README FOR PC-IRAF VERSION 2.11 Updated Mon Sep 18 2000 Current patch level V2.11.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 23May99 RedHat 6.0 Emergency Port 03Dec99 Major PC-IRAF release; upgrades to V2.11.3; support for SuSE Linux and Solaris 7 x86 added. This new release of PC-IRAF replaces all earlier versions. The "emergency port" of IRAF V2.11.1 to RedHat 6.0, which we released in May 1999, is no longer needed and has been dropped. 10Feb00 V2.11.3a (applications) patch (see "patch3a" notes below) 18Sep00 V2.11.3b (misc bug fix) patch (see "patch3b" notes below) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03Dec99 Full PC-IRAF V2.11.3 Upgrade The V2.11.3 PC-IRAF release replaces all earlier PC-IRAF versions. There have been major changes in the PC operating systems over the past several years, and any earlier versions of PC-IRAF are probably incompatible with the current release. The V2.11.3 PC-IRAF distribution was built for the following platforms: Platform IRAF Distribution FreeBSD 3.3 fbsd Slackware Linux 4.0 lnux RedHat Linux 6.1 rhux SuSE Linux 6.2 suse (new port) Solaris x86 7 ssol (new port) RedHat Linux 5.2 "rh52" version of rhux (see below) A single installation of PC-IRAF can support all these platforms if the necessary binaries for each platform are installed. Although we generated a patch file (patch3.tar.Z/gz) for the V2.11.3 release of PC-IRAF, it is almost as large as the core distribution file. For most sites it may be simpler and safer to do a fresh install of PC-IRAF. The installation procedures have not changed and are documented elsewhere in this README file, and in the PC-IRAF installation guide (pciraf.pdf or pciraf.ps.gz in the PCIX distribution directory). For those who have an existing V2.11.1 version of PC-IRAF (FreeBSD, Slackware, or RedHat) the procedure for installing the patch is documented at the end of this README file. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 26Jan98 Initial PC-IRAF V2.11 release (FreeBSD, Slackware, RedHat) The V2.11 PC-IRAF release replaces the earlier Linux/IRAF release and is incompatible with the earlier release. The January 98 release of PCIX/IRAF is at IRAF version V2.11.1. A single PC-IRAF distribution or installation is used for all supported PC platforms. In the initial January release, FreeBSD, Slackware Linux, and RedHat Linux are supported. A separate binary distribution (set of BIN directories) is provided for each platform (operating system or IRAF architecture). Support for Solaris x86 and MkLinux will be added in a future release of PC-IRAF. Users of Red Hat 4.2 or earlier distributions should see the special note at the end of this file for additional install- ation instructions. Contact the IRAF group (iraf@noao.edu) for additional information on support for these platforms. A fresh install is required to install PC-IRAF. Do a normal install of the AS (all sources) distribution as described in the installation guide in this directory. You will also need to install the IB and NB distributions (core IRAF and NOAO package binaries) for each platform you want to run IRAF on. For example, install the "ib.rhux.x86" and "nb.rhux.x86" binary distributions for RedHat Linux. as.pcix.gen Core PC-IRAF distribution (required) ib.fbsd.x86 FreeBSD binaries, core IRAF system nb.fbsd.x86 FreeBSD binaries, NOAO packages ib.lnux.x86 Slackware Linux binaries, core IRAF system nb.lnux.x86 Slackware Linux binaries, NOAO packages ib.rhux.x86 RedHat 5.x Linux binaries, core IRAF system nb.rhux.x86 RedHat 5.x Linux binaries, NOAO packages rhux-6.0 PC-IRAF distribution for RedHat 6.0 systems db.fbsd.x86 FreeBSD debugging libraries db.lnux.x86 Slackware Linux debugging libraries db.rhux.x86 RedHat Linux debugging libraries On the RedHat platforms you can *run* (execute) IRAF using any set of Linux binaries, i.e. the Slackware or RedHat binaries should run on RedHat 5.0 platform provided they are installed in the proper bin.redhat directory. The RedHat binaries however will only run on systems using glibc libraries (RedHat 5.0 at this writing). To compile any new IRAF packages or IMFORT programs however, you must install the correct set of binaries for your platform. RedHat 6.0 users should note there is a separate directory ('rhux-6.0') for the PC-IRAF distribution for this platform. A separate set of files is necessary because of major changes to system libraries with RedHat 6 and was prepared as an emergency patch ahead of the normal patch cycle. See the end of this file for more details. The IRAF distribution does not itself include graphics and image visualization tools, these are distributed separately. See /iraf/x11iraf and /contrib. You should use Xgterm for any IRAF line graphics. Ximtool, SaoTNG, SAOimage, and other related image viewers may be used for image interaction. See the platform specific notes at the end of this README for additional notes on each supported platform. See also the post-distribution notes at the end of this file. These are updated after the release to document any problems found since the initial release. