[h5md-user] H5MD based on HDF5 1.8 file format

[Peter Colberg]

Dear all,

In the light of the recent discussion of object time tracking [1], I
propose to mandate the HDF5 1.8 file format for H5MD version 1.0.

[1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.simulation.h5md.user/159/focus=164

The HDF5 1.8 file format includes time tracking of all groups
(including the root group) and datasets out of the box, e.g.,
creation and modification times.

To estimate whether HDF 1.8 has been established as the default
version in current research environments, I checked the changelog of
the hdf5 source package in Debian [2], where HDF5 1.8 was first
uploaded in June 2009, and became the default version [3] in Debian
squeeze released in February 2011.

[2] 
http://ftp-master.metadata.debian.org/changelogs/main/h/hdf5/hdf5_1.8.10-patch1-1_changelog
[3] http://packages.debian.org/source/squeeze/hdf5

Peter