diff --git a/nc_test4/Makefile.am b/nc_test4/Makefile.am
index 4f56492f1d..422bad33da 100644
--- a/nc_test4/Makefile.am
+++ b/nc_test4/Makefile.am
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ include $(top_srcdir)/lib_flags.am
 
 # Un comment to use a more verbose test driver
 #SH_LOG_DRIVER = $(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/test-driver-verbose
+#sh_LOG_DRIVER = $(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/test-driver-verbose
 #LOG_DRIVER = $(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/test-driver-verbose
+#TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = export SETX=1;
 
 TEST_EXTENSIONS = .sh
 
diff --git a/nc_test4/ref_bzip2.c b/nc_test4/ref_bzip2.c
index e93f3cac29..ccf5515d60 100644
--- a/nc_test4/ref_bzip2.c
+++ b/nc_test4/ref_bzip2.c
@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ main() {/* create bzip2.nc */
     /* enter define mode */
     stat = nc_create("bzip2.nc", NC_CLOBBER|NC_NETCDF4, &ncid);
     check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
-    stat = nc_put_att_text(ncid, NC_GLOBAL, "_Format", 1, "netCDF-4");
-    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
     bzip2_grp = ncid;
 
     /* define dimensions */
diff --git a/ncdump/CMakeLists.txt b/ncdump/CMakeLists.txt
index da43e1cdbf..0007888988 100644
--- a/ncdump/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ncdump/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -264,6 +264,9 @@ ENDIF(MSVC)
   ENDIF(USE_NETCDF4)
 
   add_sh_test(ncdump test_radix)
+
+  add_sh_test(ncdump tst_ctests)
+
 ENDIF()
 
 ENDIF()
@@ -296,7 +299,7 @@ SET(MAN_FILES nccopy.1 ncdump.1)
 # Note, the L512.bin file is file containing exactly 512 bytes each of value 0.
 # It is used for creating hdf5 files with varying offsets for testing.
 
-FILE(GLOB COPY_FILES ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/ncgen/*.nc ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/nc_test4/*.nc ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.ncml ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.nc ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.cdl ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.1 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/L512.bin)
+FILE(GLOB COPY_FILES ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/ncgen/*.nc ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/nc_test4/*.nc ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.ncml ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.nc ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.cdl ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.sh ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.1 ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/L512.bin ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/ref_ctest*.c)
 FILE(COPY ${COPY_FILES} DESTINATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/ FILE_PERMISSIONS OWNER_WRITE OWNER_READ OWNER_EXECUTE)
 
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(cdl)
diff --git a/ncdump/Makefile.am b/ncdump/Makefile.am
index 7381fe391f..764ae52748 100644
--- a/ncdump/Makefile.am
+++ b/ncdump/Makefile.am
@@ -107,6 +107,11 @@ if USE_HDF5
 TESTS += tst_inmemory_nc4.sh tst_nccopy_w4.sh
 endif
 
+if USE_HDF5
+# Re-activate the ncgen -lc tests
+TESTS += tst_ctests.sh
+endif
+
 endif BUILD_TESTSETS
 
 # These files all have to be included with the distribution.
@@ -150,6 +155,9 @@ ref_nccopy_w.cdl tst_nccopy_w3.sh tst_nccopy_w4.sh ref_no_ncproperty.nc
 # It is used for creating hdf5 files with varying offsets for testing.
 EXTRA_DIST += L512.bin
 
+EXTRA_DIST += tst_ctests.sh ref_ctest_small_3.c ref_ctest_small_4.c \
+	ref_ctest_special_atts_4.c
+
 # CDL files and Expected results
 SUBDIRS = cdl expected
 
