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HEAsoft v5.2 Bug List

If you are using FTOOLS v5.1 and don't want to upgrade to v5.2 just yet, see the FTOOLS 5.1 Bug List.

Several packages track bugs separately from this page:

The following is a list of known bugs in v5.2 of HEAsoft not covered by the above pages.

  • MAC OS 10.2 / JAGUAR : Under HEASOFT 5.2, the shared readline library will not compile (the build dies with complaints about "Undefined symbols: tgoto, tputs, etc.). To fix this problem, edit the lheasoft/src/BUILD_DIR/Makefile (if you have already configured) or lheasoft/src/BUILD_DIR/Makefile.in (if you have NOT already configured) in the following way:

    Change lines 420-422 from this: 

           if [ "x${EXT}" = xdarwin -a "x${H_LIBBASE}" = xxpa ]; then \
               ${SHLIB_LD} -L${TCL_HOME_DIR}/unix -L${LHEA_SRC}/lib.tmp \
                       -ltcl8 -o lib${H_LIBBASE}${SHLIB_SUFFIX} *; \
    to this: 
           if [ "x${EXT}" = xdarwin -a "x${H_LIBBASE}" = xreadline ]; then \
               ${SHLIB_LD} ${LIB_SYSTEM} -o lib${H_LIBBASE}${SHLIB_SUFFIX} *; \

    After configuring, you will also need to edit the lheasoft/src/BUILD_DIR/hmakerc file to remove all occurrences of -lcrtbegin.o in the LIB_SYSTEM and LIB_SYSTEM_CXX macros. This is an unnecessary addition to the link line and may cause linking of tools to fail.

  • REDHAT 7.3 / gcc 2.96: A number of runtime errors occur in HEAsoft when it is built from source code using the default compiler which ships with Linux Red Hat 7.3 (gcc v2.96, which was NOT a stable GNU release). The pre-compiled HEAsoft binaries for Linux do not suffer these problems.

    If you must build from the HEAsoft source code under Red Hat 7.3, we highly recommend that you install an official GNU release of gcc (versions 2.95.x or 3.1.x, for example) before building HEAsoft.

  • ADDASCASPEC: The addascaspec script has been updated to allow users to specify the error method used when calling the mathpha task (Please note that this is an update, not a bug). If you would like to have this updated script, you can pick it up here. To install it, simply copy it into your $LHEASOFT/scripts/ directory, and "chmod +x $LHEASOFT/scripts/addascaspec".

  • CMPPHA / LIBFTOOLS: The cmppha tool is computing statistical errors incorrectly in "squish" mode, and the output EXPOSURE keyword is being set to zero. If you built from the 5.2 source code, you can fix these problems in the following way:

    Edit the file lheasoft/src/ftoolslib/gen/rdkeycole.f (and rdkeycols.f while you're at it): 

    change line 77 from:

          call ftgcve(iunit,colno,1,nrows,snull,colvals,
to:
          call ftgcve(iunit,colno,1,1,nrows,snull,colvals,

(and similarly on line 77 in rdkeycols.f for the ftgcvs calls).  You should
also add the following around line 57 (in both files):

      errflg = 0
    Then, to rebuild libftools, go up one directory level (to lheasoft/src/ftoolslib) and do the following: 
    source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh  (or devinit.sh)
hmake shared
hmake install
    Next, edit the file lheasoft/src/caltools/src/cmppha/cmppha.f: 
    change line 1264 from:

           sq_staterr(i) = sq_staterr(i) + staterr(i)
to:
           sq_staterr(i) = sq_staterr(i) + staterr(i)*staterr(i)
    To build and install the new version, do the following (in the cmppha directory): 
    hmake
hmake install

  • FBBFT2PHA: This CGRO tool fails under some Linux systems with the error "Unable to obtain bftfile parameter" due to uninitialized status variables. The solution is to add "status=0" statements around lines 84 and 1277 (after the variable declarations). After adding those statements, do the following to re-build and install the new version: 

    source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh  (or devinit.sh)
hmake
hmake install

  • FBDRM2RMF: This CGRO tool fails under some Linux systems with the error "Unable to obtain drmfile parameter" due to uninitialized status variables, and may also suffer a segmentation fault from an array of insufficient size. The solution is to add "status=0" statements around lines 87 and 1510 (after the variable declarations), and change line 844 from this: 

    <       INTEGER*2 chan(252)

to this:

>       INTEGER*2 chan(255)
> 
>       DO i = 1, 255
>           chan(i) = 0
>       END DO
    After adding those statements, do the following to re-build and install the new version: 
    source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh  (or devinit.sh)
hmake
hmake install

  • FLX2XSP / LIBCALTOOLS: There is a bug in the caltools library which affects flx2xsp and may affect other tools. To fix a source code distribution, do the following:

    Edit the file lheasoft/src/callib/src/gen/wtpha1.f in the following way: 

    Around line 176, add this line:

        real rnull

Around line 699, add this line:

      rnull =-999999.0

Change the call to ftpcne around line 715 from this:

       CALL ftpcne(ounit,colnum,frow,felem,nchan,inull,counts,status)

to this:

       CALL ftpcne(ounit,colnum,frow,felem,nchan,counts,rnull,status)


i.e., if you 'diff' the old version against your new, modified version,
you should get these results:

176a177
>         real rnull
699a701
>       rnull =-999999.0
713c715
<        CALL ftpcne(ounit,colnum,frow,felem,nchan,inull,counts,status)
---
>        CALL ftpcne(ounit,colnum,frow,felem,nchan,counts,rnull,status)
    You then need to rebuild the caltools library:

    (1) source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh
    (2) cd to your lheasoft/src/callib directory.
    (3) hmake shared
    (4) hmake install

    To rebuild flx2xsp:

    (5) cd ../heasarc/src/flx2xsp
    (6) hmake
    (7) hmake install

  • FSELECT: The fselect tool has a bug which causes a FITSIO error when dealing with tables containing variable length columns. It can be fixed by doing the following:

    Around line 433 of lheasoft/src/futils/src/fselect/fselect.f insert the following line of code to reset the value of the PCOUNT keyword:

             call ftmkyj(ounit, 'PCOUNT', 0, '&', ftstat)
    Such that this block of code then looks like this: 
    C        reset number of rows to zero
         call ftmkyj(ounit, 'NAXIS2', 0, '&', ftstat)
         call ftmkyj(ounit, 'PCOUNT', 0, '&', ftstat)
    To rebuild fselect:
    (1) source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh
    (2) cd lheasoft/src/futils/src/fselect
    (3) hmake
    (4) hmake install

  • FXBARY: FXBARY (v5.0.2) may produce non-physical results if more than 100 orbit files are input, despite the documentation's claim that up to 1000 are supported. A fix is being investigated but in the meantime RXTE users who need to barycenter correct long-term lightcurves are advised to use the alternative tool, FAXBARY (v2.2), which will handle an unlimited number of orbit files. FAXBARY also has the advantage of being compatible with the merged, mission-long orbit file available at the RXTE ftp site. Please see the FAXBARY documentation for more details.

  • GENRSP: The genrsp tool is broken on all platforms in HEASOFT 5.2. If you built from the 5.2 source code, you can fix it in the following way:

    Edit the file lheasoft/src/caltools/src/genrsp/getsig.f, replacing lines 28-31 with this single line: 

          DATA first, factor, sigma, option /.TRUE., 1.0, 1.0, 0/
    and also add the following around line 24: 
          SAVE sigma, factor, option, first
    You should also edit lheasoft/src/caltools/src/genrsp/genrsp.f to reflect the new version number:

    Change lines 72-73 from: 

          CALL fcecho('GENRSP vers 1.11  09/21/00.')
      taskname = 'genrsp v1.10'
    to: 
          CALL fcecho('GENRSP vers 1.12  07/17/02.')
      taskname = 'genrsp v1.12'
    To build and install the new version, do the following (in the genrsp directory): 
    source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh  (or devinit.sh)
hmake
hmake install

  • MATHPHA: The mathpha tool may not accept errmeth=POISS-2 or errmeth=POISS-3. If you built from the 5.2 source code, you can fix it in the following way:

    Edit the file lheasoft/src/heasarc/src/mathpha/mathpha.f and modify lines 737 and 740 to read as follows (ie. capitalize "poiss" -> "POISS"): 

    line 737:
      elseif((errmeth(1:7).EQ.'POISS-2').OR.

line 740:
      elseif((errmeth(1:7).EQ.'POISS-3').OR.
    To build and install the new version, do the following (in the mathpha directory): 
    source $LHEASOFT/BUILD_DIR/devinit.csh  (or devinit.sh)
hmake
hmake install

  • POWplot (Darwin only): When attempting to run POWplot under Darwin, you should see an error similar to this: 

    Error in startup script: no files matched glob pattern "/path/Darwin_5.4_powerpc/lib/pow/../libfitstcl.s[ol]*"
    while executing
"glob $POWLIB/libfitstcl.s\[ol\]*"
    invoked from within
"load [glob $POWLIB/libfitstcl.s\[ol\]*]"
    (file "/path/Darwin_5.4_powerpc/lib/pow/POWplot.tcl" line 48)
    This is easily fixed by editing $LHEASOFT/lib/pow/POWplot.tcl and changing lines 48 and 49 from: 
            load [glob $POWLIB/libfitstcl.s\[ol\]*]
        load [glob $POWLIB/libpow.s\[ol\]*]
    to: 
            load [glob $POWLIB/libfitstcl.{s\[ol\]*,dylib}]
        load [glob $POWLIB/libpow.{s\[ol\]*,dylib}]

  • FV / POWplot Help Facilities (Darwin only): When attempting to use the fv or POWplot Help faciliites under Darwin, you should see errors similar to these: 

    In fv:

   can't read env(FV_HELPDIR): no such variable

In POWplot:

   can't read env(POW_HELPDIR): no such variable
    This is fixed by two edits:
    First, edit $LHEASOFT/bin/fv and add the following after line 105: 
    FV_HELPDIR=$FITSVIEWER_LIBRARY/doc; \
POW_HELPDIR=$FV/lib/pow; \
export POW_HELPDIR; \
export FV_HELPDIR; \
    Next, edit $LHEASOFT/bin/POWplot and add the following after line 12: 
    POW_HELPDIR=$POW_LIBRARY ;\
export POW_HELPDIR ;\