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. THE PC-IRAF V2.11 RELEASE PC-IRAF (PCIX/IRAF) V2.11 is a port of IRAF to PC platforms running some variant of Unix. Currently this includes FreeBSD, Slackware Linux, and RedHat Linux. Support for Solaris x86 and the Macintosh running MkLinux is planned for the near future. We have no immediate plans to support Windows, but over a time scale of several years it is likely that Windows will be supported as well. README This file as.pcix.gen Core PC-IRAF distribution (required) ib.fbsd.x86 FreeBSD binaries, core IRAF system nb.fbsd.x86 FreeBSD binaries, NOAO packages ib.lnux.x86 Slackware Linux binaries, core IRAF system nb.lnux.x86 Slackware Linux binaries, NOAO packages ib.rhux.x86 RedHat 5.x Linux binaries, core IRAF system nb.rhux.x86 RedHat 5.x Linux binaries, NOAO packages The distribution directories contain large gzip-compressed Tar files split into a number of modest size (e.g. 512KB) chunks, to ease recovery if the network fails during a transfer. The Installation Guide provides detailed instructions on how to use these files to install IRAF. 1.2 WHO SHOULD UPGRADE? IRAF V2.11 is a major IRAF release for all supported IRAF platforms. Support for older versions of IRAF is limited so sites running earlier versions of IRAF should update to the new version of IRAF. The original Linux/IRAF release may continue to run on recent Linux platforms, but any software development or linking will likely require that the new PC-IRAF release be installed. Since IRAF V2.11 is a major release there may be incompatibilities between V2.11 and earlier versions of IRAF, so updating in the middle of an analysis program might not be advisable. Mixing different versions of IRAF works in most cases, but there can be complications. Large installations may want to keep and older version of IRAF around to give users time to complete their programs before switching to the new version of IRAF (e.g. here at NOAO, "cl" or "iraf" runs V2.11, and "irafo" will bring up the older V2.10.4 release). 2. INSTALLING PCIX/IRAF The procedure for installing V2.11 PCIX/IRAF is unchanged from earlier versions of Linux/IRAF and other versions of IRAF. Refer to the PC-IRAF Installation Guide for detailed installation instructions (see (pciraf.ps.gz in the distribution directory). A full installation, as this is a major release, will be required. The installation guide contains full installation instructions (see also the brief notes below) but one thing is worth emphasizing here. The installation will be simplified if you set up the iraf directories as follows: /iraf Root of iraf related files /iraf/iraf Root iraf directory (AS dist) /iraf/irafbin IRAF bin dirs go here /iraf/irafbin/bin.freebsd FreeBSD CORE binaries /iraf/irafbin/noao.bin.freebsd FreeBSD NOAO binaries /iraf/irafbin/bin.linux Slackware linux CORE binaries /iraf/irafbin/noao.bin.linux Slackware linux NOAO binaries /iraf/irafbin/bin.redhat RedHat 5.x linux CORE binaries /iraf/irafbin/noao.bin.redhat RedHat 5.x linux NOAO binaries /iraf/extern External packages (tables etc.) Here "" is the path where all this is located, e.g., "/u3/iraf" on the typical IRAF development system here at NOAO. The actual path to the iraf root can be anything. You might want to also set up a symbolic link "/iraf" pointing to the "/iraf" directory. This allows all iraf files to be referred to relative to /iraf, regardless of where the files actually are located, and agrees with the default configuration used in the distribution files. Which set of BIN directories you configure (iraf/irafbin/... above) is optional. Set up whatever you need for the set of platforms you plan to run from your IRAF installation. The correspondence between distributions and IRAF runtime architectures is as follows: Distribution Architecture Description ------------ ------------ ----------- fbsd freebsd FreeBSD lnux linux Slackware Linux rhux redhat RedHat 5.x Linux The "distribution" name is used in the IRAF distribution filenames, e.g. "ib.lnux.x86". The "architecture" name is the runtime IRAF architecture, e.g. one can do a "setenv IRAFARCH linux" to run the Slackware Linux binaries, which are in the "bin.linux" directory. If you don't understand this don't be concerned, it is documented in more detail in the PC-IRAF Installation Guide. You only need to understand IRAF binary architectures to install the system or to do software development. To install a PC-IRAF distribution cd to the destination directory and use CAT and TAR to unpack the distribution. For example to install the AS distribution, with "" being the directory containing the PCIX distribution and the symbolic link "/iraf" pointing to the directory containing the IRAF tree shown above, one could enter the following commands: % cd /iraf/iraf % cat /as.pcix.gen/as.* | tar -xpzf - The PC-IRAF platforms use a version of TAR that can automatically uncompress the compressed tar files used in PC-IRAF distributions. 2.1 DEBUG SUPPORT (PROGRAMMING) The PC-IRAF release includes optional source-code debugging support for the IRAF system libraries. If the debug versions of the system libraries are installed and an application is linked using the "-x" switch to XC or MKPKG, IRAF or IMFORT tasks will be linked for debugging and it will be possible to do source-code debugging of any C, Fortran, or SPP files used in the application, including all the IRAF system libraries. We use this with GDB at NOAO, but it should work with any comparable debugger. To install the debug versions of the libraries untar the DB distribution appropriate for the architecture you are configuring in the core IRAF system BIN directory (e.g. install db.fbsd.x86 in bin.freebsd for a FreeBSD system). This merely adds some library files to the BIN directory; these files are used only for debugging, and do not affect the normal execution of the system. Precompiled debug libraries are provided only for the IRAF core system libraries. They can also be manually generated by configuring IRAF to the desired architecture (as described in the Site Manager's Guide) and typing "mkpkg -x syslibs" in the IRAF root directory. This procedure can also be used to build debug libraries for any external package. Building an IRAF package using "mkpkg -x" will cause debug versions of the application's libraries to be compiled, as well as linking the application for debugging. To source-code debug an application you may also need to add "dir" statements to your .gdbinit file to tell GDB which source code directories to search. An example of such a file is $iraf/local/.gdbinit in the iraf login directory. This file also defines GDB extensions for printing strings in SPP files (GDB already supports C and Fortran strings directly). 2.2 PLATFORM SPECIFIC NOTES PC-IRAF is intended to provide virtually the same facility on all supported platforms, hence most details of installing and using PC-IRAF on a PC are the same regardless of the platform. Nonetheless a few words specific to each platform are given below to help clarify any differences. o FreeBSD [dist: fbsd arch: freebsd] Install and use the freebsd binaries. You might be able to run the linux binaries in compatibility mode (FreeBSD can run some Linux binaries), but currently FreeBSD does not support ELF. FreeBSD is arguably the most solid, workstation class PC operating system currently available. Very popular for servers. May be a better multiprocess system than Linux but Linux may be a better single user system. More stable than Linux and avoids the similar-but-different multiple distributions problem which plagues Linux, but Linux is more popular and supports a wider range of hardware and add-on software (although the difference is getting pretty small). o Slackware Linux [dist: lnux arch: linux] It is best to install the linux (Slackware) binaries. You should be able to run the redhat binaries on a Slackware system, but to do software development you will need the native Slackware binaries. Slackware is a bit more solid and customizable than RedHat, and is still probably the reference system, but RedHat seems to be more popular. Most folks won't notice any difference (some people think RedHat is easier to install). o RedHat Linux [dist: rhux arch: redhat] It is best to install the redhat