/--------------------------/
/  CDF V3.0 Release Notes  /
/--------------------------/

* Backward compatible with CDF V2.7, V2.6, and V2.5 but not vice versa.
  - The CDF 3.0 library will read a file that was created with CDF 2.5, 
    2.6, or 2.7 library, and save the file in the version that was originally 
    created under (not 3.0).  

  - A file created from scratch with CDF 3.0 will be stored in the new 
    format that is incompatible with the previous versions of the CDF library.

* Ability to create a file bigger than 2 GB.  

* Addition of a new datatype CDF_EPOCH16 to accommodate the timestamp 
  resolution of up to picoseconds.  Prior to CDF 3.0, the maximum 
  resolution supported was microseconds.

  - Several routines have been added to the C, Fortran, Java, and Perl APIs
    to handle the CDF_EPOCH16 datatype

* Significant performance improvement if a CDF file contains many CDF 
  variables and the variables are access sequentially.

* Made the CDF Java APIs thread-safe

* The maximum length of the CDF attribute and variable name is increased to
  256 from 64.
  
* Numerous bug fixes 

* The cdfdump utility has been made to be more efficient in data reading.


The CDF V3.0 software distribution is available either via anonymous FTP or
Web (HTTP).  Below describes how to obtain the latest CDF 3.0 software. 

    For OpenVMS systems via anonymous FTP:

        ANONYMOUS account on NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV (128.183.241.14)
        in [.CDF.DIST.CDF30].  The files you need are README.VMS and
        CDF30-DIST.BCK.

        The CDF Java APIs and tools are not fully tested for the
        VMS/OpenVMS operating system, and they'll be made available at 
        the place where the new CDF 3.0 library is located once fully 
        tested. The new CDF 3.0 library is available now.

    For UNIX/POSIX shell (including Windows running Cygwin) systems 
        1) via anonymous FTP:
           "anonymous" account on nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.114.83) in
           `standards/cdf/dist/cdf30/unix'.  The files you need vary depending 
           on what your needs are.  Download the AAREADME.txt file first and 
           determine which tar file and installation instructions are needed.  

        2) via HTTP 
           a. Go to http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/standards/cdf/dist/cdf30/unix
           b. Download the AAREADME.txt file first and determine which tar 
              files suit your needs.

        There are 3 tar files (i.e. cdf30-dist-all.tar, cdf30-dist-cdf.tar,
        cdf30-dist-java.tar), and each of these tar files comes in two 
        different compressed formats.  The file that has an extension of 
        '.Z' is compressed with the Unix 'compress' command.  The file that 
        has an extension of '.gz' is compressed with the Gnu 'gzip' utility. 
        The uncompressed `tar' file is for those systems running the POSIX 
        Shell which does not have the `uncompress' utility.  Use the binary 
        mode to transfer a compressed or an uncompressed tar file.


    For Macintosh OS X Version 10.2 or newer
        a. Go to http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/standards/cdf/dist/cdf30/macOSx
        b. Download the cdf30_setup.pkg file.  Upon completion of the download,
           the Web browser will automatically initiate the installation 
           process.

    For 32-bit Windows NT/2000/XP
        a. Go to http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/standards/cdf/dist/cdf30/w32
        b. Download the cdf30_setup.exe file.  Double-click the downloaded
           file for installation.


The CDF documents are available at http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/standards/cdf/doc/cdf30 
in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.  The documentation set consists 
of the following:

        cdf30ug.pdf  (CDF User's Guide)
        cdf30crm.pdf (CDF C Reference Manual)
        cdf30frm.pdf (CDF Fortran Reference Manual)
        cdf30jrm.pdf (CDF Java Reference Manual)
        cdf30ifd.pdf (CDF Internal Format Description)

Documentation for the CDF Java APIs is also available at
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cdf/cdfjava_doc/cdf30.

We have a user support office for CDF that you should contact when you need
assistance.  For Email requests send to:

  Internet -- cdfsupport@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov

Please let us know (via Email to CDFSUPPORT) if you get the distribution.
We would like to know who has the distribution so we know who to contact
when updates are available.

CDFsupport
