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                          RELEASE NOTES FOR HEASOFT 6.31.1
                                 December 16, 2022
    ********************************************************************************
    
    HEASoft 6.31.1 is a patch-level release driven by bug fixes in
    the spectral tools (HEASPTOOLS), the Python interface to HEASoft
    (HEASoftPy), and in NICER mission data analysis software.
    
    There is a patch installer utility available, which can be used
    to update existing 6.31 source code installations to 6.31.1:
    
     https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/lheasoft/patch.html
    
    This link also describes how to patch existing 6.31 pre-compiled
    binary installations with the 6.31.1 updates.
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                        HEACORE
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - (heautils) Fixed bug in expand_item_list() for multiple long lines
      in an input file; bug fixes to prevent memory overflows when reading
      @filename with very long lines
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                        ATTITUDE
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - prefilter: (v4.8) Fixed long-standing bug for some NICER cases
      reported as 'error: satellite has re-entered'; constraints are
      now applied by mission during TLE refinement to prevent values
      from going haywire
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                         HEASP
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - (arfII) Fixed incorrect unit labels, added error check when creating
      the extension, and forced the ENERG_LO, ENERG_HI, and SPECRESP to be
      columns even if they have identical values (which should not happen).
    
    - (rmf) Added information on total response and energies of largest
      response to the rmf::disp output. Fix to rmf::multiplyByModel: need
      to subtract the first channel number, as given by TLMIN4 and stored
      in m_FirstChannel, from the 'for' loop settings.
    
    - (SPio) Added error trapping when writing vector columns.
    
    - Regenerated Python interface with changes to correctly include header
      file modifications and to handle string, arf, and grouping.
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                       HEASPTOOLS
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - ftgenrsp: Fixed overwrite of effective areas by filter transmissions
      if the latter are input.
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                         MAXI
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - mxversion: Updated version string to "15Nov2022_V02.2"
    
    - mxdownload_wget: Corrected URLs in help
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                         NICER
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - NicerUtils.pm: Fixed bug that causes SOLARPHI/SOLAR_PHI error when
      running nicerl3-spect (reads columns from multiple filter files,
      both .mkf and .mkf.gz)
    
    - nibackgen3C50: Fixed CFITSIO filtering bug in case where many
      detectors are disabled
    
    - nicerl3-lc: Added more informative warning (not error) message when
      XSPEC plot fails (e.g. when PGPLOT's PNG driver is not available)
    
    - nicerl3-spect: Fixed bug handling UFAFILE parameter when not
      required by the background model; fixed erroneous display of
      Scorpeon file bins; added more informative warning (not error)
      message when XSPEC plot fails (e.g. when PGPLOT's PNG driver is
      not available)
    
    - niexposum: Fixed undefined subroutine (NicerUtils)
    
    - niswbkgspect / niswbkglc: Fixed bug occurring when average
      number of FPMs is non-integer
    
    - space weather tools: Updated the background event file default
      CALDB location
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                         XSPEC
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - Xspec patch 12.13.0c is included in this release.
      For details, please see the Xspec issues page:
    
      https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xanadu/xspec/issues/issues.html
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                      HEASoftPy
    ********************************************************************************
    
    New version 1.2.1:
    
    - Always use system par files (i.e. $HEADAS/syspfiles) instead of
      local par files (~/pfiles) during installation, and in the setup
      for the utils.local_pfiles module (creates temporary pfiles
      directories e.g. for scripting), exclude ~/pfiles from the
      returned PFILES seting.
    
    ********************************************************************************
                                     Configuration
    ********************************************************************************
    
    - lynx (third-party linemode browser used by "fhelp"): Added the
      '--disable-idna' flag (disable IDNA support) to the lynx configure
      command: Support for IDNA (Internationalized Domain Names in
      Applications) is unnecessary for fhelp, and this should fix some
      rare macOS build problems in which having multiple iconv libraries
      results in undefined symbols. This issue is described further at
      https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57734434/libiconv-or-iconv-undefined-symbol-on-mac-osx
    

    HEASoft / FTOOLS Help Desk

    If FTOOLS has been useful in your research, please reference this site (https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools) and use the ASCL reference for HEASoft [ascl:1408.004] or the ASCL reference for the original FTOOLs paper [ascl:9912.002]:

    Blackburn, J. K. 1995, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 77, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems IV, ed. R. A. Shaw, H. E. Payne, and J. J. E. Hayes (San Francisco: ASP), 367.

    Web page maintained by: Bryan K. Irby


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