National Aeronautics and Space Administration

********************************************************************************
                      SUZAKU UPDATE - 29 January 2010
********************************************************************************

Suzaku software Version 15 - Changes to HEASoft v6.8 (29 Jan 2010):

---------------------
  HXD specific tools:
---------------------

- hxdpinxbpi:

  When 'CALDB' is specified for the pinnom_rsp parameter, the RESPFILE
  keyword in the output source spectrum now points to the response matrix
  corresponding to the nominal pointing of the input observation.

- hxdgsoxbpi:

  When 'CALDB' is specified for the gsonom_rsp parameter, the RESPFILE
  keyword in the output source spectrum now points to the response matrix
  corresponding to the nominal pointing of the input observation.


********************************************************************************
                         RELEASE NOTES FOR HEASOFT 6.8
                              December 3, 2009
********************************************************************************

The HEASoft 6.8 release is primarily driven by updates to the Swift and
Suzaku mission 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.

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

- atFunctions v3.2:

  Bug fix in atEarthElev(), setting x[1],x[2] in find_min().
  Unseen Earth limb is now represented as 200 degrees instead of 120 degrees.

- imagetrans:

  Enhanced method=INTERPOLATE to support inverse distance weighting with
  user-specified exponent

- prefilter:

  Use latest atFunctions library for earth limb angle.  The unseen Earth
  limb is now represented as 200 degrees instead of 120 degrees.

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

Version 3.22 - 28 October 2009

   - added an option (in imcompress.c) to losslessly compress floating
     point images, rather than using the default integer scaling method.
     This option is almost never useful in practice for astronomical 
     images (because the amount of compression is so poor), but it has 
     been added for test comparison purposes.

   - enhanced the dithering option when quantizing and compressing
     floating point images so that a random dithering starting point
     is used, so that the same dithering pattern does not get used for
     every image.

   - modified the architecture setup section of fitsio2.h to support the
     64-core 8x8-architecture Tile64 platform (thanks to Ken Mighell, NOAO)

   Fixes

   - fixed a problem that was introduced in version 3.13 of CFITSIO
     in cases where a program writes it own END keyword to the header
     instead of letting CFITSIO do it, as is strongly recommended.  In
     one case this caused CFITSIO to rewrite the END keyword and any
     blank fill keywords in the header many times, causing a 
     noticeable slow-down in the FITS file writing speed.

Version 3.21 - 24 September 2009

   - fixed bug in cfileio.c  that caused CFITSIO to crash with a bus error
     on Mac OS X if CFITSIO was compiled with multi-threaded support (with
     the  --enable-reentrant configure option). The Mac requires an
     additional thread initialization step that is not required on Linux
     machines.  Even with this fix, occasional bus errors have been seen on
     some Mac platforms, The bus errors are seen when running the
     thread_test.c program.  The bus errors are very intermittent, and occur
     less than about 1% of the time, on the affected platforms. 
     These bus errors have not been seen on Linux platforms. 

   - fixed invalid C comment delimiter ("//*" should have been "/*")
     in imcompress.c.

   - Increased the CFITSIO version number string length
     in fpackutil.c, to fix problem on some platforms when running
     fpack -V or funpack -V.   Also modified the output format of the
     fpack -L command.

Version 3.20 - 31 August 2009

   - modified configure.in and configure so that it will build the Fortran
     interface routines by default, even if no Fortran compiler is found
     in the user's path. Building the interface routines may be disabled 
     by specifying FC="none".  This was done at the request of users who
     obtained CFITSIO from some other standard linux distributions, where
     CFITSIO was apparently built in an environment that had no Fortran 
     compiler and hence did not build the Fortran wrappers.

   - modified ffchdu (close HDU) so that it calls the routine to update
     the maximum length of variable length table columns in the TFORM
     values in all cases  where the values may have changed.  Previously
     it would not update the values if a value was already specified in
     the TFORM value.

   - added 2 new string manipulation functions to the CFITSIO parser 
     (contributed by Craig Markwardt): strmid extracts a substring
     from a string, and strstr searches for a substring within a string.

   - removed the code in quantize.c that treated "floating-point integer" 
     images as a special case (it would just do a datatype conversion from
     float to int, and not otherwise quantize the pixel values).  This 
     caused complications with the new subtractive dithering feature.

