National Aeronautics and Space Administration

********************************************************************************
                          RELEASE NOTES FOR HEASOFT 6.6
                                November 25, 2008
********************************************************************************

The HEASoft 6.6 release is primarily driven by the release of the
Swift (version 3.0) software, but also includes updates to several
packages which have been revised to mirror the current development
versions in use at the HEASARC.

As before, configuration-related changes thoughout the package means that
users who already have HEASoft v6.x.x installed will need to completely
replace their software installation; there is no clean way to simply
overlay this new release or to update an existing installation.

IMPORTANT:

  Please note that this is the last distribution of HEAsoft in which we
  intend to include xspec v11. It is becoming increasingly hard to keep
  v11 up-to-date for new compilers and we do not have the resources to 
  support two different versions. If there are v11 features that you are 
  using and that we have omitted in the current version (v12) please let
  us know as soon as possible via the xspec12 help desk at:

     xspec12@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov


********************************************************************************
                                    GENERAL
********************************************************************************

- udmget (xanlib): Updated to fix FTOOLS memory faults on x86_64 architecture.

- leapsec.fits / tai-utc.dat: Added 2009-01-01 leap second.
  Reference: http://maia.usno.navy.mil/ser7/tai-utc.dat

********************************************************************************
                                    CFITSIO
********************************************************************************

HEASOFT 6.6 includes CFITSIO version 3.12, and now installs CFITSIO's
tile-compression/decompression utilities fpack/funpack.

Version 3.12 - 8 October 2008

   - modified the histogramming code so that the first pixel in the binned
     array is chosen as the reference pixel by default, if no other
     value is previously defined.

   - modified ffitab and ffibin to allow a null pointer to the 
     EXTNAME string, when inserting a table with no name.

Version 3.11 - 19 September 2008

   - optimized the code when tile compressing real*4 images (which get
     scaled to integers).  This produced a modest speed increase.  For 
     best performance, one must specify the absolute q quantization 
     parameter, rather than relative to the noise in the tile (which
     is expensive to compute).

   - modified the FITS region file reading code to check for NaN values,
     which signify the end of the array of points in a polygon region.

   - removed the test for LONGSIZE == 64 from fitsio.h, since it may 
     not be defined.

   - modified imcompress.c to support unconventional floating point FITS 
     images that also have BSCALE and BZERO keywords.  The compressed
     floating point images are linearly scaled twice in this case.

Version 3.10 - 20 August 2008

   - fixed a number of cases, mainly dealing with long input file names
     (> 1024 char), where unsafe usage of strcat and strcpy could have caused
     buffer overflows.  These buffer overflows could cause the application
     to crash, and at least theoretically, could be exploited by a
     malicious user to execute arbitrary code.  There are no known instances
     of this type of malicious attack on CFITSIO applications, and the
     likelihood of such an attack seems remote.  None the less, it would
     be prudent for CFITSIO users to upgrade to this new version to guard
     against this possibility.

   - modified some of the routines to define input character string
     parameters as "const char *" rather than just "char *" to eliminate
     some compiler warnings when the calling routine passes a constant
     string to the CFITSIO routine.  Most of the changes were to the
     keyword name argument in the many routines that read or write keywords.

   - fixed bug when tile-compressing a FITS image which caused all the 
     completely blank keywords in the input header to be deleted from 
     the output compressed image.  Also added a feature to preserve any
     empty FITS blocks in the header (reserved space for future keywords)
     when compressing or uncompressing an image.

   - fixed small bug in the way the default tile size is set in imcompress.c.
     (Fix sent in by Paul Price).

   - added support for reading FITS format region files (in addition
     to the ASCII format that was previously supported).  Thanks to
     Keith Arnaud for modifying region.c to do this.

********************************************************************************
                                     APE
********************************************************************************

Release Notes for Ape Version 2.4

Changes between version 2.3 and 2.4:

The following functional and behavioral changes are new in this version:

o PFILES (and all path-like constructs in ape) now ignores
  blank entries in the path. For example, in the fragment
  "/usr/bin::/sbin", the blank entry (between the two colons)
  is simply ignored. Previously this would have caused an error.
  The new behavior is consistent with how csh and sh handle PATH.

********************************************************************************
                                   CCFITS
********************************************************************************

CCfits-2.1 Release Notes

- FITS class constructors can now handle CFITSIO extended filename syntax.

- FITS::resetPosition function now also erases the string stored in
  currentExtensionName.

- Bug fix to FITS::read function for case of missing EXTVER keyword 
  when searching for HDU with extver > 1.

- In accordance with CFITSIO reorganization, Column.cxx now includes 
  "fitsio.h" rather than "fitsio2.h" to get definitions of LONGLONG_MIN 
  and MAX.  This makes CCfits-2.1 dependent on CFITSIO versions 3.08 or 
  later. 

