_f32` read both.
+    Complex(Box<DType>),
     /// Catch-all for HDF5 datatypes that do not map to a specific variant.
     Other(String),
 }
@@ -60,6 +67,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for DType {
             DType::U64 => write!(f, "u64"),
             DType::String => write!(f, "string"),
             DType::VariableLengthString => write!(f, "vlen_string"),
+            DType::Complex(base) => write!(f, "complex<{base}>"),
             DType::Compound(fields) => {
                 write!(f, "compound{{")?;
                 for (i, (name, dt)) in fields.iter().enumerate() {
@@ -148,6 +156,9 @@ pub(crate) fn classify_datatype(dt: &clawhdf5_format::datatype::Datatype) -> DTy
             base_type,
             dimensions,
         } => DType::Array(Box::new(classify_datatype(base_type)), dimensions.clone()),
+        Datatype::Complex { base_type, .. } => {
+            DType::Complex(Box::new(classify_datatype(base_type)))
+        }
         _ => DType::Other(format!("{dt:?}")),
     }
 }

crates/clawhdf5/tests/fixtures/gen_native_complex.py

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+"""Generate native_complex_hdf5_2.h5: HDF5 2.0 native complex (class 11).
+
+Datasets (every one class 11, or a type holding it):
+
+    c64       H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE, 4 values incl. -0, inf, nan, subnormal
+    c128      H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, 2 x 3
+    c128be    H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64BE, the same values
+    c128x     H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, c128 with element (1,1) changed
+    c32       H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F16LE, 3 values
+    scalar    H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, scalar dataspace
+    compound  {z: H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE @0, k: H5T_STD_I64LE @16}
+    array     H5T_ARRAY [2] of H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE, 2 elements
+
+plus the root attribute `zattr` (H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, 2 values).
+
+Written with h5py 3.16 (libhdf5 2.0.0) through its low-level API, the file
+type as the memory type (no conversion). Re-run only if the fixture ever
+needs regenerating (generated 2026-09-29):
+
+    python gen_native_complex.py native_complex_hdf5_2.h5
+
+The h5dump / h5ls 2.2.0 reference output the tests compare with was made
+with the tools of the libhdf5 2.2.0 build described in gen_mx_floats.py:
+
+    h5dump native_complex_hdf5_2.h5 > native_complex_hdf5_2.ddl
+    h5ls -r -v native_complex_hdf5_2.h5 > native_complex_hdf5_2.ls
+"""
+import sys
+
+import h5py
+import numpy as np
+from h5py import h5a, h5d, h5s, h5t
+
+out = sys.argv[1]
+f = h5py.File(out, "w", libver="latest")
+
+
+def ds(name, tid, arr, shape=None):
+    shape = arr.shape if shape is None else shape
+    sp = h5s.create_simple(shape) if shape != () else h5s.create(h5s.SCALAR)
+    d = h5d.create(f.id, name.encode(), tid, sp)
+    d.write(h5s.ALL, h5s.ALL, np.ascontiguousarray(arr), mtype=tid)
+
+
+nan, inf = float("nan"), float("inf")
+c64 = np.array(
+    [1.5 - 2j, complex(0.0, -0.0), complex(inf, nan), complex(-inf, 1e-40)],
+    dtype=np.complex64,
+)
+ds("c64", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE, c64)
+c128 = np.array(
+    [[1 + 2j, -3.5 + 4e300j, 0.1 + 0.2j], [5e-324 - 0j, 1j, -1]], dtype=np.complex128
+)
+ds("c128", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, c128)
+ds("c128be", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64BE, c128.astype(">c16"))
+c128x = c128.copy()
+c128x[1, 1] = 1 + 1j
+ds("c128x", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, c128x)
+half = np.array([1.0, -2.0, 0.5, 65504.0, 0.0, -0.0], dtype=np.float16)
+ds("c32", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F16LE, half, shape=(3,))
+ds("scalar", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, np.array(2.5 - 0.5j), shape=())
+
+ct = h5t.create(h5t.COMPOUND, 24)
+ct.insert(b"z", 0, h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE)
+ct.insert(b"k", 16, h5t.STD_I64LE)
+cd = np.array([(1 + 1j, 7), (-2.5 + 0j, -8)], dtype=[("z", "<c16"), ("k", "<i8")])
+ds("compound", ct, cd)
+
+at = h5t.array_create(h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE, (2,))
+ad = np.array([[1 + 2j, 3 + 4j], [-1 - 1j, 0j]], dtype=np.complex64)
+ds("array", at, ad, shape=(2,))
+
+a = h5a.create(f.id, b"zattr", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, h5s.create_simple((2,)))
+a.write(np.array([0.5 - 1.5j, 2j]), mtype=h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE)
+f.close()

