I'm trying to add sample metadata to a very small BIOM file (658 Bytes, 2 samples) using the command biom add-metadata (the metadata file is 206 Bytes). However, I found that using biom version 2.1.8 resulted in a much bigger file (36.17 KB) than when I used biom version 2.1.7 (615 Bytes). Furthermore, the file created with v2.1.8 does not seem to be a plain text file, as there are many illegible characters when I tried opening it using "more" on terminal or using text editor, while the file created with v2.1.7 is a normal text file.
The machine that I used already has biom v2.1.7, but when I tried to install both v2.1.7 and 2.1.8 using conda, I saw the same behavior. Then I tried to install v2.1.8 using pip (in a conda environment), and still, the difference that I mentioned above is there.
I wonder if this is normal or expected.
Thanks in advance for your input!
would it be possible to copy/paste the commands used? The changelog entries for 2.1.7 - 2.1.8 can be found here, although I'm not aware of changes that would have modified the output behavior of
add-metadata. Is it possible that theh5pypackage was not installed in the environment with 2.1.7?