binaries. You should be able to run the linux (Slackware) binaries on a RedHat system, but to do software development you will need the native RedHat binaries. May be the most popular Linux distribution currently. ****** NOTE: The redhat architecture is meant for Red Hat 5.0 and later ****** systems which use the new glibc libraries. Users of older Red Hat ****** distributions must install the 'linux' binaries following the special ****** instructions at the end of this file. o Other Linux The precompiled linux or redhat binaries should run on any recent Linux platform, although software development might not be possible (without porting Linux/IRAF to the new platform). The "linux" binaries may be preferable as Slackware is still the closest thing to a standard Linux distribution, and the "linux" binaries are linked statically. The RedHat binaries, which were built using Redhat 5.0, use the new glibc libraries which result in very large executables if linked statically, so the RedHat binaries are dynamically linked, and shared library version problems are possible (the redhat binaries are slightly smaller than linux as a result however). o Solaris x86 To be added. Solaris is unique since it is a full-up commercial system which has some things not available or not well supported on the free Unixes, plus it provides source-code and runtime environment (but not binary) compatibility with Sun SPARC platforms. We install a CD-ROM from EIS (www.eis.com) to get all the usual Free software without having to build it all. o MkLinux (Macintosh) To be added. We are just starting to look at this and don't have much experience with it yet. Appears to be a somewhat immature, but familiar, port of Linux to the Mac. Very similar to having Linux on an Intel box but you can boot up MacOS to run Mac apps. There is also a non-Mach kernel port of Unix from outside Apple called LinuxPPC (MkLinux is supported in part by a team within Apple) which we have even less experience with. PC software evolves rapidly and there is no guarantee that any of these platforms will be supported in the future. Other new platforms such as Windows NT may be added, and others dropped. Given the wealth of OS choices available for PCs however, one can be confident that a good solution will always be available. 3. X11/GUI SUPPORT IRAF V2.11 includes full support for the X11IRAF utilities - these include xgterm for xterm-compatible terminal emulation and graphics, and ximtool for image display under X. The X11IRAF package is not included in IRAF; you need to get it and install it separately, as you would any other X software. X11IRAF is available in /iraf/x11iraf on the main IRAF network server (iraf.noao.edu). Other IRAF-compatible image browsers can also be used with IRAF, e.g. SAOimage, SAOtng, and IPAC SkyView. This software is continually under development and new versions appear on a timetable independent of that for the main IRAF distribution. 3.1 THE X11 DESKTOP The X11IRAF utilities will run under any X desktop. On PC-IRAF systems this will usually be some version of FVWM (our favorite is fvwm95), but MWM, TWM, CDE, OpenLook, etc. are also available. As of the time of this writing, the X11IRAF utilities do not run on 24 bit truecolor screens, only 8 bit pseudocolor. Support for 24 bit truecolor screens is planned. In the meantime effective workarounds are to run Xnest with 8 and 24 bit virtual screens, or run the X server in an 8 bit pseudocolor mode, with Netscape (or whatever) configured to run with a private colormap. This allows Netscape to have 256 colors without interfering with other applications such as the IRAF graphics tools. 3.2 THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR (IRAF) Please see the V2.11 release notes for information on what has changed in V2.11, and things to watch out for. 3.3 THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR (X11) Please see the documentation included with X11IRAF V1.0 or later releases for information on running these utilities, including common problems and how to deal with them. One thing we would like to emphasize here is that we STRONGLY suggest that you use "xgterm", not the standard "xterm" to run IRAF graphics. Xgterm, which is included in X11IRAF, has advanced graphics capabilities developed for use with IRAF, including more robust interactive cursor support than is available with Xterm. Xterm graphics will work, but not very well. When you start up the cl in an xgterm window, type "stty xgterm" after the CL starts up to tell it you are using an xgterm window, or put this in your login.cl/loginuser.cl file. 4. MAGTAPE INTERFACE The DEV directory contains default template tapecap files for Linux and FreeBSD. If a server is configured to run IRAF for multiple network clients, you can now have multiple tapecap files, one for each host, e.g. "tapecap.foobar" for host "foobar". See the release notes for further information on this capability. 