Ed, et al.,
Szip Cons:
* No existing Java version.
* License restrictions for commercial writers of data.
* Some (or most) netCDF-4 installations will not be able to read
szipped
files without rebuilding netCDF.
* Will not (and should not) be used by CMIP5 effort and (probably)
other
important archives.
* Due to licensing szip will not be available in stock Fedora
distribution. Fedora is a very popular Linux distribution, and at
least
some other free software distributions will probably feel the same
about szip licensing problems.
All of these apply equally well to hdf5, so why is it a big deal?
szip is not a default option for hdf5, so probably most folks don't
use it, anyway. I think if you already put it in, it might as well
stay in for those who want to use it and don't need to worry about
compatibility. (I'm sure plenty of commercial software doesn't even
read netcdf4 yet, either.)
As for Fedora users, they should be able to install stuff that they
want. I'm not complaining that OS X doesn't have szip in the stock
install.... get the tar file and go.
If licensing is really an issue, it could be a separate config option
to enable writing of szip (e.g., --enable-write-szip), and let --with-
szip just enable reading.
Is it just a matter of time before the Java version catches up? Not
that I use it....
Best,
-- Ted