@@ -175,4 +183,5 @@ tst_c0.cdl tst_c0_4.cdl tst_c0_4c.cdl tst_c0_64.cdl			\
 tst_compound_datasize_test.cdl tst_compound_datasize_test2.cdl		\
 tst_ncf199.cdl tst_tst_gattenum.cdl tst_tst_usuffix.cdl ctest.c		\
 ctest64.c nccopy3_subset_out.nc camrun.c tst_ncf213.cdl tst_ncf213.nc   \
-tst_radix.nc tmp_radix.cdl
+tst_radix.nc tmp_radix.cdl ctest_small_3.c ctest_small_4.c              \
+ctest_special_atts_4.c
diff --git a/ncdump/ctests.sh b/ncdump/ctests.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 3e00abeddc..0000000000
--- a/ncdump/ctests.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,235 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-if test "x$srcdir" = x ; then srcdir=`pwd`; fi 
-. ../test_common.sh
-
-#set -e
-echo "*** ctests.sh: testing ncgen4 -c"
-
-KFLAG=3
-
-# get some config.h parameters
-if test -f ${top_builddir}/config.h ; then
-  if fgrep -e '#define USE_NETCDF4 1' ${top_builddir}/config.h >/dev/null ; then
-    NETCDF4=1
-  else
-    NETCDF4=0
-  fi    
-  if fgrep -e '#define ENABLE_DAP 1' ${top_builddir}/config.h >/dev/null ; then
-    DAP=1
-  else
-    DAP=0
-  fi    
-
-else
-  echo "Cannot locate config.h"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-# Locate the cdl and expected directories
-cdl="${srcdir}/cdl4"
-expected="${srcdir}/expected4"
-
-# Locate various libraries, programs, etc
-# The hard part is locating the HDF5 and Z libraries
-
-NCGEN4=${NCGEN}
-NCDUMP=${NCDUMP}
-
-HDFPATH=""
-ZPATH=""
-SZPATH=""
-CURLPATH=""
-CC=cc
-if test -f ${builddir}/Makefile ; then
-  if test "x$NETCDF4" = "x1"; then
-    tmp=`sed -e '/^HDF5DIR/p' -e d <${builddir}/Makefile|tr -d " "`
-    HDFPATH=`echo $tmp |cut -d '=' -f2`
-    tmp=`sed -e '/^ZLIBDIR/p' -e d <${builddir}/Makefile|tr -d " "`
-    ZPATH=`echo $tmp |cut -d '=' -f2`
-    tmp=`sed -e '/^SZLIBDIR/p' -e d <${builddir}/Makefile|tr -d " "`
-    SZPATH=`echo $tmp |cut -d '=' -f2`
-  fi
-  if test "x$DAP" = "x1"; then
-    tmp=`sed -e '/^CURLDIR/p' -e d <${builddir}/Makefile|tr -d " "`
-    CURLPATH=`echo $tmp |cut -d '=' -f2`
-  fi
-  tmp=`sed -e "/^CC\ /p" -e d <${builddir}/Makefile|tr -d " "`
-  CC=`echo $tmp |cut -d '=' -f2`
-else
-  echo "No Makefile => cannot locate HDF5 path"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-if test "x$ZPATH" = "x" ; then
-  ZPATH="$SZPATH"
-fi
-if test "x$ZPATH" = "x" ; then
-  echo "NO libz or libsz specified"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-INCL=""
-LIBLOCS=""
-RPATH=""
-
-if test "x$NETCDF4" = "x1"; then
-NCLIBPATH="${builddir}/libsrc4/.libs"
-NCINCLPATH="${srcdir}/libsrc4"
-else
-NCPATH="${builddir}/libsrc/.libs"
-NCINCLPATH="${srcdir}/libsrc"
-fi
-
-INCL="-I ${NCINCLPATH}"
-
-if test "x$NETCDF4" = "x1"; then
-LIBLOCS="-L ${NCLIBPATH} -L ${HDFPATH}/lib -L ${ZPATH}/lib"
-LIBS="${LIBLOCS} -lnetcdf -lhdf5_hl -lhdf5 -lz -lm"
-#RPATH=-Wl,-rpath,${NCLIBPATH},-rpath,${HDFPATH}/lib,-rpath,${ZPATH}/lib
-else
-LIBLOCS="-L ${NCLIBPATH}"
-LIBS="${LIBLOCS} -lnetcdf -lm"
-#RPATH="-Wl,-rpath,${NCLIBPATH}"
-fi
-
-if test "x$DAP" = "x1"; then
-LIBS="${LIBS} -L ${CURLPATH}/lib -lcurl"
-#RPATH="${RPATH},-rpath,${CURLPATH}/lib"
-fi
-
-# Define the set of tests that can be
-# processed with either the -k nc3 or -k nc4 flag
-
-TESTS3="\
-test0 \
-nc_enddef \
-ref_tst_unicode \
-ref_tst_utf8 \
-sfc_pres_temp \
-simple_xy \
-small \
-fills \
-c0 \
-example_good \
-nc_sync \
-pres_temp_4D \
-ref_tst_small \
-ref_nctst \
-ref_nctst_64bit_offset \
-small2 \
-tst_ncml \
-ref_ctest1_nc4 \
-ref_ctest1_nc4c \
-ref_nctst_netcdf4 \
-ref_nctst_netcdf4_classic"
-
-# Define the set of tests that must be
-# processed with the -k nc4 flag
-
-TESTS4="\
-ref_dimscope \
-ref_typescope \
-ref_tst_string_data \
-ref_tst_comp \
-ref_tst_comp2 \
-ref_tst_group_data \
-ref_tst_opaque_data \
-ref_tst_solar_1 \
-ref_tst_solar_2 \
-ref_tst_enum_data \
-ref_tst_nans \
-ref_tst_special_atts \
-ref_const_test"
-
-if test "x$NOVLEN" = x ; then
-TESTS4="$TESTS4 ref_tst_vlen_data"
-fi
