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 recommended only for 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
• v215revs.txt -- v2.15 Revisions notes
• PORT.GUIDE -- SPP applications 64-bit port guide

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.

Update March 24, 2010: Bugfix update of distribution. Installing this fix is recommended for all users.
Update May 6, 2010: Minor bugfix update release.
Update May 23, 2010: First draft of 64-bit Port Guide available.

With the recent decision that jailbreaki ng your iDevice is legal, and how easy it now is to do, it seemed a good time to dust off the earlier IRAF iPod port and try it out on my new iPad. As before, the hard part was setting up a development environment, but since most of the work had already been done, it was pretty easy to merge the iPad port into main system as just another platform.

IRAF is now running on the iPad and will be available as part of the main v2.15 release for jailbroken iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch devices running iOS 3.1.2 or earlier. I'll post more details at the time of release, the purpose for this post is to let you know what's coming so you can hold off on iOS updates beyond 3.1.2 which will likely hinder your ability to easily jailbreak your device. If you want IRAF on your iPad, do not update your iOS just yet!! iOS4 is not yet included in this announcement.

See below for more about what's working (and how well), and what you'll need to have ready to impress your friends, bosses, and to justify that year-end purchase you know you wanna make....

Update 8/14/10: DS9 now running

NUMBER: 575
MODULE: all tasks using the icfit tools
SYSTEM: - V2.14
DATE: Mon Jun 28 14:08:48 MST 2010
FROM: valdes

BUG: The icfit tools are used in many tasks involving 1D function fitting. These include onedspec tasks like continuum and identify. The tools provide for a grow radius where any sigma rejected points have neighbors also rejected. The logic was wrong in two ways; one where if a neighbor was also a rejected point it did not also reject neighbors of that point, and another where the grow radius units were used both as in pixels and in user coordinates. In reality the grow is supposed to be in user coordinate units. In addition some tasks, like continuum, incorrectly described the units adding to the confusion.

STATUS: Fixed for the next (v2.15) IRAF release.

The Science Software Branch of the Space Telescope Science Institute wishes to announce the availability of version 3.12 of the Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS). Concurrent with the STSDAS release, we have also released v3.12 of the TABLES external package. ....

See below for further information and changelog.

NUMBER: 574
MODULE: daophot.psf
SYSTEM: -V2.14
DATE: Tue Apr 13 22:01:52 MST 2010
FROM: fitz

BUG: The ":function" command was not properly saving the new function when refitting is done with the 'f' keystroke. This is because the fitting function reinitializes the parameters to the startup values without first saving the modified function.

STATUS: Fixed for the next release.

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