iraf.net

Hi AllI'm working with an installation of IRAF 2.12.2 on a redhat system. I didn't
install or configure the installation, but I've been through the notes the
installer made, and everything seems to have been done according to the
PC-IRAF installation guide. I'm not an IRAF expert, and have only done
basic tasks with it in the past.I'm trying to add some external packages (mscred/fitsutil) and when I get
to the point of extracting the tar archives using softools/rtar, cl tells me
rtar cannot be found.This is all done as the user "iraf" - and from this user's shell, the $PATH
contains the directory with cl/mkiraf/rtar etc in it, and irafuser.csh aliases
rtar to hlib$unix/bin.redhat/rtar.e See following transcript: NOAO PC-IRAF Revision 2.12.2-EXPORT Sun Jan 25 16:09:03 MST 2004
This is the EXPORT version of PC-IRAF V2.12 supporting most PC systems. Welcome to IRAF. To list the available commands, type ? or ??. To get
detailed information about a command, type `help command'. To run a
command or load a package, type its name. Type `bye' to exit a
package, or `logout' to get out of the CL. Type `news' to find out
what is new in the version of the system you are using. The following
commands or packages are currently defined: dataio. images. mscred. plot. system.
dbms. language. noao. proto. utilities.
fitsutil. lists. obsolete. softools.
cl> softools
generic memchk mkpkg rmbin wtar
hdbexamine mkhelpdb mktags rmfiles xc
lroff mkmanpage mkttydata rtar xyacc
so> rtar
rtar: Command not found.
so> logout
iraf@lc0% which rtar
rtar: aliased to /opt/iraf-2.12.2/iraf/unix/bin.redhat/rtar.e
iraf@lc0% echo $PATH
/opt/iraf-2.12.2/bin:.:/iraf/iraf/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/bin:/usr/locan
iraf@lc0% ls /opt/iraf-2.12.2/bin | grep rtar
rtar
iraf@lc0%Furthermore - If I do this as myself (I not the user "iraf") rtar can be found
fine.So I'm guessing a problem with the setup of the "iraf" user account.
Anu ideas?Thanks - Jon

The RTAR task is actually a 'foreign' task in the system, i.e. it is a convenient task declaration for the package but actually uses the host 'rtar.e' command in the hbin$ directory. As a foreign command, a shell is spawned to execute the command and so the account's .cshrc file may be read. In particular, the iraf account .cshrc will also source the hlib$irafuser.csh file where 'rtar' is aliased. If you don't source this file, the command is assumed to be in the $PATH defined by the .cshrc file and will normally pick up the 'rtar' symlink in the local bin directory.In any case, the 'tar' command is the linux equivalent and will work just the same, so you can unpack and compile outside of IRAF if you still have problems. The simplest thing however may be to simply just install the prebuilt package binaries available from the download area, then all you need to do is declare the package in the hlib$extern.pkg file. Hope this helps.Cheers,
-Mike