The new netcdf-fortran, beta-1, for version 4.4 is now available
through the the netCDF beta release distributions page:
http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/downloads/netcdf/netcdf-beta
Version 4.4-beta1 is the first release to support the Fortran 2003
standard for calling C code from Fortran. It is used in this new release
to replace the older C code wrappers.
Congratulations and thanks to Richard Weed at Mississippi State
University, who is the author of the new code.
This welcome change should make building and using netCDF Fortran
libraries simpler, whether your programs use the Fortran-77 or
Fortran-90 netCDF API.
All users are urged to try their existing Fortran code using this
library to help us validate it. If you find errors, then please
submit a support request to support-netcdf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
This version has been successfully tested with the gfortran and
pgf95 compilers. It should also work with other Fortran compilers
that support the 2003 standard for calling C code (e.g. Absoft, Cray,
g95, HP, IBM, Intel, NAG, Oracle, Pathscale).
Users with access to any of these other Fortran compilers are
urged to test this release to verify that it compiles correctly
for those compilers. If you succeed (or if you don't) please
submit a support request to support-netcdf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx so we
may keep an updated list of compilers with which it is known to work.
CAUTION: the new code has not been only partially vetted, so please
do not use this release for production systems.
Features of the new Fortran 4.4-beta1 release.
* This new code standardizes the way that Fortran calls C
procedures and therefore solves many portability problems such
as the problem of how many underscores are appended to
subroutine names when Fortran functions call C functions.
* The ./configure flags have been simplified. The new bindings
are enabled by default. They can be disabled by using
./configure --disable-f03
If disabled, then the old F90 bindings are used instead.
* Pure Fortran 77 compilers are no longer supported. It is
assumed that your compiler supports at least Fortran 90
but can also compile Fortran 77 code. If it also supports
the 2003 standard for calling C code, then the new 2003
bindings are used instead of the old F90 bindings.
--Dennis Heimbigner
--Russ Rew
--Sean Arms