********************************************************************************
                                   ATTITUDE
********************************************************************************

- imagetrans: Implemented support for transforming flag images.

- makefilter/newmakefilter: newmakefilter is now "makefilter", and the
  old makefilter has been retired.

- tristarid: Updated the catspec SearchCat type to better interface
  with scat supported catalogs other than USNO B1.

********************************************************************************
                                   CALTOOLS
********************************************************************************

- addrmf: Fixed string-length error for long rmf file names.

- brcaldb: Increased size of display variable in disp_banner routine to
  allow for the Suzaku instrument list which is >81 chars.

- genrsp: Keyword LO_THRESH is too many characters for the FITS standard,
  so added LO_THRES.  Fixed bug in generating gaussian response shape when
  channel boundaries are in decreasing energy order (viz gratings).

- grppha (callib): Fixed typo in CORRFILE entry in keyword display.

- quzcif (callib): Fixed error downloading gzipped calibration files,
  e.g. the Swift/BAT BADPIX file.

********************************************************************************
                                    FIMAGE
********************************************************************************

- fim2lst: Fix memory fault occurring when a naxis value is 0.

********************************************************************************
                                    FUTILS
********************************************************************************

- fstruct: Fixed bug causing a hang on some 64-bit operating systems (e.g.
  Fedora 8).

********************************************************************************
                                      FV
********************************************************************************

HEASoft 6.6 includes FV 5.2.1.

Changes since FV 5.2:

Bugs fixed:
   - FITS Header string to WCSLib overflow 80 characters limit per card.
   - File selection panel not been displayed during exiting fv/pow
     application when the FITS file is modified during the session.
   - When editing plot/image information, new title string is not been
     updated in the graph.
   - Zoom/unzoom of plot/image cause labels and units of the graph
     disappeared.
   - Fv/pow crashes during rendering of graph/image if the FITS file
     consists of inconsistence coordinates or unsupported coordinates system.
   - Unnecessary X and Y labels displayed in POW window (no image/plot
     created yet) when xspec is invoked.
   - Always sent first extension number to ds9 when click on other
     extension(s).
   - Shift of plot when projection is linear.
   - Buffer overflow seg-faulted when fv initializes on Ubuntu 8.10.

Enhancements:
   - Denote -SIP projection to its counter-part (i.e. -TAN-SIP to -TAN
     projection.)
   - Allow the selection of columns panel to remain visible during
     plotting.
   - Allow renaming created region files when running special analysis
     tools in Hera.
   - Add capability to save vector column(s) in one file (without the
     need to expand the column before saving).

********************************************************************************
                                    HEAGEN
********************************************************************************

- barycorr: Robustify Swift clockfile existence checking

********************************************************************************
                                    HEASARC
********************************************************************************

- extractor:

  MAJOR CHANGE - region filtering is now performed through the cfitsio
  filtering and not by code within extractor. This improves accuracy and
  consistency with both cfitsio and ciao at some speed cost -
  particularly for XMM data. There may be small changes in the events
  selected for a given region, especially for polygon regions.

- xselect:

  Fixed bug in "save time" which caused the third argument to be ignored
  and prompted for.

  Fixed bugs which caused crashes in response matrix generation scripts
  for both XMM and Chandra.

- gtisum: Modified output formatting to better handle large exponents.

********************************************************************************
                                   HEATOOLS
********************************************************************************

- ftcoco: version 2.2: correct units are now attached to the output file.

- ftsort: Fix for seg fault on x86_64.

********************************************************************************
                                    XIMAGE
********************************************************************************

Fixed handling of CROTA[12] keywords after AST lib WCS encoding has been done.
Fixed incorrect swapping of CRPIX1/2 values when DEC/LAT is first WCS axis.

********************************************************************************
                                     XSPEC
********************************************************************************

*** IMPORTANT  IMPORTANT  IMPORTANT ***

Please note that this is the last distribution of HEAsoft in which we
intend to include xspec v11. It is becoming increasingly hard to keep
v11 up-to-date for new compilers and we do not have the resources to 
support two different versions. If there are v11 features that you are 
using and that we have omitted in the current version please let us
know as soon as possible.

*** IMPORTANT  IMPORTANT  IMPORTANT ***

HEASoft 6.6 includes Xspec v12.5.0.  See

  http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xanadu/xspec/issues/issues.html

for information about v12.5.0 and to get patches.

New features in v12.5.0.

- Two of the remaining unimplemented v11 commands have now been added.
   * mdefine allows dynamic definition of models that can be expressed
     algebraicly.
   * recornrm has been replaced by the recorn model. This allows the
     correction norm to be treated as a fit parameter, a better
     solution than the v11 recornrm command.