crates/clawhdf5/tests/fixtures/native_complex_hdf5_2.ddl

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+HDF5 "native_complex_hdf5_2.h5" {
+GROUP "/" {
+   ATTRIBUTE "zattr" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2 ) / ( 2 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0): 0.5-1.5i, 0+2i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "array" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_ARRAY { [2] H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE }
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2 ) / ( 2 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0): [ 1+2i, 3+4i ], [ -1-1i, 0+0i ]
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "c128" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2, 3 ) / ( 2, 3 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0,0): 1+2i, -3.5+4e+300i, 0.1+0.2i,
+      (1,0): 4.94066e-324-0i, 0+1i, -1+0i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "c128be" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64BE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2, 3 ) / ( 2, 3 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0,0): 1+2i, -3.5+4e+300i, 0.1+0.2i,
+      (1,0): 4.94066e-324-0i, 0+1i, -1+0i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "c128x" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2, 3 ) / ( 2, 3 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0,0): 1+2i, -3.5+4e+300i, 0.1+0.2i,
+      (1,0): 4.94066e-324-0i, 1+1i, -1+0i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "c32" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F16LE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 3 ) / ( 3 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0): 1+-2i, 0.5+65504i, 0+-0i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "c64" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F32LE
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 4 ) / ( 4 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0): 1.5-2i, 0-0i, inf+nani, -inf+9.99995e-41i
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "compound" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPOUND {
+         H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE "z";
+         H5T_STD_I64LE "k";
+      }
+      DATASPACE  SIMPLE { ( 2 ) / ( 2 ) }
+      DATA {
+      (0): {
+            1+1i,
+            7
+         },
+      (1): {
+            -2.5+0i,
+            -8
+         }
+      }
+   }
+   DATASET "scalar" {
+      DATATYPE  H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE
+      DATASPACE  SCALAR
+      DATA {
+      (0): 2.5-0.5i
+      }
+   }
+}
+}

crates/clawhdf5/tests/integration_tests.rs

@@ -1064,12 +1064,26 @@ fn complex_datasets_and_attributes_round_trip() {
         let ds = file.dataset(name).unwrap();
         assert_eq!(ds.read_complex_f32().unwrap(), z64, "{name}");
         assert_eq!(ds.shape().unwrap(), vec![3]);
-        // Both encodings read as the same {r, i} compound.
+        // h5py's encoding is a compound, the native one a complex type.
-        assert_eq!(
+        let want = if name == "native64" {
-            ds.dtype().unwrap(),
+            DType::Complex(Box::new(DType::F32))
+        } else {
             DType::Compound(vec![("r".into(), DType::F32), ("i".into(), DType::F32)])
-        );
+        };
+        assert_eq!(ds.dtype().unwrap(), want, "{name}");
     }
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.dataset("native128").unwrap().dtype().unwrap(),
+        DType::Complex(Box::new(DType::F64))
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        file.dataset("native128").unwrap().raw_datatype().unwrap(),
+        clawhdf5::make_native_complex_f64_type()
+    );
+    assert_eq!(
+        DType::Complex(Box::new(DType::F64)).to_string(),
+        "complex<f64>"
+    );
     for name in ["compound128", "native128"] {
         same(
             file.dataset(name).unwrap().read_complex_f64().unwrap(),
@@ -1094,7 +1108,7 @@ fn complex_datasets_and_attributes_round_trip() {
             data,
         }) => {
             assert!(shape.is_empty());
-            assert_eq!(datatype.type_size(), 16);
+            assert_eq!(datatype, clawhdf5::make_native_complex_f64_type());
             let fields =
                 clawhdf5_format::data_read::read_compound_fields(&data, &datatype).unwrap();
             let part = |k: usize| {

