Proposal to publish release JARs artifacts as release assets

[cofinoa]

I'd like to propose a small but helpful improvement for downstream users and developers.

Please consider publishing key JAR files (e.g., netcdfAll and toolsUI and respective checksums) as assets in GitHub Releases, in addition to hosting them on your official download site at:

https://downloads.unidata.ucar.edu/netcdf-java/

This would not replace the authoritative Unidata site (which should remain the canonical source), but it would make it easier to:

• Pin a specific version directly from GitHub
• Automate downloads using curl or wget
• Discover and integrate JARs more easily in GitHub-based workflows, including CI/CD or API-related tooling

As far as I know, uploading binaries as GitHub Release assets is not a problem for GitHub. Release assets do not count toward Git LFS quota or repository size, and many open-source projects follow this dual-publication model successfully.

This relates to issue #1452, where publishing Java artifacts to Maven Central was discussed. While publishing to Maven Central may not be feasible for all artifacts due to dependency constraints, attaching the core JARs as GitHub Release assets could offer a simple and effective middle ground for users needing stable access to versioned binaries.

This is also related to dicussion #1408, where user asked about including netcdfAll in Maven builds. It was explained that netcdfAll is intended for use in non-Maven setups because it includes all third-party dependencies. While cdm-core and other components are published individually, netcdfAll is not always present in the Unidata Maven repository. Publishing it as a GitHub Release asset would help address that gap for users who need the full bundle but do not rely on Maven dependency resolution.

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References:

• Related GitHub Issues:

  • Issue Publish Java artifacts to Maven Central #1452
  • Discussion Can netcdfAll-x.x.x.jar be downloaded using maven? #1408

• Related GitHub documentation on attaching release assets:

  • Editing a release: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/editing-a-release
  • Attaching binaries to a draft release: https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/about-releases#attaching-binaries

[lesserwhirls]

I fully support this proposal, and will start attaching the netcdfAll and toolsUI jars (as well as the checksums) to the releases starting with the upcoming 5.9.0 release.

[lesserwhirls]

https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-java/releases/tag/v5.9.0