@martinjuckes asked:

> This looks likely to cause confusion, as some software may consider them as 
> different. Wouldn't it be better to at least recommend that they have the 
> same data type?

I actually had exact type match in one of my drafts, then thought about it and 
changed to simple compatibility.  If type match is either required or 
recommended, this adds responsibility and complexity on both data creators and 
conformance checkers.  Much existing software provides easy comparison between 
mixed types.  Some software goes a step further and reads netcdf input to 
generalized types, such as ingesting both `string` and `character` as 
undistinguished  internal strings.  E.g. NCAR's own NCL language, ever since 
the addition of the new netcdf type `string`.  I think the cost of exact type 
match exceeds any benefit.

Also I think this draft statement of type compatibility merely clarifies the 
status quo for CF policy on data type of boundary var attributes.

Further thoughts?

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