VMS/IRAF Installation and Site Manager's Guide

VMS/IRAF Installation and Site Manager's Guide

9.6. Configuring a custom LOCAL package

Anyone who uses IRAF enough will eventually want to add their own software to the system, by copying and modifying the distributed versions of programs, by obtaining and installing isolated programs written elsewhere, or by writing new programs of their own. A single user can do this by developing software for personal use, defining the necessary task statements, etc. to run the software in the personal login.cl file. To go one step further and install the new software in IRAF so that it can be used by everyone at a site, one must configure a custom local package.

The procedures for configuring and maintaining a custom LOCAL package are similar to those outlined in §9.5 for installing and maintaining layered software, since a custom LOCAL will in fact be a layered software product, possibly even something one might want to export to another site (although custom LOCALs often contain non-portable or site specific software).

To set up a custom LOCAL, start by making a local copy of the template local package that comes with the distributed system and editing hlib$extern.pkg to make the location of the new package known. If you make a source only tar or backup archive of iraf$local and install it as outlined in §9.4, you will have a custom LOCAL. The purpose of the template LOCAL is to provide the framework necessary for an external package; a couple of simple tasks are provided in the template LOCAL to serve as examples. Once you have configured a local copy of the template LOCAL and gotten it to compile and link, it should be a simple matter to add new tasks to the existing framework.