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<div class="section" id="release-notes-for-pytables-2-4-series">
<h1>Release notes for PyTables 2.4 series<a class="headerlink" href="#release-notes-for-pytables-2-4-series" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
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<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field-odd field"><th class="field-name">Author:</th><td class="field-body">PyTables maintainers</td>
</tr>
<tr class="field-even field"><th class="field-name">Contact:</th><td class="field-body"><a class="reference external" href="mailto:pytables%40googlemail.com">pytables<span>@</span>googlemail<span>.</span>com</a></td>
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<div class="section" id="changes-from-2-3-1-to-2-4">
<h2>Changes from 2.3.1 to 2.4<a class="headerlink" href="#changes-from-2-3-1-to-2-4" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="new-features">
<h3>New features<a class="headerlink" href="#new-features" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Improved HDF5 error logging management:<ul>
<li>added a new function, <tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">silenceHDF5Messages()</span></tt>, for suppressing
(and re-enabling) HDF5 messages. By default HDF5 error logging is now
suppressed. Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/87">gh-87</a>.</li>
<li>now all HDF5 error messages and trace-backs are trapped and attached to
the <tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">exceptions.HDF5ExtError</span></tt> exception instances.
Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/120">gh-120</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Added support for the float16 data type. It is only available if <a class="reference external" href="http://www.numpy.org">numpy</a>
provides it as well (i.e. <a class="reference external" href="http://www.numpy.org">numpy</a> >= 1.6). See <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/51">gh-51</a>.</li>
<li>Leaf nodes now have attributes for retrieving the size of data in memory
and on disk. Data on disk can be compressed, so the new attributes make it
easy to compute the data compression ration.
Thanks to Josh Ayers (close <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/141">gh-141</a>).</li>
<li>The maximum number of threads for <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/FrancescAlted/blosc">Blosc</a> and <a class="reference external" href="http://code.google.com/p/numexpr">Numexpr</a> is now handled using
the <a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/parameter_files.html#tables.parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS" title="tables.parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS"><tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/parameter_files.html#tables.parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS" title="tables.parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS"><tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS</span></tt></a> parameters respectively.
This allows a more fine grained configuration capability.
Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/142">gh-142</a>.</li>
<li><cite>ndim</cite> (read-only) attribute added to <a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/libref/hierarchy_classes.html#tables.Leaf" title="tables.Leaf"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Leaf</span></tt></a>, <a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/libref/declarative_classes.html#tables.Atom" title="tables.Atom"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Atom</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/libref/declarative_classes.html#tables.Col" title="tables.Col"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Col</span></tt></a> objects (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/126">gh-126</a>).</li>
<li>Added read support for variable length string attributes (non scalar
attributes are converted into <a class="reference external" href="http://www.numpy.org">numpy</a> arrays with ‘O8’ type).
See <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/54">gh-54</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="other-improvements">
<h3>Other improvements<a class="headerlink" href="#other-improvements" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Dropped support for HDF5 1.6.x. Now PyTables uses the HDF5 1.8 API
(closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/105">gh-105</a>).</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/FrancescAlted/blosc">Blosc</a> updated to v. 1.1.3.</li>
<li>The <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/FrancescAlted/blosc">Blosc</a> compression library is now automatically disabled on platforms
that do not support unaligned memory access (see also
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/FrancescAlted/blosc/issues/3">https://github.com/FrancescAlted/blosc/issues/3</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=661286">http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=661286</a>).</li>
<li>Improved bzip2 detection on Windows (<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/116">gh-116</a>). Thanks to cgohlke.</li>
<li>For Windows, the setup.py script now has the ability to automatically find
the HDF5_DIR in the system PATH. Thanks to Mark (mwiebe).</li>
<li>Improved multi-arch support in GNU/Linux platforms (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/124">gh-124</a>)
Thanks to Julian Taylor and Picca Frederic-Emmanuel.</li>
<li>Use new style syntax for exception raising. Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/93">gh-93</a>.</li>
<li>Fixed most of the warnings related to py3k compatibility (see <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/92">gh-92</a>).</li>
<li>Fixed <a class="reference external" href="https://launchpad.net/pyflakes">pyflakes</a> warnings (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/102">gh-102</a>).</li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://www.cython.org">Cython</a> extensions updated to use new constructs (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/100">gh-100</a>).</li>
<li>Reduced the number of build warnings (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/101">gh-101</a>).</li>
<li>Removed the old lrucache module. It is no more needed after the merge with
PyTables Pro (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/118">gh-118</a>).</li>
<li>Added explicit (import time) testing for hdf5dll.dll on Windows to improve
diagnostics (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/146">gh-146</a>). Thanks to Mark (mwiebe).</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="documentation-improvements">
<h3>Documentation improvements<a class="headerlink" href="#documentation-improvements" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>new coockbook section (contents have been coming from the PyTables wiki
on <a class="reference external" href="http://www.pytables.org">http://www.pytables.org</a>)</li>
<li>complete rework of the library reference. Now the entire chapter is
generated from docstrings using the sphinx autodoc extension.