   - enhanced the code for converting floating point images to quantized
     scaled integer prior to tile-compressing them, to apply a random
     subtractive dithering, which improves the photometric accuracy
     of the compressed images.
   
   - added new internal routine, iraf_delete_file, for use by fpack to
     delete a pair of IRAF format header and pixel files.

   - small change in cfileio.c in the way it recognizes an IRAF format
     .imh file.  Instead of just requiring that the filename contain the
     ".imh" string, that string must occur at the end of the file name.

   - fixed bug in the code that is used when tile-compressing real*4 FITS 
     images, which quantizes the floating point pixel values into
     integer levels.  The bug would only appear in the fairly rare
     circumstance of tile compressing a floating point image that contains
     null pixels (NaNs) and only when using the lossy Hcompress algorithm
     (with the s parameter not equal to 1).  This could cause underflow of
     low valued pixels, causing them to appear as very large pixel values
     (e.g., > 10**30)  in the compressed image

   - changed the "if defined" blocks in fitsio.h, fitsio2.h and f77_wrap.h
     to correctly set the length of long variables on sparc64 machines.
     Patch contributed by Matthew Truch (U. Penn).

   - modified the HTTP file access code in drvrnet.c to support basic
     HTTP authentication, where the user supplies a user name and
     password.  The CFITSIO filename format in this case is:
     "http://username:password@hostname/..."
     Thanks to Jochen Liske (ESO) for the suggestion and the code.

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

CCFits Version 2.2:

 http://heasarcdev.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/fitsio/ccfits/html/index.html

GSFC Internal update:

 Bug fix for definition of ULBASE in FITSUtil.  In the operation 1 << 31,
 the "1" must be explicitly cast to an unsigned long.  Otherwise the
 compiler may treat it as a signed int, for which a left-shift of 31 bits
 is undefined.  This was found to cause problems when reading images of
 type signed or unsigned long AND the receiving valarray type required
 casting, AND the platform was 64-bit Linux.

********************************************************************************
                                    HEACORE
********************************************************************************

- wcslib: Update to version 4.4.4.
  http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/mcalabre/WCS/

- heasp library: Removed calls which duplicate EXTNAME and added writing
  CHANNEL column in WriteRMFEbounds (WriteARF, WritePHA, WriteRMF).

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

- quzcif:

   Version 1.4.4: Added clobber parameter.

   Version 1.4.3: Initialized "lun" variable to fix a segfault in Centos linux.

   Version 1.4.2: Fixed bug where retrieve="yes" gave an empty string if local
                  caldb used.

   Version 1.4.1: If retrieve="yes", echo the name of the local file (with
                  the "http://..." stripped off).

- libcaltools: Increase length of filename variable passed to fcpars (c_fcpars)
  and fits_open_file from 120 to 512, and add status check after fcpars call.
  Also, call to system() should include the status variable, otherwise e.g.
  addspec may continue execution despite failure of spawned mathpha command.

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

1. Bug fix: retain fv graph preference size.

2. Bug fix: Adding arithmetic function in expression when plotting resulted
   in seg fault.

3. Enhancement: Add capability to allow user to specify and store image size.

4. Enhancement: Add capability to allow user to increase/decrease font size.

5. Bug fix: fv summary information of primary extension name changed after
   closing the view of header information.

6. Bug fix: Print preview not allowed to resize the preview panel correctly.

7. Bug fix: Cannot export HDU from fv.

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

- rsp2rmfarf (NEW TOOL): Splits an RSP file into an RMF and an ARF.

- swco.dat: v052, valid through: 2009Oct28 at 21:56:12.164UTC

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

- addspec:

  Remove blank space in expression strings sent to mathpha as they are
  assembled; otherwise, chances are much higher that they will exceed the
  2048 character limit of the string buffer during assembly and send a
  truncated expression to mathpha.

- extractor: 

  Fixed bug which could cause junk to be written to the ROTANG column in
  the output region extension for regions which have no rotation angle
  dependence.

  Added lcstart parameter to specify the start time (in spacecraft units) of
  the first bin in a light curve. 