-
-SPECIALTESTS="ref_tst_special_atts"
-
-XFAILTESTS="ref_tst_special_atts"
-
-# Following are generally not run
-# Because of the size of their output
-BIGTESTS3="\
-bigf1 \
-bigf2 \
-bigf3 \
-bigr1 \
-bigr2"
-
-BIGTESTS4="ref_tst_solar_1"
-
-# This test is both big and slow
-BIGBIG3="gfs1"
-
-if test "${KFLAG}" = 1 ; then
-TESTSET="${TESTS3}"
-elif test "${KFLAG}" = 3 ; then
-TESTSET="${TESTS3} ${TESTS4}"
-else
-echo "Bad KFLAG=$KFLAG"
-exit 1
-fi
-
-set -e
-
-rm -fr results_ctests
-mkdir results_ctests
-
-failcount=0
-passcount=0
-xfailcount=0
-
-for x in ${TESTSET} ; do
-  echo "Testing: ${x}"
-  specflag=""
-  isxfail=0
-  for s in $SPECIALTESTS ; do
-    if test "$x" = "$s" ; then specflag="-s"; fi
-  done
-  for s in $XFAILTESTS ; do
-    if test "$x" = "$s" ; then isxfail=1; fi
-  done
-  ok=0;
-  cd results_ctests
-  if ${NCGEN4} -lc -k${KFLAG} ${cdl}/${x}.cdl >${x}.c
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  if $CC ${INCL} -c ${x}.c
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  if $CC -o ${x}.exe ${x}.o ${LIBS} ${RPATH}
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  if ./${x}.exe
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  if ${NCDUMP} ${specflag} ${x}.nc > ${x}.dmp  
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  cd ..
-if test 1 = 1; then
-  # compare with expected
-  if diff -b -w ${expected}/${x}.dmp results_ctests/${x}.dmp
-    then ok=1; else ok=0; fi
-  if test "$ok" = "1" ; then
-    echo "*** PASS: ${x}"
-    passcount=`expr $passcount + 1`
-  elif test $isxfail = 1 ; then
-    echo "*** XFAIL : ${x}"
-    xfailcount=`expr $xfailcount + 1`
-  else
-    echo "*** FAIL: ${x}"
-    failcount=`expr $failcount + 1`
-  fi
-fi
-done
-
-totalcount=`expr $passcount + $failcount + $xfailcount`
-okcount=`expr $passcount + $xfailcount`
-rm -fr results_ctests
-
-echo "PASSED: ${okcount}/${totalcount} ; ${xfailcount} expected failures ; ${failcount} unexpected failures"
-
-#if test $failcount -gt 0 ; then
-#  exit 1
-#else
-  exit 0
-#fi
diff --git a/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_3.c b/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_3.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce6c9f914f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_3.c
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <netcdf.h>
+
+
+void
+check_err(const int stat, const int line, const char *file) {
+    if (stat != NC_NOERR) {
+        (void)fprintf(stderr,"line %d of %s: %s\n", line, file, nc_strerror(stat));
+        fflush(stderr);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+}
+
+int
+main() {/* create ref_tst_small.nc */
+
+    int  stat;  /* return status */
+    int  ncid;  /* netCDF id */
+
+    /* dimension ids */
+    int Time_dim;
+    int DateStrLen_dim;
+
+    /* dimension lengths */
+    size_t Time_len = NC_UNLIMITED;
+    size_t DateStrLen_len = 19;
+
+    /* variable ids */
+    int Times_id;
+
+    /* rank (number of dimensions) for each variable */
+#   define RANK_Times 2
+
+    /* variable shapes */
+    int Times_dims[RANK_Times];
+
+    /* enter define mode */
+    stat = nc_create("ref_tst_small.nc", NC_CLOBBER, &ncid);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* define dimensions */
+    stat = nc_def_dim(ncid, "Time", Time_len, &Time_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_dim(ncid, "DateStrLen", DateStrLen_len, &DateStrLen_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* define variables */
+
+    Times_dims[0] = Time_dim;
+    Times_dims[1] = DateStrLen_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(ncid, "Times", NC_CHAR, RANK_Times, Times_dims, &Times_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* assign global attributes */
+
+    {
+    stat = nc_put_att_text(ncid, NC_GLOBAL, "TITLE", 31, " OUTPUT FROM WRF V2.0.3.1 MODEL");
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    }
+
+
+    /* leave define mode */
