Starlink Software Collection — 2023A Release Notes
Highlights
- Perl updated to version 5.36.0.
- Tcl/Tk updated to version 8.6.13.
- Various scripts converted from csh to sh to allow usage on systems without csh. (Notable exceptions include: icl.)
- Python scripts now set to run with interpreter "python3" to allow usage on systems without a plain "python" command. (The scripts should mostly still work under Python 2, so if Python 3 is not available, you could try adding a python3 symlink to python2 somewhere in your path, e.g. in $STARLINK_DIR/bin.)
- xdg-open used for documentation on Linux if available.
Changes to Applications
ATOOLS (ascl:1708.001)
(No changes in this release.)
CUPID (ascl:1311.007)
The GaussClumps method in the findclumps command has been multi-threaded and so should run significantly faster on most modern computers.
The scheme used by GaussClumps to assign a weight to each pixel when fitting a clump has been changed to provide more stable fits.
- Modified algorithm used by flt.clip.
GAIA (ascl:1403.024)
- Updated to run on Tcl version 8.6.
KAPPA (ascl:1403.022)
- The block command has been multi-threaded and so should run significantly faster on most modern computers. It also now supports large data arrays.
- The maths command now generates standard Starlink "bad" values at output pixels that have no valid value (previously NaN values were generated).
- Transfer status messages suppressed in fitshead.
ORAC-DR (ascl:1310.001)
POLPACK (ascl:1405.014)
(No changes in this release.)
SMURF (ascl:1310.007)
POL2MAP beam parameters have been updated as per the Mairs et al. 2021 SCUBA-2 calibration paper.
- Telescope position validation option TELPOSERRMAX added to MAKECUBE.
- Added support for data arrays containing more than 2^31 pixels.
- Various bug fixes.
SOURCEPLOT
- The included JCMT source catalog has been updated.
- The catalog window is now resizable.
SPLAT (ascl:1402.007)
(No changes in this release.)
STILTS (ascl:1105.001)
- Updated to version 3.4-8.
TOPCAT (ascl:1101.010)
- Updated to version 4.8-8.
Changes to Libraries
AST (ascl:1404.016)
Rounding of floating point values in FITS headers controlled by new attribute FitsRounding: by default sequences of repeated 0 or 9 digits are now rounded only if they extend beyond the 10th significant digit.
- Various bug fixes.
CVG
(No changes in this release.)
HDS
(No significant changes in this release.)
NDF
- WCS section extents can now be specified by arc-distance.
- Various bug fixes.
PCS
- Bug fixes related to 8-byte integer type.
PRM
- Re-instated testing for numerical errors.
STIL
- Updated to version 4.1-4.
CFITSIO
- Updated to version 4.2.0.
Changes to Cookbooks and Guides
- SC/20: minor corrections, including to descriptions of ORAC-DR and PICARD command line options.
- SC/21: minor corrections, including to descriptions of ORAC-DR and PICARD command line options.
Known issues
- There is a known threading problem that prevents the Java application Treeview from working on HDS version 5 (HDF5) files.