Astronomical Image Processing System 31DEC23 Version

The 31DEC23 version of AIPS is now available as our "slushy" version. It is likely to change on occasion throughout 2024, but only for significant bug fixes. To install it, follow the advice below especially A Guide to the Install Wizard See the special Mac installation for information specific to installations on MacIntosh OS/X systems. Note that 31DEC23 is available both as a text installation (compilations done on your computer) or as a binary installation (compilations done by us). The former should work on all computers and requires much smaller downloads. But the latter can offer greater simplicity in installation and maintenance. The binary installation is likely to be the best choice unless you plan local development of AIPS code. Note that we have resolved many of the issues raised by modern gfortran compilers, so compiling your own version is not likely to be too difficult. The LNX64 and MACINT versions are compiled with a gfortran 6.3 version. Even the performance discrepancies have mostly disappeared. Note too that the Mac binary version is for 64-bit computers at Mac OS 10.10 or greater (the master Mac is now at 10.15).

There are files used by the MNJ ("Midnight Job") which may not transfer properly with the MNJ for sites that compile the AIPS code locally. They are named AIPSUPD, UPDCONFIG, UPDERROR, and UPDPSYNC. Copies of these files are in the same data areas as the 31DEC23.tar.gz for download via the web or via ftp. Put them in the $AIPS_ROOT/31DEC23/$ARCH/UPDATE directory. Then re-run the MNJ.

Table of Contents

• Binary installation
• Text installation
• You WILL want a Midnight Job!
• What's New in 31DEC23
• Distribution Statistics

Binary installation

1. Requirements:
   • Unix Workstation: MacIntosh OS X (Darwin) either PPC or Intel cpu, Linux/Intel, or Solaris/Sparc Ultra; 1 Gigabyte memory, 1 Gigabyte disk space (not counting your data). Binary installations which are now offered for MACPPX OS/X systems using NRAO's IBM xlf compilers for PPC-based systems or Intel's ifort for Intel-based systems, for SUL systems using SUN's SUNWspro compilers, and for LINUX systems using Intel's ifort compiler under RedHat.
   • Internet (ftp) access;
   • Perl version 5 (comes with most Linux systems);
   • The rsync utility is now used and the Secure Shell client and cvs utility are not required.
   • READING THE DOCUMENTATION!

2. Preliminaries for your installation:
   • For binary installations, get the Install Wizard file, but do not fetch the 31DEC23.tar.gz file. Remember the date/time (Greenwich) on which you started install.pl.
   • Read the On-Line Wizard Guide BEFORE PROCEEDING FURTHER! Also, use it as you proceed through the various screens presented by the wizard.
   • Place install.pl in the area that will be your $AIPS_ROOT (top-level AIPS directory).
   • If you have a previous installed version of AIPS:
   • Edit your $HOME/.AIPSRC file: change the CCOMOPT option to point at 31DEC23 and delete the DOWNLOADED and UNPACKED lines.
   • Use the same $AIPS_ROOT area for the new version
   • Just give a carriage-return (Enter) to the screens asking for information about hosts, disk areas, printers, tapes, tape hosts and TV services.
   • Make sure that the install.pl file is executable. Then, for binary installations,
     perl install.pl -n

3. Post-Install Steps:
   • Edit $AIPS_ROOT files AIPSPATH.SH and AIPSPATH.CSH to select which version of AIPS, if you have more than one, corresponds to NEW and OLD.
   • Upgrade the $SYSLOCAL/UPDCONFIG file to match any improvements you made in any previous version of that file. Make sure that the e-mail addresses in the file are correct.
   • Make sure you Read the Midnight Job instructions before enabling the midnight job on your system. You may run the MNJ via a cron, but most users elect to run the do_daily.hostname file by hand at times of their choosing.

Text installation

This form of AIPS installation is recommended only for sites that plan to develop their own software to run within the AIPS system or for sites with architectures other than those for which binary installations are available.

