Will an application written to work with a newer (later) version of the HDF5 Library compile, link, and run as would be expected with an older (earlier) version of the library?
Forward compatibility refers to one of the following questions: Can an older (earlier) library read a file and/or objects within a file that were created or written by a newer (later) library? Will an application written to work with an older (earlier) version of the HDF5 Library compile, link, and run as would be expected with a newer (later) version of the library? The questions regarding whether a file or object is readable with various versions of HDF5 are discussed in “File Format Changes,” immediately below. The questions regarding whether an application written to work with one version of HDF5 will work with another are discussed in “Interface Changes.” This document does not cover new functionality; clearly the use of a new feature will render an application incompatible with any version of the HDF5 Library older than the release in which that feature was introduced. Similarly, an older library is likely to be unable to read objects created or written with the newer feature. Se