docs/known-issues.md

@@ -15,10 +15,8 @@ Checked against `main` at `9b5803f` on 2026-09-28.
 
 | Issue | Kind | Since |
 |---|---|---|
-
+| [NetCDF-4: differences from netCDF-C](#netcdf-4-differences-from-netcdf-c) | deliberate (floats of other than 4 or 8 bytes, axes netCDF-C leaves without a dimension), and 9 corpus files (external links, values the HDF5 reader refuses) | 2026-09-29 |
-| [NetCDF-4: variables' dimensions are guessed from sizes](#netcdf-4-variables-dimensions-are-guessed-from-sizes) | **wrong metadata** (`Variable::dimensions`, pure dimension scales listed as variables; values and dimension sizes are right) | 2026-09-28 |
 | [Chunks of 4 GiB or more: limits](#chunks-of-4-gib-or-more-limits) | refused (chunk dimensions of 2^32 or more, five filters, editor rewrites), memory (a decoded chunk is held whole) | 2026-09-28 |
-| [NetCDF-4: an unlimited dimension reports size 0](#netcdf-4-an-unlimited-dimension-reports-size-0) | **wrong metadata** (dimension size; variable shapes and values are right) | 2026-09-28 |
 | [Small floats decode as libhdf5 does, not as the OCP MX specification](#small-floats-decode-as-libhdf5-does-not-as-the-ocp-mx-specification) | deliberate: libhdf5's values (FP4/FP6/FP8 E4M3 all-ones exponent is inf/NaN) | 2026-09-28 |
 | [In-place modification (`FileEditor`) limits](#in-place-modification-fileeditor-limits) | refused edits (`Error::Unsupported`), space reuse per editor, no journal | 2026-09-26 |
 | [Python in-place editing limits](#python-in-place-editing-clawhdf5filepath-r-limits) | refused writes (`NotImplementedError`), deliberate conversion differences | 2026-09-27 |
@@ -33,6 +31,83 @@ Checked against `main` at `9b5803f` on 2026-09-28.
 
