Subject: [bug#64448] [PATCH 0/2] Fix hdf5-1.14 wrappers and remove generated source files from all hdf5 versions.

From: Andreas Enge <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2023 15:49:49 +0200

Hello,

adding Gerd Heber in cc, who seems to be the last person having worked on
these packages.

I am not competent at all about them, so commenting more as an outsider.
Using "guix package -A hdf":
hdf4                	4.2.14          	out        	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1289:2
hdf4-alt            	4.2.14          	out        	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1372:2
hdf5                	1.8.23          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1382:2
hdf5                	1.14.0          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1543:2
hdf5                	1.12.2          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1523:2
hdf5                	1.10.9          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1503:2
hdf5-blosc          	1.0.0           	out        	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1807:2
hdf5-parallel-openmpi	1.10.9          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1775:2

and a lot of packages in other languages, for instance:
cl-hdf5-cffi        	1.8.18-1.5b5c88f	out        	gnu/packages/lisp-xyz.scm:12238:4
ecl-hdf5-cffi       	1.8.18-1.5b5c88f	out        	gnu/packages/lisp-xyz.scm:12238:4
(apparently based on 1.8.18? but it has hdf5-1.10 as input).

So there are lots of versions, and in the middle of them,
(define-public hdf5
  ;; Default version of HDF5.
  hdf5-1.10)

And
hdf5-parallel-openmpi	1.10.9          	out,fortran	gnu/packages/maths.scm:1775:2
which inherits like this:
  (package/inherit hdf5-1.10                      ;use the latest
but takes inputs like this:
    (inputs
     `(("mpi" ,openmpi)
       ,@(package-inputs hdf5)))
which, I suppose, works by chance since currently hdf5-1.10 and hdf5 are
the same (but not "the latest").

Are all of these needed? If only the latest version 1.14.0 could be kept,
this would make the patch for 1.8.23 obsolete, for instance.

Andreas