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Change History

Highlights of each release are described below. For more details, see our wiki (https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/Release-Notes) which provides links to the Release Notes (itemized list of changes) for any release.

v2026.01

released 2026-02-19

This is a patch release and contains new contributions from the [FAIRmat consortium](https://www.fairmat-nfdi.eu/fairmat/) and the wider NeXus community.

Summary statistics from the GitHub definitions repository show this activity since the (previous) v2025.11 release:

activity quantity
Pull Requests 15
Issues 4
Commits 28

See the wiki for more details: https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/releasenotes__v2026.01

New Features

New contributed application definitions include NXspm, NXafm, NXstm, and NXstm accompanied by some new base classes.

The parameter fields in NXparameter now has some optional attributes to store optimization metadata and NXfit_function has been updated to match.

Fixes

Make documentation of deprecated attributes visible. The one year curation requirement for contributions is now lifted.

Maintenance

Documentation for some application definitions has been recategorized. Make tooling work for newer Python. Fix incorrect referencing of inherited nodes of different tag type.

Deprecations

The NXnote called thumbnail in NXentry has a type attribute that is now deprecated in favour of a field of the same name.

v2025.11

released 2025-11-13

This release is the result of [NIAC2024](https://www.nexusformat.org/NIAC2024.html) and contains substantial contributions from the [FAIRmat consortium](https://www.fairmat-nfdi.eu/fairmat/) and the wider NeXus community. It marks the first release of new base classes and application definitions in the fields of atom probe microscopy, photoemission & core-level spectroscopy, optical spectroscopy, electron microscopy, and, computational and constructive solid geometry.

Summary statistics from the GitHub definitions repository show this activity since the (previous) v2024.02 release:

activity quantity
Pull Requests 118
Issues 10
Commits 592

See the wiki for more details: https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/releasenotes__v2025.11

New Features

New application definitions include NXapm, NXazint1d, NXazint2d, NXem, NXellipsometry, NXmpes, NXmpes_arpes, NXoptical_spectroscopy, NXstress, and NXxps. Accompanying them are numerous new base classes.

NXobject now has some optional groups and formalizes field names using the new partial name types to reserve their accompanying fields. Also new optional identifier fields have been added. NXcomponent has been introduced as a superclass for constituent parts of any instruments and many base classes now extend that. NXcoordinate_system allows local coordinate frames to be specified and used in NXtransformations chains.

Fixes

In base classes, any field units attribute can be specified as concrete example units in place of the limited set of NeXus defined categories. Enumerations can be open allowing new custom values to be used if an appropriate attribute is set.

Maintenance

Documentation for NXdata has been rewritten with new examples of its usage across data of differing dimensions. NeXus_repository and NeXus_release fields have added to NXroot. Rotation fields in NXtransformations for left handed coordinate systems has been specified.

Deprecations

Removed remaining pages from previous website. In NXdata, scaling_factor and offset have been deprecated. In NXroot, NeXus_version is no longer of use with the frozen state of the NeXus API.

v2024.02

released 2024-02-09

This release is the result of a NIAC meeting in 2022-09, NeXus Code Camps in 2022-06 and 2023-06, and substantial work by the NeXus Community, the FAIRmat consortium and NIAC members.

Summary statistics from the GitHub definitions repository show this activity since the (previous) v2022.07 release:

activity quantity
Pull Requests 67
Issues 34
Commits 413

See the wiki for more details: https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/releasenotes__v2024.02

New Features

Add h5wasm and H5Web to HDF tools list.

Allow recommended attribute as alias for optional, but with the recommendation that this attribute be specified.

NXxas: Added NXdata/mode to report detection method.

Add various flux fields to NXbeam.

Add virtual pixel handling to NXdetector.

Add h5py example scripts.

Add equipment_component attribute to NXtransformations.

Add countrate_correction_lookup_table to NXdetector for NXmx.

Allow axis fields to be numbers or strings and add a default_slice attribute to NXdata.

Add new NXdetector_channel base class.

Add favicon to manual web pages.

Add many new contributed definitions from FAIRmat.

Allow NeXus definitions to be created with YAML.