- The complete HTML help files are included in a tar file. These can
  be made available on a local machine if remote access is not
  available and selected in the Xspec.init file.

- Convolution components can now operate on multiplicative components.
  For example, in the model = (CM)A, the convolution component acts on
  only the multiplicative component. Previously this would have been
  treated the same as C(MA). The partcov partial convolution model
  takes advantage of this new capability.

- There is a new simple way of estimating fluxes (and their errors) from
  parts of the model. Apply the cflux convolution model to the
  component(s) for which the flux is required.

- The following models have been added as standard
   * diskir   : irradiated disk
   * kerrdisk : broad iron line from a disk around a Kerr BH
   * nsmax    : NS magnetic atmosphere
   * nthcomp  : thermally Comptonized continuum
   * spexpcut : super-exponential cut-off
   * swind1   : partially ionized absorbing material with velocity shear
   * zxipcf   : partial covering of partially ionized absorbing material
   * cflux    : calculate the flux from model component(s)
   * kerrconv : broadening due to rotation around a Kerr BH
   * partcov  : partial covering modifier for absorption models
   * simpl    : Comptonization of a seed spectrum
   * recorn   : Vary the correction file normalization

- The lrt.tcl and simftest.tcl scripts perform the likelihood ratio and
  F-tests, respectively. 

- The writefits.tcl script writes filenames and current fit parameters
  and errors to a single row of a FITS file. This script can be used
  as a template for saving other information.

- A response of "/*" to a "y/n" prompt will jump out of the current 
  operation and return to the XSPEC command prompt.  This is
  particularly useful for escaping nested fits during an error command
  run.

- The units have been changed for setplot wave plots. model and ufspec
  have a y-axis in photons/cm^2/s/Hz, emodel and eufspec in Jy (10^-23 
  erg/cm^2/s/Hz), eemodel and eeufspec in erg/cm^2/s.
  
- Fakeit can now work with multiple-extension response files. It also
  works correctly when multiple models are in use (this was released
  in patch v12.4.0r).

- The active|inactive|options can be applied to the default (unnamed)
  model (released in patch v12.4.0v).

- Support for GLAST GBM extensions to the standard file formats
  including multiple response matrix extensions in the same file
  (released in patch 12.4.0am).

- There are additional diagnostics available at high chatter levels 
  from MCMC chain runs. User's custom proposal classes have access
  to information about acceptances and rejections.

- Initial support for multicore processors using the OpenMP parallel
  processing compiler option. Multiplication of the model and response 
  is performed in parallel across the multiple spectra in a datagroup.

All bug fixes to v12.4.0 released as patches a - ar are included in
v12.5.0. In addition the following problems have been corrected.

- When a runtime error is encountered during the calculation of a 
  parameter's error bounds (using the error command), the value is now
  filled in with 0.0 rather than retaining its previous value.

- Steppar will now correctly step in reverse direction if the range 
  values were entered in high-to-low order.

- Model expression parsing has been improved for nested expressions.

- Log file output has been fixed so '#' comments are placed correctly.
 
- The chi-square calculation includes the corfile contribution
  even if there is no background file associated with the spectrum.

- There are minor plotting fixes to the confidence line in 1-D steppar/margin 
  plots, the rescaling of the Y=0 green line in lower-panel plots, and
  the Y-axis label in plot delchi.

- Tclout peakrsid no longer fails for a spectrum whose model was not 
  assigned to source 1.  


Other Changes:

- The XSFunctions library now also depends on XSModel, requiring the
  addition of a -lXSModel flag to the Makefile of external programs
  linking with the XSPEC model functions library. (See manual Appendix F)

- The modelIonData model data files directory has been renamed to
  modelData.

- Portions of some model functions have been translated from Fortran to C++
  to reduce use of the udmget memory allocation function. 



========================== MISSION-SPECIFIC SOFTWARE: ==========================



********************************************************************************
                                     ASCA 
********************************************************************************

- cleansis: Increase maxcols variable from 20 to 40 to support the events
  extension in Suzaku data which has 25 columns.

********************************************************************************
                                    SUZAKU
********************************************************************************

Suzaku software Version 11 - Changes since HEASoft v6.5.1:

- hxdbsttime: bug fixed for pipe line process.

********************************************************************************
                                     SWIFT
********************************************************************************

Swift software Version 3.0(Bld24) - Changes since HEASoft v6.5:

SWIFT GENERAL
-------------
swifttime
 * Improve handling of pre-epoch dates. Negative times (MET seconds) 
   should be correct but will not account for pre-epoch leap seconds.

swiftxform
 * Write SWX{RA,DEC,ATT} keywords to UVOT sky images.
 * Support flag images.

