IRAF V2.12.2 -- Status & 2nd Beta Available

	ftp://iraf.noao.edu/pub/V2.12.2-BETA

The final V2.12.2 release is pending resolution of the following known critical bugs:

	1) The IMDKERN requires a 'gflush' to overlay the image display
	2) IRAF networking hangup seen on RH9 systems
Any new bugs reported during this phase will also be fixed, we hope to 
prepare the final build very shortly.

Sites which have reported bugs are asked to install this new version to
verify those bugs have been resolved, ALL sites are asked to report any new
problems as soon as possible to iraf@noao.edu



Platforms Supported by This Release:
	Sun/IRAF 	- supports SunOS 4.1 				(SOS4)
			- supports Solaris 5.5.1 thru Solaris 9 	(SSOL)
	PC-IRAF 	- supports RedHat 6/7/8/9 and Fedora Core 1 	(RHUX)
			- supports Mac OS X 10.2 and 10.3	    	(MACX)
			- supports SuSE 6.2 thru Suse 9		    	(SUSE)
			- supports Slackware 8 and higher	    	(LNUX)
			- supports FreeBSD 4.2 and higher	    	(FBSD)
			- supports Solaris 7 for x86 and higher	    	(SSOL)

	Note that PC platforms not mentioned here specifically may still be
supported by one or more of the distributions (e.g. Mandrake can use RHUX,
Debian can use LNUX or RHUX, etc).

Changes Since the Beta-1 Release
	- A number of bugs were fixed in the FITS image kernel
	- Platform support for remaining Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris systems added
	- More modifications/fixes to XC to support alternate compilers
	- Compiler optimizations for Mac OS X
	- A number of bugs were fixed in the IMFORT interface affecting
	  certain platforms
	- New builtin string functions added to the CL. These include:

         isindef(expr)
                Can be used to check for INDEF values in expressions.  INDEF
                values may be tested for equality, however when otherwise used
                in a boolean expression the result of the boolean is also
                INDEF.  This function can be used to trap this particular
                case, or for INDEF strings/variable directly.  Result is a
                boolean yes/no.
         strldx(chars,str)
                Complement to the stridx which returns the last occurance of
                any of 'chars' in 'str'.  Returns index of last char or zero
                if not found.
         strlwr(str)
                Convert the string to lower case, returns a string.     
         strupr(str)
                Convert the string to upper case, returns a string.     
         strstr(str1,str2)
                Search for first occurance of 'str1' in 'str2', returns index
                of the start of 'str1' or zero if not found.
         strlstr(str1,str2)
                Search for last occurance of 'str1' in 'str2', returns index
                of the start of 'str1' or zero if not found.

 	 The new string functions are particularly use for dealing with
         pathnames where one needs to find and extension, separate a file 
         from a path prefix, and so on.  New builtin functions may be added
         in the next release if needed.  Also, modified the substr() function
	 to allow a 'last' index greater than a 'first' index, in which case
	 the returned string is reversed.


Special Note to Fedora Users
	Early testing of IMFORT on Fedora RedHat systems has uncovered a
problem with the interaction of the Fedora 'exec-shield' kernel feature 
and the IRAF memory interface resulting in possible "memory has been
corrupted" messages due to bogus pointer values.  The kernel exec-shield
is undergoing rapid change and the details of the problem are still under
investigation, but for the moment we are recommending users disable the
exec-shield when using IMFORT.  This can be done as root a number of ways,
from the command line as
		sysctl -w kernel.exec-shield=0
	or	echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/exec-shield

Alternatively the string "exec-shield=0" can be added to the /etc/grub.conf
(or other boot loader) file to disable this option at boot time.

	Normal IRAF tasks don't seem to have this problem and exec-shield can
be left at it's default value, however if a "memory has been corrupted" 
message is encountered we suggest first disabling exec-shield to see if
that clears the problem.  In either case, such messages (and reports of
exec-shield interaction) should be reported to iraf@noao.edu.

	We do not know at this time whether the same problems will affect
tasks using the CVOS/HSTIO interfaces (specifically the STSDAS HST
calibration tasks), or if this problem is/will be present on RedHat
Enterprise Linux systems.







IRAF


NOAO


Last updated: 06Dec2003