THREDDS (netCDF-Java) roadmap

[haileyajohnson]

Hello THREDDS users - below, please find the current develop "roadmap" for the netCDF-Java project. You can also find the TDS roadmap here.
Note that no plans are final, development is always changing, and we welcome discussion, feedback, and contributions!

Version 5.x

The current stable version of netCDF-Java is 5.4. We anticipate that 5.x will exist as a long term release and continue to support the TDS. Several features in development are slated for inclusion in future 5.x releases, notably Zarr/NCZarr support and RPC communication, as well as continued work on object storage.

Version 6.x and 7.x

NetCDF 6-BETA was released a few months ago. The move from 5.x to 6.x involves significant API changes, as v6 is the first version of netCDF-Java that implements strict immutability. As such, we consider v6 a short-term transition release, and do not recommend 6.x in production, however beta testers and feedback are encouraged! Similarly, version 7 is another transitional release on the way to the newer API (see below).

Version 8.x

8.x will be the first version of netCDF-Java to fully implement the new API. Its primary goal is to be a modernization of the netCDF-Java library; a lighter-weight version with a strict commitment to immutability. It will likely not include all of the features and IOSPs found in 5.x, since with version 8, we aim to support only modern, clean code. We will continue to port features and IOSP to future versions of 8.x and up. As always, contributions welcome!

[mcucchi9]

Hi @haileyajohnson,

is there a planned (approximate) date for the release of the next stable version of netCDF-Java?

I'm particularly interested in the implementation of the fix to the issue discussed at #997, which has been merged in maint-5.x (a3f554f).

Thanks!

[haileyajohnson]

We hope to have 5.5.3 released within the next two weeks. At the moment, we're only holding off on a release to make sure than any bug fixes in TDS 5.4 propagate down into the netcdf-java release as well. If you need that fix more immediately, you can grab the latest snapshot release here.