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 These documents are not actively maintained and may be out of date.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 

The HDF Group Help Desk:
Describes HDF5 Release 1.10.
  Copyright by The HDF Group
and the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Last modified: 15 February 2016