Installing the Linux executables for IMACS mask generation This is the distribution of executable Linux software for making I.M.A.C.S. slit masks. This distribution consists of: Executable Linux binaries: intgui maskgen maskcut ncplot smdfplt Data files used by the above: opticdef.dat maskcut.cfg pmap.dat Documentation README (this file) how to install the software mginstr.txt how to use the software faq.txt Frequently Asked Questions (read before asking) catdata.txt example of and explanation of object catalog data obsfile.txt explains the ".obs" file used by maskgen smdfile.txt explains the ".SMF" file produced by maskgen config.txt explains configuration parameters and data files Useful scripts getlsi used to get new distributions (see below) mgclean deletes files generated from user input obscat used to create observing catalog entries In addition to this software distribution, use of "skywin" requires that several star catalogs be present, usually in the ./gcats/ directory, or a directory of your choice. Symbolic links to the actual catalogs are permitted and recommended, since the actual catalogs take up about 4.4 Gigabytes of disk, and are often stored on another drive. Set the environment name CATPATH to the directory in which these star catalogs are installed. To get these star catalogs, see below. The distribution is a compressed tar file, "lsi.tgz", or for Mac-OSX a file named "msi.tgz". Copy it to the directory of your choice, and extract the contents using a command of the form: > gtar xfz lsi.tgz The executable programs here will need to be present at least in the execution path of each user who will be using them. Their data files will be needed, or a symbolic to them will be needed wherever the user is using them. The best thing to do is to make a symbolic link to the distributed data files from /usr/local/etc/ or /usr/local/etc/maskgen/. It is very important to link to the place where you unpack new distributions so that new data files are used rather than old copies, since changes to these files are considered part of the new distribution. As an alternative, the environment variable "OPTICDEF" may be defined as the directory name where opticdef.dat is stored. Also, the environment variable "CUTDEF" may be defined as the directory name where maskcut.cfg is stored. The environment variable "DEFAULTS" may be defined as the directory name where pmap.dat is stored. And, these needed files or a symbolic link may be in the parent directory of the directory in which the programs are used. See the file "config.txt" for more details. The distributed programs are executable images, and are linked with dynamic libraries. Currently libraries needed are: libm libX11 libc libpthread libcurl libcrypto The first 4 should be quite standard, but the last 2 may be not yet installed on your system. You will need to install them, or ask your system manager to do so. All are distributed with your linux system. The documentation files may be stored in any location where they can be conveniently referred to by users. PLEASE, please, read the documentation files. Read "faq.txt" before asking those questions again, especially the first one. Really, read it! All of these programs, data files and documentation are in current development. This distribution is only a snapshot of an evolving set of software and information. Things will change, and new things will be added. Often these changes will be documented, sometimes not. Some major changes will be announced, minor ones will not, but the file dates will show that things are changing. Users are encouraged to obtain new distributions in a timely manner, at least prior to using the software for making masks to be used in any actual observing run. Fixes and new features appear approximately on a monthly basis. With release 2.0, users are reminded at the start of each program whether their software is current or in need of update. Also, if you experience any problems or errors in using any of the programs, get the latest version, distribute the files to their locations in your use, and try again. That way, you can say "yes" when I ask if you have the latest distribution. The current location for the official distributions of software is: ftp ftp.obs.carnegiescience.edu user: anonymous binary cd pub/clardy get lsi.tgz (or desired release version*) The script "getlsi" in this distribution will do this automatically; please edit the password field in the script for your institution domain name. The script may then be placed anywhere in your path, and run from the directory into which you wish the lsi.tgz file downloaded. There is also a distribution msi.tgz for users of the Mac-OS-X system. *Several versions are available, under names of the form "lsxVX.tgz" where in the VX is an Operating System version and CPU hardware abbreviation. The X part is wither "s" for 32 bit CPU or "x" for 64 bit. The V part is "r" (redhat 9), "3" (Fedora 3), "5" (Fedora 5), "8" (Fedora 8) or "D" (Fedora 13). The older ones will probably not be available as time goes by... You can also find some documentation, and pointers to the distribution files at: http://users.obs.carnegiescience.edu/clardy/imacs/maskmaking.html The star catalogs: The "skywin" feature of interface GUI uses a set of star catalogs which have been slightly compressed and reformatted from the publicly available source data. These are not expected to change at all, which means they may be downloaded once and stored in a central location. The star catalog distribution is over 4 Gigabytes of data. It is possible to download this overnight in two tar files of about 2 Gigabytes each. Downloading takes about 2 hours for each file. A link in the maskmaking.html page (above) will show how to do it. If you have an internet connection and need to make only a few masks, and don't want to download the catalogs, the catalog information is available over the internet from obs.canrnegiescience.edu; if local catalogs are not found, an internet request will be automatically made, and the data saved locally for future use. This download may take a minute or two when done the first time. Guide stars are absolutely required to cut an IMACS mask.