5. PRINTER INTERFACE Local printers are interfaced to IRAF using the dev$termcap file. The default printer, defined by the "printer" environment varilable in hlib$zzsetenv.def, is "lp". This uses the host system lpr with no explicit printer name given, allowing the host environment variable PRINTER to be defined in ther user's environment to direct out to the actual printer. The dev$termcap file may need to be customized to support the printers in use at your site. See the IRAF Site Manager's Guide for detailed instructions on configuration the printer interface. 6. PATCHES PCIX/IRAF was built at patch level 1 (V2.11.1) and does not have any patches as of January 1998, although there will surely be patches by the spring of 1998. In particular when Solaris x86 and MkLinux support is added a new release of PC-IRAF is planned. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES added since the release. Please check this space in the future for notes on any problems or issues arising after the initial release. Feb 3 1998 - IMFORT ========================================================== IMFORT had a bug where the byte-swap flag was not being set for new images. This could cause a image to be created which was either unreadable (floating invalid exception) or for which the data was returned incorrectly. Only byte swapped platforms are affected, such as the DEC Alpha and PCs. The fix is to replace libimfort.a by the version in this directory. The bug will be fixed in V2.11.2. Feb 18 1998 - SUPPORT FOR OLDER (pre-5.0) REDHAT SYSTEMS ========================================================== The RHUX architecture (bin.redhat) for RedHat 5.0 makes use of the new glibc libraries and the PC-IRAF binaries for this architecture will not run on older distributions of RedHat Linux: a "Command not found" error is seen when one tries to run IRAF on older systems. Note this problem is only seen with older versions of RedHat Linux, there is no problem with RedHat 5.0. A workaround has been developed which will allow PC-IRAF to be run on older versions of RedHat Linux. This will allow the pre-compiled IRAF system to be run, but compiler support may not work (to get full support for RedHat one may need to update to the newer version). The trick is to install the "linux" (Slackware) binaries instead of the RedHat 5.0 binaries. Once the system is installed the 'bin.redhat' links for IRAF and the NOAO packages will need to be changed to point to 'bin.linux' to trick the system into using the "linux" (Slackware) binaries. For example, while logged in as the iraf user, after installing the LNUX binaries (bin.linux and noao.bin.linux) in /iraf/irafbin: % cd $iraf/../irafbin # e.g. cd /iraf/irafbin % ln -s bin.linux bin.redhat # use bin.linux for redhat % ln -s noao.bin.linux noao.bin.redhat # use noao.bin.linux for redhat Similarly the HSI binaries must be kludged to cause the bin.linux version to be used: % cd $iraf/unix # go to HSI directory % mv bin.redhat bin.redhat-5.0 # save directory for later % ln -s bin.linux bin.redhat # make temporary link When the system is later upgraded to Red Hat 5.x things will need to be set back to the defaults and the RHUX binaries installed. At that time it may be simplest to just reinstall IRAF from scratch using the normal RHUX installation procedure. Any IRAF upgrades which may later be applied must still use the LNUX architecture binaries. Anyone with problems or questions should feel free to contact site support (iraf@noao.edu). Sun May 3 1998 -- JUNK FILES IN REDHAT DISTRIBUTION ========================================================== In the original PCIX distribution there are a number of large ".nfs*" files in bin.redhat which can be deleted. (Also a few "core" files found later). Sun May 23 1999 -- RedHat 6.0 Emergency Port [OBSOLETE - Use V2.11.3] ========================================================================== The recent (April/May 99) RedHat 6.0 release features new compilers and a new version