 ---
 
+## NetCDF-4: differences from netCDF-C
+
+**Status:** open (documented 2026-09-29): deliberate differences, and the
+corpus files that still read differently. `clawhdf5-netcdf4` reports a
+file's groups, dimensions and variables — names, order, types, shapes — as
+netCDF-C 4.9.3 does (`libhdf5/hdf5open.c`; see the crate README), and
+`crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/tests/corpus_vs_netcdf_c.rs` compares it with
+netCDF-C itself (the libnetcdf netCDF4-python bundles, called through
+ctypes by `tests/netcdf_c_view.py`) over a corpus. Over the conformance
+corpus (tank, 2026-09-29, netCDF4-python 1.7.4: netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5
+1.14.6; `CLAWHDF5_NETCDF_CORPUS=<main checkout>/conformance/.cache/corpus
+CLAWHDF5_PYTHON=$PWD/.venv/bin/python cargo test -p clawhdf5-netcdf4 --test
+corpus_vs_netcdf_c -- --nocapture`): of 692 files, netCDF-C opens 429;
+420 match in groups, dimensions (names, lengths, unlimited, order),
+variables (names, order, types, dimensions, shapes) and the values of
+every numeric variable of up to 5000 elements; the other 9 are listed
+below and in `tests/corpus_known_differences.txt`, which the test holds to.
+
+Deliberate:
+
+- **Floats of other than 4 or 8 bytes** (half, bfloat16, the 4-, 6- and
+  8-bit floats, `long double`) are `NcType::Float` (up to 4 bytes) or
+  `Double`, and read as numbers. netCDF-C 4.9.3 on libhdf5 1.14.6 labels
+  them `NC_STRING`: their native type (libhdf5 1.14.6 has a native
+  `_Float16`) matches none of its own. 27 corpus variables; the comparison
+  shows them as netCDF-C does and counts them.
+- **An axis netCDF-C leaves without a dimension** gets one by the phony
+  rule (the group's first dimension of its length, else a new
+  `phony_dim_<n>`): a `_Netcdf4Coordinates` id or a `DIMENSION_LIST` scale
+  it cannot find, and an axis without a scale of a variable whose first
+  axis has one — there netCDF-C 4.9.3 reads uninitialised memory
+  (`get_attached_info` mallocs the object ids and `dimscale_visitor` never
+  fills that axis's): in one run it gave a 2-long axis the group's first
+  phony dimension, 3 long; in another netCDF4-python could not open the
+  file. No corpus file has such an axis.
+- **Types netCDF-C remembers after failing to read them.** netCDF-C adds a
+  type to its list before reading its members, and keeps it when that
+  fails, so the second dataset of such a type is a variable. For a
+  compound, enum or variable-length type it has a class and is shown here
+  too (`interop_tests::types_netcdf_c_skips_are_not_variables`); a bit
+  field, time, array or complex type has none, and netCDF-C lists the
+  second dataset with an invalid type (class 0): it stays hidden here.
+- **Files netCDF-C refuses** are read as well as they can be: a
+  multi-dimensional dimension scale without `_Netcdf4Coordinates`, a
+  `_Netcdf4Coordinates` of the wrong length, a named datatype netCDF-C
+  cannot represent, an unreadable dataset or attribute (netCDF-C fails
+  `nc_open`; this crate skips it).
+- **Cost:** the first call that needs the metadata reads that of the whole
+  file (every group, and every dataset's attributes), as `nc_open` does;
+  it was one group's per call. Not measured; worth measuring on a file
+  with many groups and variables before a release.
+- A whole-variable read of a variable shorter than an unlimited dimension
+  that is not its first: see [the entry of #27](#netcdf-4-variables-dimensions-are-guessed-from-sizes).
+
+Corpus files that differ (2026-09-29):
+
+- **External links** (`hdf5/test/testfiles/be_extlink1.h5`,
+  `le_extlink1.h5`, `hdf5/tools/test/testfiles/h5diff_ext2softlink_src.h5`,
+  `h5diff_grp_recurse_ext2-1.h5`, `h5diff_grp_recurse_ext2-2.h5`): libhdf5
+  follows them into the other file; clawhdf5 does not
+  ([External links](#external-links-and-external-raw-data-are-not-followed)),
+  so the linked objects are missing and the phony dimension numbers after
+  them shift.
+- **Values the HDF5 reader refuses** and libhdf5 1.14.6 returns (metadata
+  matches): `cve_hdf5/cvefiles/cve-2025-2308.h5`, `cve-2025-44904.h5` and
+  `hdf5/test/testfiles/bad_nbit_parms_walk.h5`, the scale-offset and N-Bit
+  files of CONFORMANCE.md's ref-bug/our-error list (libhdf5 reads past the
+  stored data); and `hdf5/test/testfiles/bad_nbit_decompress.h5`, whose
+  `/Nbit_float_data_le` clawhdf5 refuses ("nbit: element count exceeds
+  chunk size", also `h5rs dump`) while libhdf5 1.14.6 and h5py 3.16
+  (libhdf5 2.0.0) return values. That file is not in the conformance
+  report and has not been investigated.
+- Not compared: the values of 18 variables whose filter (SZIP, Blosc,
+  bzip2) this crate's default build of the HDF5 reader lacks. Blosc and
+  bzip2 are pure-Rust cargo features of `clawhdf5` (`blosc`, `bzip2`) that
+  a dependent can turn on; SZIP needs libaec.
+
 ## In-place modification (`FileEditor`) limits
 
