IRAF V2.15 Alpha Release Now Available

Mosaic of M31 from 107 8K x 8K images, built on 64-bit Mac. Final size: 13K x 15K Data Credit: P. Massey

The Alpha release of the NOAO/IRAF V2.15 system featuring 64-bit platform support is now available. This release covers both 32-bit and 64-bit Linux and Mac OSX systems (Intel and PPC) and includes modified sources for some 30 external packages. This system is NOT recommended for all users at this time, we suggest only experienced users and those willing to use a potentially unstable system download at this time. Several features (such as the simplified install procedure) and more complete documentation are in preparation and will be introduced in later releases.

As an Alpha release, we expect bugs will be found and we are relying on users to provide testing and feedback, especially for the science tasks and external package code. Some detailed release notes are available in the release README file and are included below, these will also be expanded in the future.

Note this release is currently being bundled with "dual binaries", i.e. both 32 and 64-bit binaries are included in a single distribution to allow easier installation for testing and comparison on a given platform. The Alpha-release distribution directory is http://iraf.net/ftp/iraf/v215-ALPHA and will be updated as needed (final releases will be posted to the iraf.noao.edu project site). Links to individual distribution files:

• iraf_v215-src.tar.gz -- Source-only distribution
• iraf_v215-osx.tar.gz -- Mac OSX distribution (OSX 10.4-10.6, Intel and ppc, 32- and 64-bit)
• iraf_v215-linux.tar.gz -- Linux distribution (all distros, 32- and 64-bit)
• extern/ -- v2.15 compatible External Packages

Please report any problems you may find to the forums or in an email. Problem reports should include the platform and any information necessary to reproduce the error.

Normally this space is reserved for major release announcements, but I was recently at two conferences and was surprised by the level of concern about 64-bit support and future IRAF releases in general and thus a status report seemed in order....

With the IRAF V2.15 release now in preparation you can expect the following: If you are a user, you'll see 64-bit supported and all its benefits (e.g. large file/memory support and a 10-15% speed increase from native binaries); If you are a developer, you (may) have some minor work to do to update your package for 64-bit support, but will, in the end, have more robust code due to stronger type-checking now imposed by the system. See the full story for detailed notes, but for the impatient, here are the highlights:

• The 64-bit port is complete and in testing.
• A planned V2.15 release will allow for user testing and updates needed for external packages. This release features:
• A single linux architecture for 32-bit systems.
• A simplified build and install procedures (1-file download!).
• Compile-time prototype checking of code to reduce errors.
• A new MEMIO interface to detect pointer over/underflows, provide memory garbage collection & usage reporting, and more.
• SVG graphics device for better web-presentation of plots.
• Numerous bug fixes and enhancements.

We plan an extended Beta release sometime after the holidays to resolve any platform integration issues, to allow time for package maintainers to update their code as needed, and to provide a longer test period for the 64-bit applications that may have lingering, undiscovered bugs.

Please post any comments, questions or concerns to the forum or contact us directly.

The Science Software Branch of the Space Telescope Science Institute wishes to announce the availability of version 3.11 of the Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS). Concurrent with the STSDAS release, we have also released v3.11 of the TABLES external package. ...

See below for further information and changelog.

Note: OSX (PPC) and Tiger-compatible binaries may be found in the iraf.net download area.

NUMBER: 573
MODULE: mscimage
SYSTEM: - V4.9 August, 2008
DATE: Fri Sep 18 08:36:30 MST 2009
FROM: valdes (discovered and diagosed by Thomas de Boer)

BUG: The task ignores the parameters "boundary" and "blank" which are fixed to be "constant" and "0." respectively.

STATUS: This is fixed for the next release.

A database interface has been part of the original IRAF design since 1984, but was never implemented. Originally, the idea was that the DBIO interface would be used to maintain all datafiles, keywords in image headers, data tables and so on. In the original design this was practically an implementation of an entire RDBMS system within IRAF, something not needed today where we have database systems that can be accessed via a daemon (e.g. mysql, postgres) or can be self-contained in text file (e.g. SQLite and accessed via an API.

For those so inclined....

July 28, 2009 A new version of the GEMINI IRAF package is now available. This version, v1.10, requires at minimum IRAF 2.12.2a, but IRAF 2.14 is recommended. The package is now compatible with PyRAF as well as the CL environment. At this time, PyRAF is not required. For those who wish to use PyRAF, the mininum requirement is PyRAF v1.5 and stsci_python v2.6. Announcement available here

[Note: I'd originally intended to be more prolific about these topics, sorry. Please comment on any suggestions you have for ideas, otherwise I may expand the topics to some non-IRAF projects that might be of interest]

IRAF is inherently a multi-process system (i.e. even a simple script requires binaries for the CL and perhaps several packages) and has always had the ability to run background jobs, but users sometime wonder whether tasks can be made multi-threaded as a means of improving performance for highly data-parallel operations (e.g. mosaic image processing). The short answer is that it is possible, but only with some restructuring of the core system, and of course needed changes to applications to enable the threading.

See below for more .....

NFEXTERN is an external IRAF package designed specifically for the reduction of NEWFIRM (an IR mosaic camera) instrument data, but which is also useful for other IR and mosaic reductions. It includes updated tasks found in MSCRED as well as catalog tools found in the ACE package. The package is now available from the downloads area and the ftp archive at NOAO.

See below for more information, please report any problems or comments.

The Science Software Branch of the Space Telescope Science Institute wishes to announce the availability of version 3.10 of the Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS). Concurrent with the STSDAS release, we have also released v3.10 of the TABLES external package. .....

Changelog and download details in the body of the story.

NUMBER: 572
MODULE: dotasks
SYSTEM: -V2.14
DATE: Tue Apr 28 11:19:41 MST 2009
FROM: valdes

BUG: It is likely that the DO tasks (e.g. doslit) will not work correctly if the input image names have a path. This is because internal database filenames are derived from the image names. The recommended action is to work in the data directory.

STATUS: Work on these and related tasks is currently frozen and since there is a basic workaround (working in the data directory) nothing may be done for some time.