Add recent contributors links to NeXus classes html pages.

Improve link navigation in application definition items and collapse doc strings.

Fixes

Add missing close parenthesis in rendering of suggested target.

Amend text that mistakenly deprecated NXaperture.

Generalize NXsource type for electron sources.

Maintenance

NXdata: clarify how errors are described in documentation; remove obsolete dimension index attribute; clarify that attributes that name other fields must be existing children of group; improve documentation on axes.

NXmx: clarify pixel size, update NXbeam documentation on incident_wavelength_spectrum, make countrate_correction_lookup_table optional

NXsas: Various fields and groups changed to optional. Only those deemed necessary for data reduction are required.

NXtransformations: Add equipment_component attribute.

NXxas: data fields` changed from NX_INT to NX_NUMBER.

NXxpcs: clarify use of entry_identifier, entry_identifier_uuid, and scan_number; fix some units.

Clarify how NXbeam can be in NXinstrument groups or NXsample.

Deprecations

NXdata: deprecate errors field in favor of FIELDNAME_errors for the signal field.

v2022.07

released 2022-08-02

This is a bugfix release. See notes on wiki: https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/releasenotes__v2022.07

v2022.06

released 2022-07-05

This release is the result of a virtual NIAC meeting in 2022-03, NeXus Code Camps in 2021-03 and 2022-06, and substantial work by both the NeXus Community and NIAC members.

Summary statistics from the GitHub definitions repository show this activity since the (previous) v2020.10 release:

activity quantity
Pull Requests 134
Issues 101
Commits 250

See the wiki for more details: https://github.com/nexusformat/definitions/wiki/releasenotes__v2022.06

Breaking Changes

  • Included PDF files moved /pdf/ to /_static/.
  • Minimum Python requirement (for testing and building documentation): 3.7
  • NXsample: Removed group named temperature.
  • NXsnsevent & NXsnshisto: category changed to application (was base)
  • Publishing workflow completely rebuilt in Python, now in /dev_tools/ directory (was in /utils/). All Python code adheres to automated code style checking (black and flake8).

New Features

  • contributed definitions:
    • atom probe microscopy
    • electron microscopy
    • ellipsometry
    • multidimensional photoemission spectroscopy
    • NXregion
    • X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy
  • Full vocabulary (names of all groups, fields, attributes, and links) now built and published in the manual.
  • NX_COMPLEX data type to describe complex numbers.
  • NX_COUNT unit type to describe counting events.

Enhancements

  • All classes provide a list of reST & HTML anchors to every defined item (groups, fields, attributes, & links).

Maintenance

  • Add
    • depends_on (field) and NXtransformations (group) to more base classes.
    • NXdetector: image_key
    • NXdetector, NXmx: countrate_correction_lookup_table
  • Change GitHub default branch to main (was master).
  • Clarify:
    • naming rule of NXDL XML files
    • symbol table in NXDL files
    • NXdetector: dimensions
    • how default attribute is used to find the plottable data
    • NXBeam: various symbols and polarization fields
  • Documentation built and published from GitHub Actions workflow
  • Switch repository default branch from master to main.
  • Units of flux corrected.
  • Various documentation revised:
    • Description of links

Deprecations

  • incr attribute of dimensionType
  • NXspecdata contributed definition withdrawn and removed.

Contributors

In addition to the NIAC members, these people have contributed to this release:

  • Advanced Light Source
    • Dylan McReynolds
    • Ron Pandolfi
    • Juliane Reinhardt
    • Padraic Shafer
  • Advanced Photon Source
    • Daniel Ching
    • Miaoqi Chu
    • Suresh Narayanan
    • Qingteng Zhang
  • Dectris
    • Sophie Hotz
    • Kal Conley
  • Diamond Light Source
    • Tim Snow
  • FAIRmat
    • Carola Emminger
    • Florian Dobener
    • Markus Kühbach
    • Andrea Albino
  • National Synchrotron Light Source II
    • Abby Giles
    • Andi Barbour

v2020.10

released 2020-12-08

v2020.1

released 2020-01-31

v2018.5

released 2018-05-15

Releases before v2018.5