+    stat = nc_enddef (ncid);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* assign variable data */
+
+    {
+    char* Times_data = "2005-04-11_12:00:002005-04-11_13:00:00" ;
+    size_t Times_startset[2] = {0, 0} ;
+    size_t Times_countset[2] = {2, 19};
+    stat = nc_put_vara(ncid, Times_id, Times_startset, Times_countset, Times_data);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    }
+
+
+    stat = nc_close(ncid);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_4.c b/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_4.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..722f2b2fe3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ncdump/ref_ctest_small_4.c
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <netcdf.h>
+
+
+
+void
+check_err(const int stat, const int line, const char *file) {
+    if (stat != NC_NOERR) {
+        (void)fprintf(stderr,"line %d of %s: %s\n", line, file, nc_strerror(stat));
+        fflush(stderr);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+}
+
+int
+main() {/* create ref_tst_small.nc */
+
+    int  stat;  /* return status */
+    int  ncid;  /* netCDF id */
+
+    /* group ids */
+    int tst_small_grp;
+
+    /* dimension ids */
+    int Time_dim;
+    int DateStrLen_dim;
+
+    /* dimension lengths */
+    size_t Time_len = NC_UNLIMITED;
+    size_t DateStrLen_len = 19;
+
+    /* variable ids */
+    int Times_id;
+
+    /* rank (number of dimensions) for each variable */
+#   define RANK_Times 2
+
+    /* variable shapes */
+    int Times_dims[RANK_Times];
+
+    /* enter define mode */
+    stat = nc_create("ref_tst_small.nc", NC_CLOBBER|NC_NETCDF4, &ncid);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    tst_small_grp = ncid;
+
+    /* define dimensions */
+    stat = nc_def_dim(tst_small_grp, "Time", Time_len, &Time_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_dim(tst_small_grp, "DateStrLen", DateStrLen_len, &DateStrLen_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* define variables */
+
+    Times_dims[0] = Time_dim;
+    Times_dims[1] = DateStrLen_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_small_grp, "Times", NC_CHAR, RANK_Times, Times_dims, &Times_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* assign global attributes */
+
+    {
+    stat = nc_put_att_text(tst_small_grp, NC_GLOBAL, "TITLE", 31, " OUTPUT FROM WRF V2.0.3.1 MODEL");
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    }
+
+
+    /* leave define mode */
+    stat = nc_enddef (tst_small_grp);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* assign variable data */
+
+    {
+    char* Times_data = "2005-04-11_12:00:002005-04-11_13:00:00" ;
+    size_t Times_startset[2] = {0, 0} ;
+    size_t Times_countset[2] = {2, 19};
+    stat = nc_put_vara(tst_small_grp, Times_id, Times_startset, Times_countset, Times_data);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    }
+
+
+    stat = nc_close(tst_small_grp);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/ncdump/ref_ctest_special_atts_4.c b/ncdump/ref_ctest_special_atts_4.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dfea7761dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ncdump/ref_ctest_special_atts_4.c
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <netcdf.h>
+
+
+typedef struct obs_t {
+    signed char obs_t_PERIOD_day;
+    short obs_t_PERIOD_elev;
+    int obs_t_PERIOD_count;
+    float obs_t_PERIOD_relhum;
+    double obs_t_PERIOD_time;
+    unsigned char obs_t_PERIOD_category;
+    unsigned short obs_t_PERIOD_id;
+    unsigned int obs_t_PERIOD_particularity;
+    signed long long obs_t_PERIOD_attention_span;
+} obs_t;
+
+static size_t var2_chunksizes[2] = {6, 7} ;
+static size_t var3_chunksizes[3] = {6, 7, 8} ;
+static size_t var4_chunksizes[3] = {6, 7, 8} ;
+static size_t var5_chunksizes[1] = {6} ;
+
+void
+check_err(const int stat, const int line, const char *file) {
+    if (stat != NC_NOERR) {
+        (void)fprintf(stderr,"line %d of %s: %s\n", line, file, nc_strerror(stat));
