Announcing HDF5 for Python (h5py) 2.2.1
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The h5py team is happy, in a sense, to announce the availability of h5py 2.2.1.
This release fixes a critical bug reported by Jim Parker on December 7th, which
affects code using HDF5 compound types.
We recommend that all users of h5py 2.2.0 upgrade to avoid crashes or possible
data corruption.
About h5py, downloads, documentation: http://www.h5py.org
Scope of bug
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The issue affects a feature introduced in h5py 2.2.0, in which HDF5 compound
datasets may be updated in-place, by specifying a field name or names when
writing to the dataset:
dataset['field_name'] = value
Under certain conditions, h5py can supply uninitialized memory to the HDF5
conversion machinery, leading (in the case reported) to a segmentation fault.
It is also possible for other fields of the type to be corrupted.
This issue affects only code which updates a subset of the fields in the
compound type. Programs reading from a compound type, writing all fields, or
using other datatypes, are not affected; nor are versions of h5py
prior to 2.2.0.
More information
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Github issue: https://github.com/h5py/h5py/issues/372
Original thread: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/h5py/AbUOZ1MXf3U
Thanks also to Christoph Gohlke for making Windows installers available on very
short notice, after a glitch in the h5py build system.