1. Requirements:
   • Unix Workstation: MacIntosh OS X (Darwin) PPC or Intel cpu, Linux/Intel, Linux/Alpha, Solaris/Sparc, Solaris/Intel, OSF1/Alpha, HP9000/HP-UX, SGI/Irix; 1 Gigabytes memory, 1 Gigabytes disk space (not counting your data), Intel 486/33 or better.
   • The text installation requires full developer-level support for X Windows, C, and Fortran. Systems using the GNU compilers may also need a separate installation of a non-default version of the Fortan and C compilers. Note that "full developer support" includes RPMs for X11 (e.g. XFree86-devel), ncurses (ncurses-devel), and cvs (cvs).
   • Perl version 5 (comes with most Linux systems);
   • Internet (ftp) access;
   • The cvs utility will now be used and the Secure Shell (ssh v1 or Openssh) client is not required.
   • READING THE DOCUMENTATION!

2. Preliminaries for your installation:
   • For a text installation, make sure that your computer has a C and a Fortran compiler plus a full set of XWindows include files and libraries. MacIntosh users may consult the special Mac installation instructions for information about these issues. Be sure to check which GNU compilers are known not to work with AIPS, including GNU versions 2.96, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, 3.3.x, and 4.1.x. Compiler versions (gfortran) 5.1, 5.3, and 6.4 are thought to work well.
   • For text installations, get the Install Wizard file.
   • For a text installation, get the 31DEC23.tar.gz file (over 178 Megabytes); this is re-generated on a nightly basis from our master code repository. Remember the date/time (US/Eastern) on which you started getting the file. Remember to use "binary" mode to copy the file.
   • For a text installation, get the Message Digest Checksum file (md5sum); compare this to the output of running "md5sum" on your copy of 31DEC23.tar.gz. Note that md5sum comes with Linux and is a standard GNU utility. If the output of "md5sum 31DEC23.tar.gz" does not match the file 31DEC23.tar.gz.md5sum or if there is no md5sum file, STOP! There's a problem; try a second copy (with binary this time) and if there is still a problem Contact us at our daip@nrao.edu address.
   • Read the On-Line Wizard Guide BEFORE PROCEEDING FURTHER! Also, use it as you proceed through the various screens presented by the wizard.
   • Place both the 31DEC23.tar.gz file and install.pl in the area that will be your $AIPS_ROOT (top-level AIPS directory).
   • If you have a previous installed version of AIPS:
   • Edit your $HOME/.AIPSRC file: change the CCOMOPT option to point at 31DEC23 and delete the DOWNLOADED and UNPACKED lines.
   • Use the same $AIPS_ROOT area for the new version
   • Just give a carriage-return (Enter) to the screens asking for information about hosts, disk areas, printers, tapes, tape hosts and TV services.
   • Make sure that the install.pl file is executable. Then, for text installations, run the script with the command
     perl install.pl
     

3. Post-Install Steps:
   • Edit $AIPS_ROOT files AIPSPATH.SH and AIPSPATH.CSH to select which version of AIPS, if you have more than one, corresponds to NEW and OLD.
   • Upgrade the $SYSLOCAL/UPDCONFIG file to match any improvements you made in any previous version of that file.
   • Make sure you Read the Midnight Job instructions before enabling the midnight job on your system. You may run the MNJ via a cron, but most users elect to run the do_daily.hostname file by hand at times of their choosing.

We do NOT plan to have a CDROM (actually DVD) with 31DEC23 on it after it is frozen. The DVD can be made but only if that is the only possible way for you to get AIPS.

If you have problems with our ftp server, please contact us.

You WILL want a Midnight Job!

If your site has a need for the current version of AIPS with updates via the Internet and the so-called midnight job, Read this information. It has additional information and instructions. Or Eric Greisen for further information.

Since releases of AIPS are planned to be only on an annual basis, the midnight job (now with easier setup and NO ssh) will be the only way for AIPS users outside of NRAO to avail themselves in a timely fashion of whatever enhancements, changes, or new functionality we add to Classic AIPS.

The MNJ is the only way in which you can fetch changes to your version of AIPS, other than a full re-installation. It works for both binary and text installations and is sometimes useful even for the "frozen" version of AIPS, since the most recent frozen version will be patched to correct egregious errors.

WHATSNEW in 31DEC23 AIPS

The final report on 31DEC23 is available as 31DEC23 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2023 (PS, 1017389 bytes). It is also available gzipped, (465648 bytes) and PDF, (188112 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC23 is available as 31DEC23 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2023 (PS, 1018605 bytes). It is also available gzipped (467038 bytes) and PDF, (182929 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC22 is available as 31DEC22 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2022 (PS, 1041563 bytes). It is also available as gzipped, (476835 bytes) and PDF, (194576 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC22 is available as 31DEC22 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2022 (PS, 1082649 bytes). It is also available gzipped (498836 bytes) and PDF, (183318 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC21 is available as 31DEC21 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2021 (PS, 1015726 bytes). It is also available as gzipped, (462933 bytes) and PDF, (189631 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC21 is available as 31DEC21 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2021 (PS, 946615 bytes). It is also available gzipped (444817 bytes) and PDF, (152823 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC20 is available as 31DEC20 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2020 (PS, 2700146 bytes). It is also available gzipped, (691630 bytes) and PDF, (481271 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC20 is available as 31DEC20 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2020 (PS, 1010321 bytes). It is also available gzipped (463109 bytes) and PDF,(186199 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC19 is available as 31DEC19 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2019 (PS, 864697 bytes). It is also available gzipped, (433388 bytes) and PDF, (187651 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC19 is available as 31DEC19 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2019 (PS, 869314 bytes). It is also available gzipped (402257 bytes) and PDF, (141532 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC18 is available as 31DEC18 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2018 (PS, 8022909 bytes). It is also available gzipped, (1008277 bytes) and PDF, (244403 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC18 is available as 31DEC18 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2018 (PS, 867221 bytes). It is also available gzipped (401469 bytes) and PDF, (140662 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC17 is available as 31DEC17 AIPSLetter dated 30 December 2017 (PS, 904027 bytes). It is also available gzipped (420144 bytes) and PDF, (159226 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC17 is available as 31DEC17 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2017 (PS, 902569 bytes). It is also available gzipped (419491 bytes) and PDF, (159212 bytes).

The final report on 31DEC16 is available as 31DEC16 AIPSLetter dated 31 December 2016 (PS, 957655 bytes). It is also available gzipped, (431102 bytes) and PDF, (185628 bytes). The 6-month progress report on 31DEC16 is available as 31DEC16 AIPSLetter dated 30 June 2016 (PS, 907865 bytes). It is also available gzipped (414726 bytes) and PDF, (156135 bytes).

Distribution Statistics

Tools to monitor shipments of the tar balls and the binary releases as well as accesses of the cvs code maintenance system have been created and run since Spring 2003. We estimate "sites" by counting unique IP addresses. In each of the totals, an individual IP address is counted only once. In general, an IP address is used by only one user, but more than one IP address will be used by those users that use dial-up connections. Thus, these totals are a modest over-estimate. However, they are an underestimate of the number of computers used for AIPS since at many institutions a single IP address is used to provide AIPS to a number of computers. The table below shows the totals in various categories and has links to the plots of the cumulative totals. Note that the TST and NEW numbers for 2003 are for only part of the year as, of course, are all the 2020 numbers. These are indicated by the asterisk. The totals for TST and NEW include both binary and tar-ball downloads. The binary totals include binary downloads, but not binary MNJ accesses (which now use rsync).

The plots for 2023 will change usually on Wednesday but the numbers in the table above depend on us remembering to change them and so will change less often. The numbers for 2022 are now complete although the CVS numbers are missing several weeks due to the change of master computers. The numbers for 2023 are the now complete. Note that the MNJ no longer uses CVS so those numbers are no longer meaningful.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Universities, Inc.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.