  Increased the size of the GTI array to 200,000

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

- ftimgcalc:

  Allow input expression to be defined in a text file ("@" syntax).

- ftjoin:

  Allow users to use the expressions #L_ROW and #R_ROW to easily work with
  row numbers of the left and right tables.  Fixed bug with FULLOUTER and
  RIGHTOUTER modes, where too many rows were written to the output table
  (with duplicates).

- ftlist:

  Fixed bug encountered in the case of a 1-D image with 1 pixel, in which
  the pixel value was listed twice.  Default value of the section parameter
  changed to '*' instead of '*:*'.

- ftselfjoin (NEW TOOL):

  Search for matching entries within a single table.

********************************************************************************
                                   SPECTRAL
********************************************************************************

- rgsrmfsmooth: Fix to minor error involving write beyond array.

********************************************************************************
                                     TIME
********************************************************************************

- mgtime: Increase maximum number of rows in GTI files to 200000.

********************************************************************************
                                    XSELECT
********************************************************************************

- xselect.mdb: Modified Suzaku mkf filename specifier to allow gzipped files.

- xsl_xmm_add_badpix_exposu: Correction for the case when CCDNR is not
  necessarily the first DS keyword.

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

Xspec v12.5.1 is updated to patch level 'n' in this HEASoft release.
Please see the Xspec Issues/Patches web page for details:

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

********************************************************************************
                                     XSTAR
********************************************************************************

xstar version 2.2.0

This version includes the following added features:

- Inclusion of all elements up to Z=30.  The atomic data for the energy
  level structure of ions with 3 or more electrons for many of these are
  scaled hydrogenic and so the associated line emission must be treated
  with caution.

- Inclusion of two new input parameters:  the radius exponent (radexp) and
  the number of continuum energy bind (ncn2).  These are described in detail
  in the manual.

- Inclusion of the radiation scattered in resonance lines as a column in the
  output fits file xout_spect1.fits.  This is provided in the same units of
  specific luminosity as the other columns.

- Use of a new algorithm for the multilevel calculation which is considerably
  faster and requires less storage.  Hence smaller values of critf (even 0)
  can be accomodated for many problems.

- The input parameter critf now refers to the fractional ion abundance (i.e.
  relative to the parent element) rather than the absolute (i.e. relative
  to H) ion abundance.

- Minor changes have been made to some of the output formats in the ascii
  file xout_step.lis.

- The atomic data for dielectronic recombination has been changed to
  incorporate the results from Badnell and coworkers This has quantitative
  effects on many of the results from xstar.  Notable is the effect on the
  ionization balance of iron for ionization parameters in the range
  0 < log(xi) < 2, where the m-shell ions dominate, and where the new
  rates are greater than the previous ones by large factors.


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


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

- addascaspec: Fixed syntax error introduced in previous version.

- cleansis: Changed iteration algorithm so that pixels which are already
  flagged bad are not used when calculating the local background rate.

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

Suzaku software Version 14 - Changes since HEASoft v6.7:

-----------------
 Suzaku general:
-----------------

- aepipeline (new):
       Re-process the XIS, PIN and GSO data to produce cleaned event files.

---------------------
 HXD specific tools:
---------------------

- hxdpinxblc (new):
       Calculate the PIN source(+background) and background lightcurves.

- hxdpinxbpi (new):
       Calculate the PIN source(+background) and background spectra.

- hxdgsoxblc (new):
       Calculate the GSO source(+background) and background lightcurves.

- hxdgsoxbpi (new):
       Calculate the GSO source(+background) and background spectra.

- libaste_hxd:
       Fixed buffer over-runs in writing HISTORY/COMMENT keywords.

----------------------
XIS specific tools
----------------------

- xistime
       New parameter "bstgti", to calculate the good exposure intervals 
       for each frame when XIS operate in burst mode.