+        fflush(stderr);
+        exit(1);
+    }
+}
+
+int
+main() {/* create ref_tst_special_atts.nc */
+
+    int  stat;  /* return status */
+    int  ncid;  /* netCDF id */
+
+    /* group ids */
+    int tst_special_atts_grp;
+
+    /* type ids */
+    int obs_t_typ;
+
+    /* dimension ids */
+    int dim1_dim;
+    int dim2_dim;
+    int dim3_dim;
+
+    /* dimension lengths */
+    size_t dim1_len = 10;
+    size_t dim2_len = 20;
+    size_t dim3_len = 30;
+
+    /* variable ids */
+    int var1_id;
+    int var2_id;
+    int var3_id;
+    int var4_id;
+    int var5_id;
+
+    /* rank (number of dimensions) for each variable */
+#   define RANK_var1 1
+#   define RANK_var2 2
+#   define RANK_var3 3
+#   define RANK_var4 3
+#   define RANK_var5 1
+
+    /* variable shapes */
+    int var1_dims[RANK_var1];
+    int var2_dims[RANK_var2];
+    int var3_dims[RANK_var3];
+    int var4_dims[RANK_var4];
+    int var5_dims[RANK_var5];
+
+    /* enter define mode */
+    stat = nc_create("ref_tst_special_atts.nc", NC_CLOBBER|NC_NETCDF4, &ncid);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    tst_special_atts_grp = ncid;
+
+    stat = nc_def_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, sizeof(obs_t), "obs_t", &obs_t_typ);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    {
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "day", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_day), NC_BYTE);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "elev", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_elev), NC_SHORT);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "count", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_count), NC_INT);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "relhum", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_relhum), NC_FLOAT);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "time", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_time), NC_DOUBLE);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "category", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_category), NC_UBYTE);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "id", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_id), NC_USHORT);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "particularity", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_particularity), NC_UINT);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_insert_compound(tst_special_atts_grp, obs_t_typ, "attention_span", NC_COMPOUND_OFFSET(obs_t,obs_t_PERIOD_attention_span), NC_INT64);    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    }
+
+
+    /* define dimensions */
+    stat = nc_def_dim(tst_special_atts_grp, "dim1", dim1_len, &dim1_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_dim(tst_special_atts_grp, "dim2", dim2_len, &dim2_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_dim(tst_special_atts_grp, "dim3", dim3_len, &dim3_dim);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* define variables */
+
+    var1_dims[0] = dim1_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_special_atts_grp, "var1", NC_INT, RANK_var1, var1_dims, &var1_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_chunking(tst_special_atts_grp, var1_id, NC_CONTIGUOUS, NULL);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_endian(tst_special_atts_grp, var1_id, NC_ENDIAN_LITTLE);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    var2_dims[0] = dim1_dim;
+    var2_dims[1] = dim2_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_special_atts_grp, "var2", NC_INT, RANK_var2, var2_dims, &var2_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_chunking(tst_special_atts_grp, var2_id, NC_CHUNKED, var2_chunksizes);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_fletcher32(tst_special_atts_grp, var2_id, 1);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_endian(tst_special_atts_grp, var2_id, NC_ENDIAN_BIG);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    var3_dims[0] = dim1_dim;
