update for 1.7.4 release

Author: jswhit2

Changelog

@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
- version 1.7.4 (not yet released)
+ version 1.7.4 (tag v1.7.4rel)
  ================================
  * Make sure automatic conversion of character arrays <--> string arrays works for Unicode strings (issue #1440).
    (previously only worked correctly for encoding="ascii").
  * Add netcdf plugins (blosc, zstd, bzip2) in wheels.  Blosc plugin doesn't work in Windows wheels.
    Macos wheels now use conda provided libs. (PR #1450)
+ * Add windows/arm (PR #1453) and free-threaded python wheels (issue #1454). Windows wheels now use netcdf-c 4.9.3.
+   WARNING:  netcdf-c is not thread-safe and netcdf4-python does have internal locking so expect segfaults if you
+   use netcdf4-python on multiple threads with free-threaded python.  Users must exercise care to only call netcdf from
+   a single thread.
 
  version 1.7.3 (tag v1.7.3rel)
  =============================

README.md

@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@
 ## News
 For details on the latest updates, see the [Changelog](https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf4-python/blob/master/Changelog).
 
+1/5/2026:  Version [1.7.4](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/netCDF4/1.7.4) released.  Compression plugins now included in wheels, windows/arm and
+free-threaded python wheels provided.   Automatic conversion of character arrays <--> string arrays works for Unicode (not just ascii) strings.
+WARNING:  netcdf-c is not thread-safe and netcdf4-python does have internal locking so expect segfaults if you
+use netcdf4-python on multiple threads with free-threaded python.  Users must exercise care to only call netcdf from
+a single thread.
+
 10/13/2025: Version [1.7.3](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/netCDF4/1.7.3) released. Minor updates/bugfixes and python 3.14 wheels, see Changelog for details.
 
 10/22/2024: Version [1.7.2](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/netCDF4/1.7.2) released. Minor updates/bugfixes and python 3.13 wheels, see Changelog for details.