We lost OpenDAP support for Windows users since RNetCDF version 2.7-1!

[khaled-alshamaa]

It looks like we lost the OpenDAP support for Windows users since version 2.7-1!
Are you sure that you update Windows binary packages to the latest netcdf with OpenDAP?

The following code snippet works perfectly fine on RNetCDF version 2.6-2 but not version 2.7-1 onward :-(

nc_url <- 'http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/dodsC/agg_terraclimate_tmax_1958_CurrentYear_GLOBE.nc'
nc_metadata <- RNetCDF::open.nc(nc_url)

[mdsumner]

works for me

Package: RNetCDF
Version: 2.9-1
Date: 2023-12-30

??

[mjwoods]

Works for me too. Please provide additional details about your system, and/or check network, firewall, and anti-virus settings.

> R.version
               _                                
platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32               
arch           x86_64                           
os             mingw32                          
crt            ucrt                             
system         x86_64, mingw32                  
status                                          
major          4                                
minor          3.2                              
year           2023                             
month          10                               
day            31                               
svn rev        85441                            
language       R                                
version.string R version 4.3.2 (2023-10-31 ucrt)
nickname       Eye Holes             
> packageVersion("RNetCDF")
[1] ‘2.9.1’
> osVersion
[1] "Windows 10 x64 (build 19045)"
> nc_url <- 'http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/dodsC/agg_terraclimate_tmax_1958_CurrentYear_GLOBE.nc'
> nc_metadata <- RNetCDF::open.nc(nc_url)
> RNetCDF::print.nc(nc_metadata)
netcdf classic {
dimensions:
        crs = 1 ;
        lat = 4320 ;
        lon = 8640 ;
        time = 780 ;
variables:
        NC_SHORT crs(crs) ;
                NC_CHAR crs:grid_mapping_name = "latitude_longitude" ;
                NC_DOUBLE crs:longitude_of_prime_meridian = 0 ;
                NC_DOUBLE crs:semi_major_axis = 6378137 ;
                NC_DOUBLE crs:inverse_flattening = 298.257223563 ;
                NC_CHAR crs:long_name = "crs" ;
                NC_INT crs:_ChunkSizes = 1 ;
...

[khaled-alshamaa]

Here is additional information about my system:

> R.version
               _                                
platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32               
arch           x86_64                           
os             mingw32                          
crt            ucrt                             
system         x86_64, mingw32                  
status                                          
major          4                                
minor          2.2                              
year           2022                             
month          10                               
day            31                               
svn rev        83211                            
language       R                                
version.string R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31 ucrt)
nickname       Innocent and Trusting            

> packageVersion("RNetCDF")
[1] ‘2.9.1’

> osVersion
[1] "Windows 10 x64 (build 19044)"

> library(RNetCDF)
Warning message:
package ‘RNetCDF’ was built under R version 4.2.3 

> nc_url <- 'http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/dodsC/agg_terraclimate_tmax_1958_CurrentYear_GLOBE.nc'
> nc_metadata <- RNetCDF::open.nc(nc_url)

The last command (i.e., open.nc() function call) takes ages with no response at all! Well, I don't expect that it is something related to the network, firewall, or anti-virus settings because the following lines of code works perfectly fine!

> remove.packages("RNetCDF")
Removing package from ‘C:/Users/Kel-shamaa/AppData/Local/Programs/R/R-4.2.2/library’
(as ‘lib’ is unspecified)

Restarting R session...

> install.packages("https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/2023-09-01/bin/windows/contrib/4.2/RNetCDF_2.6-2.zip")
inferring 'repos = NULL' from 'pkgs'
trying URL 'https://packagemanager.posit.co/cran/2023-09-01/bin/windows/contrib/4.2/RNetCDF_2.6-2.zip'
Content type 'binary/octet-stream' length 5060094 bytes (4.8 MB)
downloaded 4.8 MB

package ‘RNetCDF’ successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked

> nc_url <- 'http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/dodsC/agg_terraclimate_tmax_1958_CurrentYear_GLOBE.nc'
> nc_metadata <- RNetCDF::open.nc(nc_url)
> RNetCDF::print.nc(nc_metadata)
netcdf classic {
dimensions:
	crs = 1 ;
	lat = 4320 ;
	lon = 8640 ;
	time = 792 ;
variables:
	NC_SHORT crs(crs) ;
		NC_CHAR crs:grid_mapping_name = "latitude_longitude" ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:longitude_of_prime_meridian = 0 ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:semi_major_axis = 6378137 ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:inverse_flattening = 298.257223563 ;
		NC_CHAR crs:long_name = "crs" ;
		NC_INT crs:_ChunkSizes = 1 ;
...

[khaled-alshamaa]

Interestingly, the latest RNetCDF version 2.9.1 functioned perfectly fine when I updated my R version to 4.3.3 ;-)

> R.version
               _                                
platform       x86_64-w64-mingw32               
arch           x86_64                           
os             mingw32                          
crt            ucrt                             
system         x86_64, mingw32                  
status                                          
major          4                                
minor          3.3                              
year           2024                             
month          02                               
day            29                               
svn rev        86002                            
language       R                                
version.string R version 4.3.3 (2024-02-29 ucrt)
nickname       Angel Food Cake                  

> packageVersion("RNetCDF")
[1] ‘2.9.1’

> nc_url <- 'http://thredds.northwestknowledge.net:8080/thredds/dodsC/agg_terraclimate_tmax_1958_CurrentYear_GLOBE.nc'
> nc_metadata <- RNetCDF::open.nc(nc_url)
> RNetCDF::print.nc(nc_metadata)
netcdf classic {
dimensions:
	crs = 1 ;
	lat = 4320 ;
	lon = 8640 ;
	time = 792 ;
variables:
	NC_SHORT crs(crs) ;
		NC_CHAR crs:grid_mapping_name = "latitude_longitude" ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:longitude_of_prime_meridian = 0 ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:semi_major_axis = 6378137 ;
		NC_DOUBLE crs:inverse_flattening = 298.257223563 ;
		NC_CHAR crs:long_name = "crs" ;
		NC_INT crs:_ChunkSizes = 1 ;

So, the bottom line advice is to make sure that our system is up-to-date :D

[mjwoods]

Thanks @khaled-alshamaa . R-4.2.3 used an older version of Rtools, so this may explain the incompatibility with the RNetCDF_2.9-1 binary package on Windows. As new versions of Rtools are released, we may have similar problems with older R versions, so I will keep this issue in mind.