+    var3_dims[1] = dim2_dim;
+    var3_dims[2] = dim3_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_special_atts_grp, "var3", NC_INT, RANK_var3, var3_dims, &var3_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_chunking(tst_special_atts_grp, var3_id, NC_CHUNKED, var3_chunksizes);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_deflate(tst_special_atts_grp, var3_id, NC_NOSHUFFLE, 1, 2);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_endian(tst_special_atts_grp, var3_id, NC_ENDIAN_LITTLE);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    var4_dims[0] = dim1_dim;
+    var4_dims[1] = dim2_dim;
+    var4_dims[2] = dim3_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_special_atts_grp, "var4", NC_INT, RANK_var4, var4_dims, &var4_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_chunking(tst_special_atts_grp, var4_id, NC_CHUNKED, var4_chunksizes);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_deflate(tst_special_atts_grp, var4_id, NC_SHUFFLE, 1, 2);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_endian(tst_special_atts_grp, var4_id, NC_ENDIAN_LITTLE);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_fill(tst_special_atts_grp, var4_id, NC_NOFILL, NULL);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    var5_dims[0] = dim1_dim;
+    stat = nc_def_var(tst_special_atts_grp, "var5", obs_t_typ, RANK_var5, var5_dims, &var5_id);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_chunking(tst_special_atts_grp, var5_id, NC_CHUNKED, var5_chunksizes);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_fletcher32(tst_special_atts_grp, var5_id, 1);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_deflate(tst_special_atts_grp, var5_id, NC_SHUFFLE, 1, 2);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    stat = nc_def_var_fill(tst_special_atts_grp, var5_id, NC_NOFILL, NULL);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* leave define mode */
+    stat = nc_enddef (tst_special_atts_grp);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+
+    /* assign variable data */
+
+    stat = nc_close(tst_special_atts_grp);
+    check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/ncdump/tst_ctests.sh b/ncdump/tst_ctests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..91be836639
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ncdump/tst_ctests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+if test "x$srcdir" = x ; then srcdir=`pwd`; fi 
+. ../test_common.sh
+
+verbose=1
+set -e
+
+# Setup
+PASS=1
+
+# Do some limited testing of the ncgen -lc generated code
+
+NETCDF4=0
+if test -f ${top_builddir}/libnetcdf.settings ; then
+  if grep 'HDF5 Support:.*yes' ${top_builddir}/libnetcdf.settings >/dev/null ; then
+    NETCDF4=1
+  fi
+fi
+
+# Dump classic files two ways and compare
+dotest() {
+K=$1
+SF="_${K}"
+for f in $2 ; do
+  echo "Testing ${f}"
+  F="${f}${SF}"
+  rm -f ./ctest_${F}.c 
+  ${NCGEN} -$K -lc ${srcdir}/ref_tst_${f}.cdl > ./ctest_${F}.c
+  diff -w ./ctest_${F}.c ${srcdir}/ref_ctest_${F}.c
+done
+}
+
+#dotest 3 "small"
+if test "x$NETCDF4" = x1 ; then
+#  dotest 4 "small special_atts"
+  dotest 4 "special_atts"
+fi
diff --git a/ncgen/genc.c b/ncgen/genc.c
index 91293439a2..5afba81358 100644
--- a/ncgen/genc.c
+++ b/ncgen/genc.c
@@ -434,16 +434,10 @@ genc_netcdf(void)
 static void
 genc_defineglobalspecials(void)
 {
-    const char* format = NULL;
     if(usingclassic) return;
     if(!/*Main.*/format_attribute) return;
-    /* Watch out, this is a global Attribute */
-    format = kind_string(globalspecials._Format);
-    bbprintf0(stmt,"%sstat = nc_put_att_text(ncid, NC_GLOBAL, \"_Format\", 1, \"%s\");\n",
-	          indented(1),
-		  format);
-    codedump(stmt);
-    codelined(1,"check_err(stat,__LINE__,__FILE__);");
+    /* There are currently no global specials that
+       can be defined using nc_put_att.*/
 }
 
 static void