A big thank you to Josh Ayers. Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/148">gh-148</a>.</li>
<li>new sphinx theme based on the cloud template</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="bugs-fixed">
<h3>Bugs fixed<a class="headerlink" href="#bugs-fixed" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Fixed a segfault on platforms that do not support unaligned memory access
(closes: <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/134">gh-134</a>). Thanks to Julian Taylor.</li>
<li>Fixed broken inheritance in <a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/libref/declarative_classes.html#tables.IsDescription" title="tables.IsDescription"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">IsDescription</span></tt></a> classes (thanks to
Andrea Bedini). Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/65">gh-65</a>.</li>
<li>Fixed table descriptions copy method (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/131">gh-131</a>).</li>
<li>Fixed open failures handling (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/158">gh-158</a>).
Errors that happen when one tries to open an invalid HDF5 file (e.g. an
empty file) are now detected earlier by PyTables and a proper exception
(<tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">exceptions.HDF5ExtError</span></tt>) is raised.
Also, in case of open failures, invalid file descriptors are no more cached.
Before is fix it was not possible to completely close the bad file and reopen
the same path, even if a valid file was created in the meanwhile.
Thanks to Daniele for reporting and for the useful test code.</li>
<li>Fixed support to rich structured numpy.dtype in
<a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/libref/declarative_classes.html#tables.description.descr_from_dtype" title="tables.description.descr_from_dtype"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">description.descr_from_dtype()</span></tt></a>. Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/160">gh-160</a>.</li>
<li>Fixed sorting of nested tables that caused AttributeError.
Closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/156">gh-156</a> and <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/157">gh-157</a>. Thanks to Uwe Mayer.</li>
<li>Fixed flavor deregistration (closes <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/163">gh-163</a>)</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="deprecations">
<h3>Deprecations<a class="headerlink" href="#deprecations" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>The <tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">parameters.MAX_THREADS</span></tt> configuration parameter is now
deprecated. Please use <a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/parameter_files.html#tables.parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS" title="tables.parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS"><tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">parameters.MAX_BLOSC_THREADS</span></tt></a> and
<a class="reference internal" href="../usersguide/parameter_files.html#tables.parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS" title="tables.parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS"><tt class="xref py py-data docutils literal"><span class="pre">parameters.MAX_NUMEXPR_THREADS</span></tt></a> instead.
See <a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/PyTables/PyTables/issues/142">gh-142</a>.</li>
<li>Since the support for HDF5 1.6.x has been dropped, the <em>warn16incompat</em>
argument of the <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">File.createExternalLink()</span></tt> method and the
<tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">exceptions.Incompat16Warning</span></tt> exception class are now deprecated.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<div><p><strong>Enjoy data!</strong></p>
<p class="attribution">—The PyTables Team</p>
</div></blockquote>
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<h3><a href="../index.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">Release notes for PyTables 2.4 series</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#changes-from-2-3-1-to-2-4">Changes from 2.3.1 to 2.4</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#new-features">New features</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#other-improvements">Other improvements</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#documentation-improvements">Documentation improvements</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#bugs-fixed">Bugs fixed</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#deprecations">Deprecations</a></li>
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