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HEAsoft v6.3 Bug List

Last modified Monday, 21-Apr-2025 17:48:36 EDT

If you are using HEASOFT v6.2 and don't want to upgrade to v6.3 just yet, see the HEASOFT 6.2 Bug List.

Please visit the HEASOFT Supported Platforms page for current information about supported operating systems and compilers.

Several packages track bugs separately from this page:

The following is a list of known bugs in v6.3 of HEAsoft not covered by the above pages.

  • xspec11:
    xspec v11 in the HEAsoft 6.3 release has a bug triggered by using the addcomp command to insert a component into a model. This bug is - as of noon EDT 13 July 2007 - fixed in all source and pre-compiled binary distributions. If you use xspec v11 and downloaded HEASOFT 6.3 prior to 13 July 2007, you should install a patch which fixes this bug. The source code patch is available HERE.

    The patch requires rebuilding the xspec library (libxspec_6.3). In the Mac/Darwin OS where this library is statically built, you will also need to rebuild the xspec11 executable. To rebuild, do the following (which assumes C-shell): 

      (1) setenv HEADAS /path/to/your/installed/headas/<PLATFORM>
  (2) source $HEADAS/headas-init.csh
  (3) cd /path/to/your/ headas-6.3 source tree
      Unpack the patch tar file on top of your existing headas-6.3/ source tree.

  (4) cd headas-6.3/ftools/spectral/xspec/src/
  (5) hmake
  (6) hmake install
    Mac OS X users perform these additional steps: 
      (7) rm xspec11
  (8) hmake
  (9) hmake install
    Pre-compiled binary patches are also available:

    Linux PC
    Linux PC 64-bit
    Linux Mac
    Mac Intel Darwin 8.x
    Mac PPC Darwin 8.x
    Mac PPC Darwin 7.x
    Solaris
    Cygwin PC

    To install the binary patches, simply unpack the appropriate tar file on top of your existing headas-6.3/ binary distribution.

  • Swift/UVOT task 'uvotsource':

    The "method=CURVEOFGROWTH" for the Swift/UVOT tool "uvotsource" contains a bug and should not be used. Users should only use method=APERTURE until this bug is fixed. See the release notes for more information.

  • Source builds on Mac OS X 10.3.x / Darwin 7.x (PANTHER):

    Panther users may hit a build error in the newmakefilter task, stating: 
    ComplexData.hh:153: error: `isnan' undeclared (first use this function)
    To fix this problem, edit the file

    headas-6.3/attitude/tasks/newmakefilter/ComplexData.hh

    and remove lines 9 and 13, i.e. uncomment the #ifdef __APPLE_CC__ section: 
    09: /*
10: #ifdef __APPLE_CC__
11: static long isnan(double value) { return __isnand(value); }
12: #endif
13: */
    This code is only necessary on Panther (and breaks builds with newer versions of the Xcode compilers). After making this edit, the build should hopefully go smoothly.