[CF-metadata] CF calendars (was: problem with times in PSD dataset)

From: Schultz, Martin <m.schultz>
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:48:03 +0000

Dear Chris,

>> I think a solution shouldn't break current files which followed what had been a standard for a long time (however ill-advised the standard was).[...]

while I fully support your pledge for backward compatibility, we should also avoid stagnation because of too many old hassles that need to be supported. Isn't this situation exactly why we need different CF versions? The existing files you talk about will carry a CF attribute <= 1.5. If the rules become stricter in CF 1.6 (and "1-1-1" will no longer be allowed, for example), there shouldn't be any issue with backward compatibility, because any software that claims it can read CF-1.5 data will have to allow for "1-1-1" dates and should interpret these correctly. In this case, the backward compatibility issue will only apply for data files that are newly created, and this is exactly the situation where we would like to get away from "1-1-1", isn't it? The other potential conflict could arise if someone decides to "clean" an old file and bring it to the CF-1.6 standard. Well, in this case, cleaning of the date values and attributes would have to be part of the cleanup process.

Cheers,

Martin




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Received on Wed Dec 19 2012 - 04:48:03 GMT