BAT
---
batbinevt
 * Explicitly ignore events which have NULL energies

batcelldetect
 * New parameter 'posfluxfit' to force fluxes to be positive.
 * New output column CONTAM_RATE/CONTAM_COUNTS to measure source blending.
 * New background window type 'smooth_circle' whose edges are tapered
 * Disable distortion map correction when input image does not have
   tangent plane coordinates; does not affect typical users.
 * Bug fix: bounds checking error for sources at edge of map, does not
   affect typical users.
 * Bug fix: do not null pre-existing columns (user is warned that some
   columns are copied without being updated).

batclean
 * Bug fix: 'Edges' method of balancing was not implemented correctly.

bateconvert
 * Now handles null values in gain/offset maps.
 * Internal clean-up of code.

batsurvey
 * New parameter 'balance' to allow user-configurable balancing.
 * Default new default balancing explicitly lists balancing methods,
   rather than using 'flight'.

battblocks
 * New parameters 'global_tstart' and 'global_tstop' for use in pipeline
 * New parameter 'breakfile' which allows user-specified breakpoints
   in Bayesian blocks, if a priori transition information is known
   (for example a slew or filter change).

Tasks batevt2dpi, batgse2dpi, batgse2dph, and batmasktagpha are
considered obsolete, and/or not for end users.

XRT
---
xrtgrblc [NEW TASK]
 * This  task extracts a lightcurve for a Swift GRB or a given source
   from the XRT data. It is designed to automate the task of extracting a
   corrected,  flux converted light curve from a  potentially large set of
   Swift observations.

xrtpcbias
 * Fixed compatibility problem with new perl 5.10
 * Bug fixed with compressed input event files.

xrtscreen
 * Fixed compatibility problem with new perl 5.10
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up
   as slew observation mode.

xrtfilter
 * Fixed compatibility problem with new perl 5.10
 * Replaced 'newmakefilter' task call with the new 'makefilter' task call.

xrtflagpix
 * Handle RAWX/RAWY out of range values
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrtpccorr
 * Not apply PHAS correction to events from calibration sources.

xrtcalcpi
 * Not apply interpolation for intermediate time values when reading
   offset coefficients for charge traps
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrttimetag
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrtpcgrade
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrtevtrec
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrthkproc
 * Handle all ACS flags configurations with 'safehold' flag up as slew observation mode.

xrtlccorr
 * Replaced 'nframe' input parameter with 'wtnframe' and 'pcnframe' input parameters.

xrtproducts
 * Modified default binsize value for PC mode from 5 to 2.51.

xrtpipeline
 * New input parameters 'lcwtnframe' and 'lcpcnframe' for xrtlccorr task call
 * Modified xrtlccorr task call to create always the small instrument map.

UVOT
----
uvot2pha
 * Now obtains corrected count and error stats from uvotsource instead of raw counts from ximage. 
 * New parameter: logfile. Unless 'NONE' (the default) the verbose uvotsource output will be
   captured in the specified file.

uvotdetect
 * Updated to SExtractor 2.5 (and applied patches).
 * Use SExtractor WIN parameters for positions and errors.
 * Made column names distinct from SExtractor to reduce ambiguity (e.g., UX_IMAGE is XWIN_IMAGE).
 * Take RATE_ERR from FLUXERR_ISOCOR.

uvotevtlc
 * Use uvotsource for photometry.
 * If timebinalg=g and gtifile is not specified, take GTIs from infile.

uvotexpmap
 * Now supports input images which have had their attitude modified
   (presumably by uvotskycorr) provided they are created with the newly
   released swiftxform.  This is indicated by the presence of SWX{RA,DEC,ATT} keywords.  
   If these keywords are not present, a warning is displayed.

uvotgraspcorr
 * Allow filtering sources based on a circular region on the detector.

uvotimgrism
 * Corrected physical coordinates (WCSP) in the extraction region image appended to spectrum file.
 * Updated label positions and color used in extraction region file

uvotimsum
 * Support summing flag images

uvotinteg
 * Support lists of operations and region files

uvotproduct
 * Updated summary report to indicate which exposures were combined.
 * Nsigma parameter now used to generate magnitude history.
 * Corrected determination of magnitude limits.
 * Allow user to control rebinning parameters.

uvotskycorr
 * By default max.rate filtering is disabled.

uvotsource
 * Output parameter can now select individual sections
 * New output columns CORR_RATE (all corrections applied), CORR_RATE_ERR,
   NSIGMA, FRAMTIME.
 * Sub-sample pixels 8x8 to determine counts and areas

********************************************************************************
                                      XTE
********************************************************************************

- fcollect: v5.8 - supports PCA TIME_SINCE_BRK (adds breakfile parameter).

- pcarmf (ftoolslib): Fix string-length issue ("Writing more data than the
  record size") hit by newer Fortran compilers.

- xtefilt: v1.8 - changes to mirror new fcollect (w/breakfile parameter).

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