= Starlink Software Collection — 2018A Release Notes = == Highlights == * The new HDS-V5 data format (which uses HDF5) is now available. In this release the default will be to write all files as HDS-V4, unless the environmental variable HDS_VERSION is set to 5. This is described in Jenness 2015 [[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2015A&C....12..221J/abstract|2015A&C....12..221 .]] We are planning to make this file format the default starting with our next release, so we would please request any issues or comments be sent on to us: either on the [[https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=STARLINK|Starlink users' mailing list]], the [[https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=STARDEV|Starlink developers' mailing list]], or sent directly to EAO with the helpdesk AT eaobservatory.org email address. * The ARY library has been converted to C. * Perl updated to Version 5.26.1. * Further improvements to POL-2 data reduction software, including (experimental) skyloop modes and (experimental) 450 micron reductions. * Expanded cookbook for heterodyne data reduction, including spectral analysis with SPLAT. == Changes to Applications == === CUPID (ascl:1311.007) === * The FINDCLUMPS command now uses a better method for finding elliptical approximations for highly non-elliptical clumps. The previous method could produce extremely long thin ellipses for such clumps. === GAIA (ascl:1403.024) === * When reading a multiple-line ARD region to extract a spectrum, all newlines and spaces are removed so that it can be saved. * Key fonts with compound names can now be saved to the configuration of the contour toolbox. * HTTP request headers should now use the correct line termination. === KAPPA (ascl:1403.022) === * A new estimator, "!FastMed" has been added to COLLAPSE. It offers faster much faster calculation of unweighted medians. * WCSALIGN can now use a catalogue such as produced by POLPACK to define the reference grid (previously only an NDF could be used). * The weighting scheme used by ALIGN2D has been changed so that alignment is determined more by the brighter sections of the map than previously. * In WCSMOSAIC, each input NDF can now have a specified weight in the final mosaic. * SETAXIS has a new mode that reads the new axis values from the "Data" component of another NDF. === ORAC-DR (ascl:1310.001) === [[https://www.eao.hawaii.edu/oracdr/2018AChangeLog|ORAC-DR 2018A change log]] === POLPACK (ascl:1405.014) === * New command POLCONCAT to concatenate multiple vector catalogues. * New command POLSELECT allows vectors to be selected in various ways, including using an NDF as a mask. === SMURF (ascl:1310.007) === * The dome status has been added to scuba2_index / acsis_index. * POL2MAP: New parameter "binsize" allows he size of the bins in the final catalogue to be specified. * POL2MAP: New IP models at 450 um and 850 um. * POL2MAP: Improve pointing correction. * POL2MAP: Change default 450 um pixel size to 4 arc-sec. * POL2MAP: Allow SKYLOOP to be used to create maps rather than MAKEMAP. * POL2MAP: Allow observations to be weighted on the basis of how similar they are to the mean of the other observations. * POL2MAP: Allow minor changes in FCF to be detected and corrected when mosaicing observations. * POL2MAP: An error is now reported if the input data is not all for the same source. * SKYLOOP: Allow maps made from individual observations to be saved. * SKYLOOP: Allow data models to be stored in a specified directory rather than the current directory. === SOURCEPLOT === * The included JCMT source catalog has been updated. === SPLAT (ascl:1402.007) === * A bug relating to the receipt of spectra through local URLs via SAMP has been fixed. * The submillimetre line identifier catalog has been updated. === STILTS (ascl:1105.001) === * Updated to Version 3.1-4. [[http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stilts/sun256/versions.html|STILTS version history]] === TOPCAT (ascl:1101.010) === * Updated to Version 4.6-1. [[http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/sun253/versions.html|TOPCAT version history]] == Changes to Libraries == === ARY === * The Fortran ARY library has been completely re-written in C. === AST (ascl:1404.016) === * New function !astActiveObjects returns pointers for all currently active AST objects, filtered by class. * New function !astCreatedAt returns information about where an object was created. * The 1astChannel class now uses more precision when writing out floating point values, resulting in write-read round trips being lossless. * The !FitsChan class has a new attribute "!FitsTol" that specifies the maximum deviation from linearity allowed for the Mapping from pixel coordinates to intermediate world coordinates when writing out a !FrameSet using FITS-WCS encoding. * !astSimplify will now merge a diagonal !MatrixMap with an adjacent !WinMap to create a modified !WinMap. * The !FitsChan class has a new attribute "!SipReplace", which can be used to prevent the automatic replacement of inverse SIP coefficients when a FITS-WCS header including SIP distortion is read. * Improved simplification of !CmpMaps including !WcsMaps. * The !FitsChan !astWrite method can now create FITS-WCS headers that include SIP distortion keywords, given a suitable !FrameSet. * A few small memory leaks have been fixed. * The astRebinSeq function can now use a specified weight with each input data array. * Improvements to the accuracy of the iterative inverse used by the !PolyMap class. * Several new string manipulation functions. === GRP === * The maximum length of a group expression has been increased from 255 to 2047 characters. === HDS === * A new package called "hds-v5" has been created that contains a complete re-write of the existing HDS API using HDF5. The original code that deals with "native" HDS files has been moved to a new package called "hds-v4". The "hds" package is now simply a layer that chooses whether to call the appropriate function from hds-v4 or hds-v5. When reading an existing "HDS" file it chooses the package corresponding to the format of the existing file (either v4 or v5). When creating a new "HDS" file, it chooses the format specified by the HDS_VERSION environment variable (which currently defaults to v4). === PCS === * C wrappers have been added for more routines. * Limits on the length of the command line and on the length of individual file paths have been relaxed. === STIL === * Updated to Version 3.3-1. [[http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stil/sun252/history.html|STIL version history]] === CFITSIO === * Updated to current upstream version 3.43. This includes a security fix that NASA/HEASARC recommended all CFITSIO users should install. See https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/software/fitsio/c/docs/changes2.txt == Miscellaneous Changes == * The shell "login" and "profile" scripts now add Starlink to the start (rather than the end) of LD_LIBRARY_PATH. * The shell "login" and "profile" scripts now define ORAC_PERLBIN. == Changes to Cookbooks and Guides == * SC/20 (Heterodyne Data Reduction) expanded to include an illustrated chapter on spectral analysis (e.g. identification of telluric lines, noise estimation, and line fitting) with SPLAT, and various small corrections to Chapters 3 and 5 to 8. * SC/21 (SCUBA-2 Data Reduction) was given a spring clean, that includes clarifications, and fixes to typo's and cross references. * SC/22 (POL-2 Data reduction) updated to match the current software. It has a new chapter on using TOPCAT with vector catalogues, and example maps created using OBSWEIGHT and SKYLOOP. == Known issues == * There is a known threading problem that prevents the Java application Treeview from working on HDS Version 5 (HDF5) files.