 **Status:** open (documented 2026-09-26, updated when version-2 B-tree
@@ -240,15 +315,12 @@ wrong data.
   decoded, and external references are an error (object references
   decode). A multi-dimensional numeric attribute is returned as a flat
   array (its shape is not reported; `AttrValue::Raw` carries the shape).
-  HDF5 2.0's native complex type (class 11) is read as the equivalent
+  HDF5 2.0's native complex type (class 11) is read as its own type since
-  `{r, i}` compound: values are right (`Dataset::read_complex_f64`, and
+  2026-09-29 ([fixed](#hdf5-20-native-complex-numbers-read-as-a-r-i-compound));
-  numpy complex in Python), but `raw_datatype()`, `dtype()`, `h5rs
+  writing it is opt-in (`with_native_complex_f64_data`,
-  ls`/`dump` and the browser reader show a compound where h5dump 2.x
+  `make_native_complex_f64_type`), and the Python bindings write complex
-  prints `H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE`, so `h5rs dump` of such a file does not
+  arrays as h5py's compound only. `h5rs dump --json` writes it as the
-  match h5dump 2.x (h5dump 1.14 cannot read it at all). Writing class 11
+  `{r, i}` compound: hdf5-json (h5json 2.0.0) has no complex class.
-  (added 2026-09-28) is opt-in (`with_native_complex_f64_data`,
-  `make_native_complex_f64_type`); the Python bindings write complex
-  arrays as h5py's compound only.
 - **Metadata cache images** (read since 2026-09-26) differ from libhdf5 in
   that: libhdf5 fails only the first metadata read of an image it cannot
   load and then reads the file's own (possibly stale) metadata, where we
@@ -458,8 +530,10 @@ browser (`clawhdf5-wasm`'s `openUrl`) open URLs since 2026-09-27.
     again retries it; what was fetched stays cached).
   - Tested under Node 22 and headless Chromium (Playwright's build) against
     a local server, cross-origin included; not in Firefox or Safari.
-- Compound, reference, opaque, bitfield, time and VL-sequence datasets are
+- Compound (h5py's complex numbers, a compound `{r, i}`, included),
-  refused with an error naming the type; attributes of those types come back
+  reference, opaque, bitfield, time and VL-sequence datasets are
+  refused with an error naming the type (HDF5 2.0 native complex datasets
+  read, as `[re, im]` pairs); attributes of those types come back
   as `value: null` with their `dtype`. (VL strings read, with h5py's
   values, through the same `VlResolver` as `File` and `h5rs`.)
 - No Zstd or SZIP (both link C): such datasets fail with
@@ -539,6 +613,87 @@ Newest first. "Before any release" means no tagged release (v2.7.0 and
 earlier) contains the bug. Full detail is in `CHANGELOG.md` under the date
 given.
 