of the glibc libraries which broke the existing RHUX distribution, which is linked shared (i.e. dynamically loads libc). The characteristic error is "...undefined symbol: __setfpucw" when trying to run any IRAF executable linked under RedHat 5.X. An emergency mini-port of V2.11.1 system to RedHat 6.0 been done since the RedHat release of IRAF would no longer run at all on this platform. RedHat 6.0 users should follow the normal RHUX architecture installation instructions, but download *all* distribution files from the 'rhux-6.0' subdirectory. Specifically, the distribution is contained in the following subdirectories: rhux-6.0/as.pcix.gen PC-IRAF distribution for RedHat 6.0 systems rhux-6.0/ib.rhux.x86 Core IRAF binaries for RedHat 6.0 systems rhux-6.0/ib.rhux.x86 NOAO package binaries for RedHat 6.0 systems A full installation will be required since the current HSI binaries (e.g. the XC and MKPKG binaries used in compilation, SGI translators used for hardcopy, etc) will not work under RedHat 6. The IRAF version has not changed, but some system files have been modified and everything has been recompiled. Local configuration files, including everything in DEV and most things in HLIB, are unchanged and do not have to be diff/merged (exceptions are irafuser.csh and f77.sh in HLIB, and hlib$libc/kernel.h, which are not normally modified when the system is installed). Anyone with problems or questions should feel free to contact site support (iraf@noao.edu). Fri Dec 3 1999 -- Full PC-IRAF Release for All Platforms (IRAF V2.11.3) ========================================================================== The simplest way to upgrade PC-IRAF is to do a fresh install and merge in any site specific files (e.g. extern.pkg and any local tapecap files). For those wishing to patch an older release of PC-IRAF the procedure is as follows. To install the patch, login as the iraf system manager, go to the $iraf directory, and untar the patch in the IRAF root directory as follows: % cd $iraf tar -xpvzf patch3.tar.gz which will unzip and untar the patch all in one operation. The main V2.11.3 patch does not modify any site specific files. There are some site specific files which should however be updated when upgrading to V2.11.3. These are contained in the mini-patch file "patch3l.tar". Install this as follows (save copies of your old files first!): % cd $iraf % tar -xpvf patch3l.tar This will replace the following files: unix/hlib/zzsetenv.def dev/graphcap dev/termcap dev/imtoolrc You may want to save copies of these files and diff/merge them with the new versions after installing the patch. Next, go to the archives and download and install the IB (IRAF core system) and NB (NOAO package) binaries for the architectures your installation will support. For example, to install IB.LNUX.X86 (the Slackware Linux binaries for the core system, with the IB.LNUX.X86 distribution downloaded to the directory "/ib.lnux.x86" (where is where you created this directory): % cd $iraf/bin.linux % pwd /iraf/irafbin/bin.linux # (you should be here, or somewhere similar) % cat /ib.lnux.x86/ib.* | gunzip | tar -xpvf - A similar procedure is followed to install each of the other binaries. Be sure to run the IRAF INSTALL script after upgrading the system! Again, this is documented in the installation guide, but in brief, change directory to iraf/unix/hlib, su to root, source the irafuser.csh or .login if necessary, and do a ./install. See the URL http://iraf.noao.edu/v2112revs.html for a detailed description of what is included in the V2.11.2 and V2.11.3 patches. Most of the new features were introduced in V2.11.2. V2.11.3 mostly consists of additional bug fixes, minor changes related to the PC-IRAF upgrades, and a few isolated minor application enhancements. The system notes file (iraf/local/notes.v211) documents these revisions in detail for the core system. Thu Dec 9 1999 -- Install script typo =========================================================== The V2.11.3 PC-IRAF "install" script (unix/hlib/install) contains a typo. Line 515, which should look like if ($mach == linux || $mach == redhat || $mach == suse || \ contains an extra "or", as in "|| ||". The fix is to either edit the file and correct the error, or install the updated version provided in the installation directory: ftp://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/v211/PCIX/install Sun Dec 12 1999 -- Redhat 5.2 binaries =========================================================== The