Previous Article
Next Article
Table of Contents

IRAF Update (1Sep94)
(from CCS, NOAO Newsletter No. 39, 1 September 1994)

This past quarter saw an internal release of IRAF version 2.10.3 as well as
the first test release of the X11 support utilities. Due to the upcoming
public V2.11 release, IRAF version 2.10.3 is intended as an in-house release
only and is now in routine use at the Tucson headquarters. V2.10.3 has also
been installed on Kitt Peak for testing, and will become the default version
of IRAF on Kitt Peak in the fall semester. The X11 support package utilities,
xgterm and ximtool, are now being used both downtown and on the mountain by
staff and visitors within the X environment. The fall observing season will
see the mountain go entirely to X using V2.10.3 and the X11 support
utilities. See the accompanying article in this Newsletter for more
information on the conversion of the observing environment on Kitt Peak to
X11.

Once testing of the X11 support package and the ports to Solaris and OSF/1
(see below) are completed, preparation of the IRAF version 2.11 release will
begin. Although no date has been set for this release, our target is by the
end of the year. V2.11 will be available for all supported platforms. It will
include all the new science software included in the in-house V2.10.3 release
plus the X11 support package including xgterm, ximtool, and xtapemon, and
additional systems support such as the FITS image kernel and a variety of bug
fixes and feature enhancements. Note that much of this software is available
now in add-on or unbundled form for people who want to use (or help test!)
the software prior to the V2.11 release.

The IRAF port to Sun's Solaris 2.3 operating system was completed in early
July and was undergoing testing and checkout at the time that this article
was written in late July. We expect the port to be in distribution by the
time this Newsletter is mailed; look in the IRAF network archive in the
iraf/v210/SSOL directory. Due to the timing of the Solaris release we were
forced to break our rule about V2.10.3 being an internal release, so the
initial Solaris/IRAF release is Solaris/IRAF V2.10.3BETA. This version lacks
some of the support and testing planned for the V2.11 release in the fall,
but nonetheless it is a full port and a fully supported platform. The initial
release supports the SunSoft Fortran and ANSI C compilers and includes shared
library support. GCC/F2C support will follow with V2.11. Solaris versions of
xgterm and ximtool are included. Now that the Solaris port has been
completed, work is getting underway on the port to the DEC Alpha running
OSF/1.

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list for IRAF is now available over the
World Wide Web by connecting to http://iraf.noao.edu/faq/FAQ.html. It can
also be found in the iraf/docs directory on iraf.noao.edu as the file FAQ.

Two new user documents are available in PostScript form in the iraf/docs
directory on iraf.noao.edu. The new documents are a cookbook for Echelle
reductions, A User's Guide to Reducing Echelle Spectra With IRAF, by Daryl
Willmarth and Jeannette Barnes, May 1994 (file name ech.ps.Z), and a new
guide for cleaning images with IRAF, Cleaning Images of Bad Pixels and Cosmic
Rays Using IRAF, by Lisa Wells (file name clean.ps.Z).

Members of the IRAF group will be attending the Astronomical Data Analysis
Software and Systems Conference in Baltimore this September. See the
accompanying article in this Newsletter for more information on the ADASS
Conference. Several papers highlighting the latest developments in IRAF
systems and science software will be presented, and we will have a demo of
the IRAF software, including the new GUI applications. An IRAF Site Manager's
meeting will be held during the Conference. An IRAF Developer's Workshop will
be held at STScI on the day following the ADASS conference.

For further information about the IRAF project, please contact Jeannette
Barnes, Central Computer Services.

Doug Tody, Jeannette Barnes

Previous Article
Next Article
Table of Contents