+## NetCDF-4: files without dimension scales, types and order differed from netCDF-C
+
+**Status:** fixed 2026-09-29 (branch `fix/netcdf-phony-dims`). Affected
+every release (v2.1.0 to v2.7.0) and `main` after #27. Wrong metadata only
+(names, order and types of dimensions and variables); values were read
+right. Users: the dimensions of a file without dimension scales are now
+netCDF-C's `phony_dim_<n>`, so code that matched `dim_<size>` or took a
+1-D dataset's name for a dimension must use the new names; datasets of
+types netCDF-C skips (references, bit fields, array types, compounds of
+those, ...) are no longer variables; lists come in netCDF-C's order.
+`NcType` has four new variants (`Enum`, `Compound`, `VLen`, `Opaque`) and
+is `#[non_exhaustive]`: an exhaustive `match` needs a wildcard arm.
+
+Found 2026-09-28 by the one-off corpus comparison of #27 (52 of the 78
+files netCDF4-python opened matched; netCDF4-python itself hides variables
+of opaque and other types it does not support, so the comparison now asks
+netCDF-C through its C API). Under that comparison `main` at `4260af4`
+matched 68 of the 429 corpus files netCDF-C opens (tank, 2026-09-29, the
+command above run on a copy of `4260af4` with the new test files). What
+differed:
+
+- **Files without dimension scales.** netCDF-C gives every axis a phony
+  dimension `phony_dim_<id>` (`create_phony_dims`), ids file-wide after the
+  real dimensions, subgroups numbered before their parent's variables,
+  shared by length and unlimitedness within a group but not between two
+  axes of one variable, a length of 0 always unlimited. The crate reported
+  one dimension per 1-D dataset, named after it (an h5py file with `x(5)`
+  and `v(5)` had dimensions `x` and `v`, and `v` on `x`), and other axes as
+  `dim_<size>`.
+- **Datasets netCDF-C skips** (`NC_EBADTYPID`: references, bit fields,
+  time and array types, a compound with such a member or a half-float
+  member, an enum or VLEN over one) were variables, with `NcType::Char`;
+  so were enums, compounds, VLENs and opaque types, and 1-byte strings
+  were `String` where netCDF-C says `NC_CHAR` (longer ones `NC_STRING`).
+- **Order.** Groups and variables came in the order of the HDF5 links as
+  stored (hash order in a dense group); netCDF-C uses creation order when
+  the group tracks it, else name order. Dimensions without
+  `_Netcdf4Dimid` came after the others instead of taking the next id in
+  reading order; a zero-length dimension scale was not unlimited.
+- `_Netcdf4Coordinates` ids were looked up only in the variable's group
+  and its parents (netCDF-C: file-wide), and an unlimited dimension's
+  length came from its scale's `REFERENCE_LIST` in any group
+  (`nc4_find_dim_len`: the variables in its group and below).
+
+The crate now reads the metadata of the whole file in netCDF-C's two
+passes (`crates/clawhdf5-netcdf4/src/model.rs`), with a new
+`clawhdf5_format::group_v2::links_in_creation_order_in` for the order.
+Tests: `interop_tests::phony_dimensions_match_netcdf_c`,
+`types_netcdf_c_skips_are_not_variables`,
+`group_and_variable_order_match_netcdf_c` and
+`netcdf4_python_files_match_netcdf_c` compare h5py- and
+netCDF4-python-written files with netCDF-C itself, and
+`corpus_vs_netcdf_c` the corpus (420 of 429 match; the rest are in
+[NetCDF-4: differences from netCDF-C](#netcdf-4-differences-from-netcdf-c)).
+
+## HDF5 2.0 native complex numbers read as a `{r, i}` compound
+
+**Status:** fixed 2026-09-29 (branch `feat/complex-first-class`; PR not
+yet opened). Affected v2.2.0 to v2.7.0 (class 11 has parsed since v2.2.0)
+and `main` until then. Listed until now under
+[HDF5 features still unsupported](#hdf5-features-still-unsupported).
+
+A class-11 datatype (`H5T_COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE`, ...) parsed into the
+equivalent compound `{r, i}`. Values were right (`read_complex_f64`,
+numpy complex in Python), but `raw_datatype()`, `dtype()`, `h5rs ls`/`dump`
+and the browser reader showed a compound, so `h5rs dump` did not match
+h5dump 2.x, the browser refused the dataset, and a parsed type written
+back out became a compound. `Datatype::parse` now returns
+`Datatype::Complex` (in compounds, arrays and VL types too),
+`Dataset::dtype()` is `DType::Complex(..)`, `h5rs` prints what h5dump,
+h5ls and h5diff 2.2.0 print (checked on tank, 2026-09-29, against a file
+written by h5py 3.16 / libhdf5 2.0.0:
+`cargo test -p clawhdf5-tools --test native_complex_dump`), and the
+browser reads `[re, im]` pairs.
+
+**What users must do:** code that matched a native complex type as a
+`Datatype::Compound` (or a `DType::Compound` of `r`/`i`) must match
+`Datatype::Complex` / `DType::Complex`, or take the compound view with
+`Datatype::complex_as_compound`; exhaustive `match`es over `DType` need a
+`Complex` arm. Files are unchanged; nothing needs rewriting.
+
 ## NetCDF-4: variables' dimensions are guessed from sizes
 