default Redhat distribution (rhux) was built for RedHat 6.1 and does not support earlier versions of RedHat, such as 5.2. RedHat changed a lot over this period due to changes in the GLIBC libraries and EGCS compiler support. Hence a separate set of binaries are needed for each version of RedHat. We are providing _temporary_ support for RedHat 5.2 since the 6.x versions are relatively new and many people have not updated yet. To install IRAF for RedHat 5.2 you install normally as you would for the default system, but substitute the RedHat 5.2 binaries. These are provided in the following distribution files: rh52-bin.redhat.tar.gz replaces unix/bin.redhat rh52-ib.rhux.x86.gz core system binaries rh52-nb.rhux.x86.gz noao package binaries To configure your PC-IRAF installation for RedHat 5.2, install the rh52-ib and rh52-nb files above instead of ib.rhux.x86 and nb.rhux.x86. Go to the unix subdirectory and do the following: % cd $iraf/unix % mv bin.redhat bin.redhat-6.1 % mkdir bin.redhat-5.2 % ln -s bin.redhat-5.2 bin.redhat % cd bin.redhat-5.2 % tar -xpvzf /rh52-bin.redhat.tar.gz The resulting system will support RedHat 5.2 but not 6.x; it will be necessary to upgrade the binaries if your Linux installation is later upgraded to 6.x. Thu Feb 10 2000 -- Patch3a (Applications Patch) =========================================================== Patch 3a is a small patch which fixes bugs in several of the V2.11.3 applications, including a serious one affecting onedspec.dispcor (details can be found in the buglogs). The task IMEDIT and the packages APEXTRACT, ONEDSPEC, and RV are affected by the patch. The patch files are as follows, all files are located in the 'patch3a' subdirectory of the PCIX distribution: patch3a-fbsd.tar.gz patch3a for FreeBSD patch3a-lnux.tar.gz patch3a for Slackware Linux patch3a-rhux.tar.gz patch3a for RedHat 6 Linux patch3a-rhux52.tar.gz patch3a for RedHat 5.2 Linux patch3a-ssol.tar.gz patch3a for Solaris 7 for Intel patch3a-suse.tar.gz patch3a for SuSE 6.2 Linux The patch files contain updated executables for the given architecture. Some source and runtime files are also included; these are duplicated in each patch file, and will be updated correctly no matter which patch files are installed or in what order. To install the patch, merely untar it at the IRAF root. For example, to install the patch for the RedHat 6.1 architecture: % cd $iraf zcat patch3a-rhux.tar.gz | tar -xpvf - *** NOTE *** Patch3a is an incremental patch for the V2.11.3 release only. IRAF must already have been upgraded to V2.11.3 before the patch is installed. The V2.11.3 distribution files DO NOT include patch3a. Patch3a must be installed after upgrading to IRAF V2.11.3. Mon Sep 18 2000 -- Patch3b (misc bug fix patch) =========================================================== Patch 3b is a limited patch containing bug fixes to support various external packages (Gemini, PROS, STSDAS, MSCRED). If you don't run into any of the bugs fixed in the patch you don't need to install it, although there is no reason to not do so. The 2.11.3b patch contains all FITS kernel bug fixes through August 2000, assorted buffer size increases, file descriptor leak fixes, error recovery fixes, isolated fixes to MWCS and QPOE, a fix affecting apextract performance when extracting large numbers of spectra, an updated observatory database, and some enhancements to the networking interface to support an upcoming release of Ximtool. Nothing was included which could change the normal behavior or interface of an application. This is a bug fix patch; release of new functionality is being deferred until the V2.11.4 release. The patch files are as follows: patch3b-rhux.tar.gz patch3b for RedHat 6.1/6.2 patch3b-fbsd.tar.gz patch3b for FreeBSD The patch files contain updated executables for the given architecture. Some source and runtime files are also included; these are duplicated in each patch file, and will be updated correctly no matter which patch files are installed or in what order. To install the patch, merely untar it at the IRAF root. For example, to install the patch for the RedHat Linux architecture: % cd $iraf tar -xpvzf patch3b-rhux.tar.gz *** NOTE *** Patch3b is an incremental patch for the V2.11.3 release only. IRAF must already have been upgraded to V2.11.3 before the patch is installed. The V2.11.3a patch should be installed before installing V2.11.3b. The V2.11.3 distribution files DO NOT include patch3b.