HDF5 documents and links Introduction to HDF5 | HDF5 User’s Guide HDF5 Application Developer's Guide HDF5 Reference Manual

# HDF5 Technical Notes

### Technical Notes
HDF5 Compression Troubleshooting |  | Describes how to diagnose situations in files when compression is not working as expected.
Improving I/O Performance When Working with HDF5 Compressed Datasets |  | Describes the factors that should be considered when storing compressed data in HDF5 files and how to tune those parameters to optimize the I/O performance of an HDF5 application when working with compressed datasets.
Virtual File Layer |  | A description of the HDF5 virtual file layer (VFL), a public API for the implementation of custom I/O drivers
List of VFL Functions |  | A list of the VFL functions, `H5FD*`
HDF5 Library Release Version Numbers |  | A description of HDF5 release version numbers
Checksumming and Digitally Signing HDF5 Releases |  | Explanation of what MD5 checksums and PGP signatures are and why and how to apply them to HDF5 releases
Automake Use Cases |  | Simple explanations of how to make some common changes to HDF5’s Automake-generated Makefiles.am
Daily Test Explained |  | An explanation of the Daily Testing for HDF software conducted
Variable-length Datatype Information |  | A description of various aspects of using variable-length datatypes in HDF5
### Historical Notes These documents are retained because they shed light on HDF5’s design and development history; many were working papers for the original HDF5 design process. Where available, the date of the most recent update of the technical content of a document is listed in the right-hand column. These documents are not actively maintained and may be out of date.
Memory Management |  | A discussion of memory management issues in HDF5 |  |
Memory Management and Free Lists |  | Notes regarding the implementation of free lists and memory management |  | 3 May 2000
Heap Management |  | A discussion of the H5H heap management functions |  | 8 July 1998
Raw Data Storage |  | A discussion of the storage of raw HDF5 data |  | 25 Nov 1997
I/O Pipeline |  | A description of the raw data I/O pipeline |  | 18 Mar 1998
Large Datasets on Small Machines |  | A guide to accessing large datasets on small computers |  | 19 Jul 1998
Relocating a File Data Structure |  | A discussion of the issues involved in moving file data structures once they have been cached in memory |  | 14 Jul 1997
Working with External Files |  | A guide to the use of multiple files with HDF5 |  | 8 Sep 1998
Object Headers |  | A discussion of the H5O object header functions |  | 8 Jul 1998
Symbol Table Caching Issues |  | A discussion of issues involving caching of object header messages in symbol table entries |  | 8 Jul 1998
HDF4/HDF5 Compatibility |  | A discussion of compatibility issues between HDF4 and HDF5 |  | 8 Oct 1997
Testing the Chunked Layout of HDF5 |  | A white paper discussing the motivation to implement raw data chunking in the HDF5 Library |  | 30 Jan 1997
Library Maintenance |  | A discussion of HDF5 Library maintenance issues |  | 15 Oct 1999
Code Review |  | Code Review 1 and 2 |  | 10 Nov 1997
Naming Schemes |  | A discussion of naming schemes for HDF5 Library modules, functions, datatypes, and other elements |  | 5 Aug 1997
Thread Safe HDF5 Library Implementation |  | A report on the implementation of a thread safe HDF5 Library |  | 27 Sep 2000
Using HDF5 with OpenMP |  | A short report on using HDF5 with OpenMP |  | 28 Nov 2000
HDF5 Software Controls |  | Descriptions of the HDF5 knobs and controls, such as the environment variables and settings that control the functionality of the HDF5 libraries and tools |  | 11 Dec 2000
Test Review |  | Results of reviewing tests for API functions |  | 11 Nov 2002
Basic Performance Tools |  | A description of the three basic performance tools (chunk, iopipe, overhead) |  | 4 Jun 2003
Reserved File Address Space |  | A description of HDF5’s internal system for ensuring that files stay within their address space |  | 28 Sep 2006
Data Transform Report |  | Report of the data transform implementation |  | 10 Dec 2004

HDF5 documents and links Introduction to HDF5 | HDF5 User’s Guide HDF5 Application Developer's Guide HDF5 Reference Manual