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

Swift software Version 3.5 - Changes since HEASoft v6.7:

---------------------
BAT specific tools
---------------------
batcelldetect
 * New parameter 'vectorposmeth', which specifies how a vector
   of BAT-detected positions is combined into a single position
   number. Available choices are FIRST, LAST, AVERAGE, MAX_SNR.

batclean
 * Bug fix: batclean was getting confused if the input catalog had
   CATNUM=-999 and was segfaulting; now fixed.

batdetmask, batglobalgti, batphasimerr, batphasyserr, batsurvey-aspect
 * Call QUZCIF CALDB query task with retrieve=NO.

bateconvert
 * Bug fix: sometimes file extension number was uninitialized, now fixed.
 * Uninitialized variable sometimes caused new energy conversion routine to
   fail; now fixed.

baterebin
 * Bug fix: uninitialized variables, now fixed.

batfftimage, batmaskwtevt, batmaskwtimg
 * Bug fix: uninitialized variable caused rare failure when using CALDB for
   aperture file, now fixed.

batimgstatpos
 * Add new output columns:
      IMX, IMY (tangent plane coordinates);
      SNR (signal to noise ratio);
      EXPOSURE, CATNUM (renamed from original non-standard name).
 * Some minor backward compatibility issues have been dealt with.

batsurvey
New version 6.10 includes the following changes:
 * New parameter 'cleanexpr' which allows user to specify which sources
   should always be cleaned.
 * New output FITS files stats_point.fits and stats_obs.fits, which
   correspond to the original ASCII stats_point.dat and stats_obs.dat
   files;  the FITS versions are more consistently formatted, contain more
   information, have better metadata; and will be more easily expanded in
   the future.
 * Internal improvements to clean a larger number of sources without
   overflowing certain limits.
 * The task prints a list of sources which are being cleaned.
 * Bug fix: the *_2.cat file was not preserving the CLEANED flag, now fixed.
 * Bug fix: the {RA,DEC,PA}_PNT keywords were being written as strings, now
   written as floating point numbers.
 * Output catalog now uses TDISPn keyword for the SNR columns for ease of
   viewing.

batsurvey-gti
 * Internal code changes to more carefully track the size of the output GTI.

batbinevt, batdrmgen, bateconvert, baterebin, bathotpix, batimgstatpos,
batmasktaglc, batoccultmap, battblocks, batwarpimg
 * Small source code changes for clarity of version numbering, no logic changes.

---------------------
XRT specific tools
---------------------
xrtpipeline
 * Added check on created light curve. If empty light curve doesn't
   execute xrtlccorr task call.

xrtproducts
 * Modified output gif plots.

xrtexpomap, xrtinstrmap, xrtlccorr
 * Modified to optimize the execution time.

xrt libraries
 * Handle '.xx' numeric format while checking RA and DEC input parameters.
 * Bug fixed in remote CALDB queries.

--------------------
UVOT specific tools
--------------------
uvotexpmap
 * For method=SHIFTADD, fixed problem propagating keywords from input
   to output.

uvotimgrism
 * Maintain center-line of source region when width/offset of source
   and/or background regions change.

uvotimsum
 * Allow specifying multiple input files using @path or comma delimited list.
 * Propagate keywords which are the same in input HDUs to output.
 * Implemented new method=LSSMAP for combining sky LSS images.
 * Specifying method=EXPMAP is sufficient for summing exposure maps.

uvotproduct
 * Improved finding chart plots when using ds9 v5.
 * ds9 v4 is no longer supported.

---------------
Swift General 
---------------

swiftxform
 * Allow method=INTERPOLATE [see imagetrans].

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

- asmappend:

  Modified to accomodate new FITS table layout from MIT.

- proc2pcu (NEW TOOL):

  Pre-process RXTE/PCA binned-mode data files containing two separate
  channels of PCU data to produce files that are compatible with saextrct.

- pcabackest:

  Improvement of interpolation routine which was producing wild
  oscillations for some spectral models (particularly the linear-in-time
  model) due to division by near-zero.

********************************************************************************
                                 CONFIGURATION
********************************************************************************

- Configure scripts generated with autoconf v2.63 to resolve some trouble
  finding X11 libraries and headers on e.g. Mac OS X 10.6.

- Misc. improvements to better handle passing of CFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, LD_FLAGS,
  LDFLAGS environment variables which becomes more important on the latest
  Macintosh hardware where 64-bit binaries are the default build target of
  the Xcode C compilers (users are instructed to add "-arch i386" to these
  variables to force compatibility with the i386 objects generated by the
  Fortran compilers).

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