 
@@ -590,7 +745,8 @@ dimension scales, and h5netcdf 1.8.1 and xarray files (tank, 2026-09-28,
 `CLAWHDF5_PYTHON=<venv with h5netcdf> cargo test -p clawhdf5-netcdf4`).
 Files without dimension scales still get dimensions by size (netCDF-C
 gives them `phony_dim_<n>`), as before; see `CHANGELOG.md` for a
-comparison over the conformance corpus's netCDF-readable files.
+comparison over the conformance corpus's netCDF-readable files. (Fixed
+2026-09-29: see the entry above.)
 
 ## HDF5 1.8 could not read the files we wrote
 

examples/wasm-viewer/README.md

@@ -123,8 +123,12 @@ else throws an `Error` naming the type.
   `readHyperslab`). Files of 4 GiB or more are refused at open (wasm32).
   Every response body is cut off past the length asked for. More in
   `docs/known-issues.md`.
-- Compound, reference, opaque and variable-length-sequence datasets are
+- HDF5 2.0 native complex datasets read as `[re, im]` pairs: `dtype`
-  refused with an error. Attributes of those types are listed with
+  `complex<f64>`, `elementShape` ending in `2`, the parts interleaved in
+  the typed array.
+- Compound (h5py's complex numbers, a compound `{r, i}`, included),
+  reference, opaque and variable-length-sequence datasets are refused with
+  an error. Attributes of those types are listed with
   `value: null` and their `dtype`.
 - No Zstd or SZIP filters (they link C): such a dataset fails with
   `unsupported filter`. Deflate, shuffle, Fletcher-32, LZ4, N-Bit and

examples/wasm-viewer/test/browser.sh

@@ -93,6 +93,12 @@ expect $H5 "/vlen_str" '<td>"двa"</td>' '<dd>vlen string</dd>'
 expect $H5 "/pairs" '<td>[2, 3]</td>' '<dd>array[2]&lt;i32&gt;</dd>'
 # 3-D: leading dimension held at 0, window over the last two.
 expect $H5 "/cube" '<dd>(2, 5, 6)</dd>' '<td>29</td>' 'dim 0'
+# HDF5 2.0 native complex (written when h5py's libhdf5 is 2.0 or later):
+# each cell is the [re, im] pair.
+if "$PY" -c 'import sys, h5py; sys.exit(not getattr(h5py.get_config(), "has_native_complex", False))'; then
+    expect $H5 "/native_c128" '<dd>complex&lt;f64&gt;</dd>' '<dd>(3, 2)</dd>' '<td>[1, -1.5]</td>' \
+        '<td>[5, -7.5]</td>'
+fi
 # Unsupported type: an error, not values.
 expect $H5 "/table" 'class="error"' 'reading compound{x: f64, n: i32} datasets is not supported'
 # Cross-origin: the page is on 127.0.0.1, the file on localhost. CORS that

