Feature #3335 point_weight_flag

[JohnHalleyGotway]

Expected Differences

This PR adds the point_weight_flag = KDE configuration option for Point-Stat, Ensemble-Stat, and Pair-Stat.

Differences are flagged in 115, which is a whole lot! But most are very minor. I'll describe them below:

• [68] Minor config file diffs in internal/test_unit, data/config, and scripts/config adding the new options or modifying whitespace.

• [18] Changes to Makefile.am and Makefile.in to compile the new code or due to -lvx_util now depending on -lvx_nav.

• [4] Documentation updates in .rst files.

• [9] Updates to point_stat (3), ensemble_stat (3), and pair_stat (3) source code to parse and apply the new options.

• [3] Update the vx_config library to parse the new options.

• [2] Update the vx_nav library to compute the gc_angle() between two lat/lon points.

• [3] Update the vx_util library to compute KDE point weights.

• [6] Update the vx_statistics library to apply the KDE point weights.

• [1] Update unit_point_weight.xml to 3 add new tests.

• [1] Update the compilation_options.yml workflow to remove unnecessary comments.

• Do these changes introduce new tools, command line arguments, or configuration file options? [Yes]
  
  If yes, please describe:
  
  Adds 1 new configuration value to enable this logic:

point_weight_flag = KDE;

Adds 2 new configuration options to configure the KDE point weights:

kde_ref_angle     = 0.75;
write_weights     = FALSE;

• Do these changes modify the structure of existing or add new output data types (e.g. statistic line types or NetCDF variables)? [Yes]
  
  If yes, please describe:
  
  When write_weights = TRUE; a new ASCII output file is written to dump the computed weight values.

Pull Request Testing

• Describe testing already performed for these changes:
  
  In unit_point_weight.xml, I added 2 new calls to Point-Stat and one new call to Ensemble-Stat to demonstrate this logic. Also see the testing described in this issue comment for details.

• Recommend testing for the reviewer(s) to perform, including the location of input datasets, and any additional instructions:
  

• Briefly review code changes.

• Carefully review documentation updates on RTD (https://metplus--3427.org.readthedocs.build/projects/met/en/3427/?readthedocs-diff=true&readthedocs-diff-chunk=1)

• Inspect changes and additions to the unit test output.

• Please find this code compiled as the met_test user in seneca:/d1/projects/MET/MET_pull_requests/met-13.0.0/rc1/MET-feature_3335_point_weight_flag.

• Do these changes include sufficient documentation updates, ensuring that no errors or warnings exist in the build of the documentation? [Yes]

• Do these changes include sufficient testing updates? [Yes]

• Will this PR result in changes to the MET test suite? [Yes]
  
  If yes, describe the new output and/or changes to the existing output:
  

Note that the link checker test will fail because issue #3416 has not been completed yet.

• Will this PR result in changes to existing METplus Use Cases? [No]
  
  If yes, create a new Update Truth METplus issue to describe them.

• Do these changes introduce new SonarQube findings? [No]
  
  If yes, please describe:
  While some existing issues are flagged, the overall number of findings is reduced slightly from 13,426 in develop to 13,381 for this pull request.

• Please complete this pull request review by [Monday Aug 31, 2026].
  
  Recommend that we review this PR with @mpm-meto when we meet on Aug 27, 2026.

Pull Request Checklist

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• Complete the PR definition above.
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• Define the PR metadata, as permissions allow.
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  Select: Milestone as the version that will include these changes
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• After the PR is approved, merge your changes. If permissions do not allow this, request that the reviewer do the merge.
• Close the linked issue and delete your feature or bugfix branch from GitHub.

[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
17 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
2.5% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud