What’s new in h5py 3.9

This version of h5py requires Python 3.8 or above.

New features

New out argument to read_direct_chunk() to allow passing the output buffer (PR 2232).
The objects from Dataset.asstr() and Dataset.astype() now implement the __array__() method (PR 2269). This speeds up access for functions that support it, such as np.asarray().
Validate key types when creating groups and attributes, giving better error messages when invalid types are used (PR 2266).

Using Dataset.astype() as a context manager has been removed, after being deprecated in h5py 3.6. Read data by slicing the returned object instead: dset.astype('f4')[:].

H5Pget_elink_acc_flags & H5Pset_elink_acc_flags as h5py.h5p.PropLAID.get_elink_acc_flags() & h5py.h5p.PropLAID.set_elink_acc_flags(): access the external link file access traversal flags in a link access property list (PR 2244).
H5Zregister as h5py.h5z.register_filter(): register an HDF5 filter (PR 2229).

Group.__contains__ and Group.get now use the default link access property list systematically (PR 2244).
Removed various calls to the deprecated numpy.product function (PR 2242 & PR 2273).
Fix the IPython tab-completion integration in IPython 8.12 (:pr:2256`).
Replacing attributes with AttributeManager.create() now deletes the old attributes before creating the new one, rather than using a temporary name and renaming the new attribute (PR 2274). This should avoid some confusing bugs affecting attributes. However, failures creating an attribute are less likely to leave an existing attribute of the same name in place. To change an attribute value without changing its shape or dtype, use modify() instead.

When building with Parallel HDF5 support, the version of mpi4py used on various Python versions is increased to 3.1.1, fixing building with a newer setuptools (PR 2225).
Some fixes towards compatibility with the upcoming Cython 3 (PR 2247).