Towards the first standalone release of netcdftime

[jhamman]

My apologies for getting this started and then letting it slide for so long. I'd like to aim for getting a first release of this package by the end of February.

I have created a milestone on the issue tracker for this release. Some other things to consider:

• what version number should we start with?
• how should we go about removing the current netcdftime from netcdf4-python

cc @dopplershift, @spencerkclark, @jswhit

from @dopplershift:

I'm happy to help step up on the infrastructure side (well, in a couple weeks probably), but I'm a little uncomfortable with stepping up fully since I don't have much technical knowledge in the space netcdftime is operating. So I'm happy to cut releases and stuff, but I'm not in possession of answers when it comes to solutions to problems.

If you could help get the documentation working, I can spend some cycles on getting the test infrastructure working again. I'm hoping @spencerkclark can help wrap up his open issues in that time frame.

[spencerkclark]

Thanks @jhamman and @dopplershift, that sounds great; indeed I would be happy to help out in wrapping up my open issues.

[jswhit]

I can create a netcdf4-python branch with netcdftime removed.

[jswhit]

I created a nonetcdftime branch in netcdf4-python. I did not remove the utilities that use netcdftime, but they now will raise an ImportError it they are used and netcdftime is not installed. I didn't remove the tests that use netcdftime either, but they are not run if netcdftime is not installed.

[jswhit]

I noticed that one of the tests is failing in master (test_parse_date_tz). I think this is related to issue #17. This needs to be fixed before the first standalone release.

[jhamman]

Folks, I think we're close here. Really, the only blocker to a release is the documentation. @dopplershift - do you think you'll be keen to help with that?

We probably also want a Appveyor CI test suite, so I just opened #21.

[jswhit]

pull request #22 is needed for all the netcdf4-python tests to pass.

Also, shouldn't _netcdftime.c be generated on the fly and removed from the repo? (this was done in netcdf4-python a release or two ago). It makes development easier, since developers don't need to remember to update _netcdftime.c, but it does add cython as a build-time dependency.

Actually, I see in setup.py that _netcdftime.c is being regnerated anyway, so I think it can just be removed from the repo. I went ahead an removed _netcdftime.c in pull request #22.

[dopplershift]

@jhamman Yeah, I just need to get in my scipy abstracts first, then I should be good to go.

[jhamman]

Alright, I think we are code complete for an initial release. I'd like to issue a alpha release so we can setup conda-forge and pypi. That will give @dopplershift time to jump in on the documentation stuff.

Any objections to tagging v0.1.0a1?

[shoyer]

It might actually make sense to start with a 1.0 release. netcdftime is pretty mature from its development inside netCDF4-Python.

[dopplershift]

I guess the real question is: is anyone intending to break the existing interfaces?

[jhamman]

1.0 is fine by me. Any objections? If not, I'll probably make a v1.0.0a1 tag later today.

[jhamman]

I guess the real question is: is anyone intending to break the existing interfaces?

Not that I'm aware of. The main motivation for this split is to drop the dependency of netcdf. My vision, at least in the short term, is for the API to remain as is.

[dopplershift]

Then I’d say 1.0 is fine.

[jhamman]

alpha tag has been made: https://github.com/Unidata/netcdftime/releases/tag/v1.0.0a1

pypi upload: https://pypi.org/project/netcdftime/

conda-forge staged recipe: conda-forge/staged-recipes#5189

[dopplershift]

@jswhit Is there any source material for the docs/index.html file in the netCDF4 repo?

[jhamman]

I'm going to make a second release candidate tag.

[jhamman]

anyone opposed to making another cftime tag?

[spencerkclark]

@jhamman I'm biased, but I say go for it. I have some commits that finish up pydata/xarray#1252 that I'll wait to push until the latest cftime is up on conda-forge. Thanks again for your help pushing this forward.

[jhamman]

New release has been issued. We may be able to issue the full 1.0.0 release after this circulates for a few days/weeks.

[jswhit]

netcdf4-python 1.4.0 is released, the first release that depends on the unbundled cftime.

[jhamman]

Thanks @jswhit - let's try to get a full release of cftime out next week.

[jhamman]

This issue has served us well. Closing now since I just made the 1.0.0 tag, github release, and pypi release. Conda forge is coming soon.

Thanks to all who contributed to the port of netcdftime and getting cftime up and going!