iraf.net

NUMBER:	476
MODULE:	mscred: ccdproc zerocombine flatcombine darkcombine
SYSTEM:	- V4.1: December 7, 2000
DATE:	Wed Dec 13 09:57:43 MST 2000
FROM:	valdes

BUG:	When using bad pixel masks with fixpix=yes in CCDPROC (or when
	CCDPROC is called in the scripts ZEROCOMBINE, DARKCOMBINE, and
	FLATCOMBINE that do both processing and combining) the memory
	used internally for the masks is not released.  When doing many
	images this leads to a growing memory usage possibly resulting in
	an out-of-memory error.  People with machines having large amounts
	of memory may not notice this problem.  The workaround if this
	problem is encountered is to break up the processing into small
	groups of mosaic exposures and use 'flpr' between executions of
	CCDPROC.  Releases after December 7, 2000 fix this problem so
	updating MSCRED is the other solution.

STATUS:	There is a two stage resolution of this bug.  Until a new version
	of IRAF is released, the current release of MSCRED.CCDPROC includes a
	flpr between the processing of each mosaic exposure.  Under a
	new version of IRAF the problem is also fixed at the system level.