examples/wasm-viewer/test/make_fixture.py

@@ -80,6 +80,15 @@ with h5py.File(h5, "w") as f:
                          **hdf5plugin.Zstd())
     comp = np.zeros(2, dtype=[("x", "<f8"), ("n", "<i4")])
     f.create_dataset("table", data=comp)
+    if getattr(h5py.get_config(), "has_native_complex", False):
+        # HDF5 2.0 native complex (class 11): read as [re, im] pairs.
+        from h5py import h5d, h5s, h5t
+
+        for name, t, dt in [(b"native_c128", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F64LE, "<c16"),
+                            (b"native_c64_be", h5t.COMPLEX_IEEE_F32BE, ">c8")]:
+            z = (np.arange(6) - 1.5j * np.arange(6)).reshape(3, 2).astype(dt)
+            d = h5d.create(f.id, name, t, h5s.create_simple(z.shape))
+            d.write(h5s.ALL, h5s.ALL, z, mtype=t)
     g = f.create_group("sensors")
     g.attrs["location"] = "lab"
     g.create_dataset("temp", data=np.array([21.5, 22.0, 22.25], dtype="<f4"))
@@ -105,6 +114,8 @@ def kind(dt):
         return "strings"
     if dt.subdtype is not None:
         return kind(dt.subdtype[0])
+    if dt.kind == "c":
+        return "f64" if dt.itemsize == 16 else "f32"
     if dt.kind == "f":
         return "f64" if dt.itemsize == 8 else "f32"
     if dt.kind in "iu":
@@ -120,20 +131,25 @@ def flat(a, k):
         return [x.decode() if isinstance(x, bytes) else str(x) for x in a.ravel()]
     if k.startswith(("i", "u")):
         return [str(int(x)) for x in a.ravel()]
+    if a.dtype.kind == "c":
+        # [re, im] pairs, in order.
+        a = np.stack([a.real, a.imag], axis=-1)
     return [float(x) for x in a.ravel()]
 
 
 def entry(ds, slab=None):
     k = kind(ds.dtype)
     data = ds[()]
-    e = {"kind": k, "shape": list(np.shape(data)), "values": flat(data, k)}
+    # A complex element reads as its two parts: one more dimension.
+    pair = [2] if ds.dtype.kind == "c" else []
+    e = {"kind": k, "shape": list(np.shape(data)) + pair, "values": flat(data, k)}
     if slab:
         start, count, stride = slab
         idx = tuple(slice(s, s + (c - 1) * st + 1, st)
                     for s, c, st in zip(start, count, stride))
         part = ds[idx]
         e["slab"] = {"start": start, "count": count, "stride": stride,
-                     "shape": list(part.shape), "values": flat(part, k)}
+                     "shape": list(part.shape) + pair, "values": flat(part, k)}
     return e
 
 
@@ -176,7 +192,10 @@ def describe(path):
                                           "datasets": sorted(sets)}
                 for n, o in members.items():
                     walk(key.rstrip("/") + "/" + n, o)
-            elif obj.dtype.names:
+            elif obj.dtype.names or (
+                    obj.dtype.kind == "c"
+                    and obj.id.get_type().get_class() != getattr(h5py.h5t, "COMPLEX", None)):
+                # h5py's own complex numbers are a compound {r, i}: refused.
                 expected["errors"][key] = "compound"
             else:
                 expected["datasets"][key] = entry(obj, slab_for(obj))

examples/wasm-viewer/test/test.mjs

@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ async function remoteTests() {
   await fails(async () => {
     const f = await pkg.openUrl(`${base}/fix/fixture.h5`, {
       blockSize: 512,
-      fetch: tamper(async (r) => withHeaders(r, { "Content-Range": "bytes 0-511/25752" })),
+      fetch: tamper(async (r) => withHeaders(r, { "Content-Range": `bytes 0-511/${statSync(join(fixDir, "fixture.h5")).size}` })),
     });
     await f.read("/grid");
   }, /the server sent 0-511/, "wrong range");
@@ -550,7 +550,7 @@ async function floodTests() {
       const range = new Headers(init.headers).get("Range");
       if (range === "bytes=0-511") return fetch(url, init);
       const m = /^bytes=(\d+)-(\d+)$/.exec(range);
-      return new Response(f.body, { status: 206, headers: { "Content-Range": `bytes ${m[1]}-${m[2]}/25752` } });
+      return new Response(f.body, { status: 206, headers: { "Content-Range": `bytes ${m[1]}-${m[2]}/${statSync(join(fixDir, "fixture.h5")).size}` } });
     },
   }).catch((e) => e);
   // The open itself may need a second range: flooded either way.