From 44ef205770ccbd10e3a2815260f11c911cd63106 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ryan Ly <rly@lbl.gov>
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2024 16:30:33 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Expose cache_spec option in NWBHDF5IO.export (#1959)

* Expose cache_spec option in NWBHDF5IO.export

* Update changelog
---
 CHANGELOG.md          | 1 +
 src/pynwb/__init__.py | 4 +++-
 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5350d081f..8c465adec 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 ### Bug fixes
 - Fixed `can_read` method to return False if no nwbfile version can be found @stephprince [#1934](https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/pynwb/pull/1934)
 - Changed `epoch_tags` to be a NWBFile property instead of constructor argument. @stephprince [#1935](https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/pynwb/pull/1935)
+- Exposed option to not cache the spec in `NWBHDF5IO.export`. @rly [#1959](https://github.com/NeurodataWithoutBorders/pynwb/pull/1959)
 
 ## PyNWB 2.8.1 (July 3, 2024)
 
diff --git a/src/pynwb/__init__.py b/src/pynwb/__init__.py
index 278e48948..727838821 100644
--- a/src/pynwb/__init__.py
+++ b/src/pynwb/__init__.py
@@ -368,7 +368,9 @@ def read(self, **kwargs):
              'default': None},
             {'name': 'write_args', 'type': dict,
              'doc': 'arguments to pass to :py:meth:`~hdmf.backends.io.HDMFIO.write_builder`',
-             'default': None})
+             'default': None},
+            {'name': 'cache_spec', 'type': bool, 'doc': 'whether to cache the specification to file',
+             'default': True})
     def export(self, **kwargs):
         """
         Export an NWB file to a new NWB file using the HDF5 backend.