When an InferenceData object is read from a file, xarray will try to lazily load the underlying Dataset objects keeping an open connection to the underlying file in disk. xarray.Dataset provide the close method to release any resources attached to the open dataset, but arviz does not have something like that for InferenceData objects. That makes it quite complicated to actually release resources if one might need to overwrite the contents of the file that was originally read from disk.
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When an
InferenceDataobject is read from a file,xarraywill try to lazily load the underlyingDatasetobjects keeping an open connection to the underlying file in disk.xarray.Datasetprovide theclosemethod to release any resources attached to the open dataset, butarvizdoes not have something like that forInferenceDataobjects. That makes it quite complicated to actually release resources if one might need to overwrite the contents of the file that was originally read from disk.