.RP .de XS .DS .ps -1 .vs -2p .ft CB .. .de XE .DE .ft R .ps .vs .. .TL Sun/IRAF Site Manager's Guide .AU Doug Tody .AI IRAF Group .br .K2 "" "" "\(dg" .br June 1989 .br Revised July 1992 .AB An IRAF \fIsite manager\fR is anyone who is responsible for installing and maintaining IRAF at a site. This document describes a variety of site management activities, including configuring the device and environment tables to provide reasonable defaults for the local site, adding interfaces for new devices, configuring and using IRAF networking, the installation and maintenance of layered software products (external packages), and configuring a custom site LOCAL package so that local software may be added to the system. Background information on multiple architecture support, shared library support, and the software management tools provided with the system is presented. The procedures for rebooting IRAF and performing a sysgen are described. An introduction to graphics and image display on the Sun workstation is provided. The host system resources required to run IRAF are discussed. .AE .pn 1 .bp .ce .ps +2 \fBContents\fR .ps -2 .sp 3 .sp 1.\h'|0.4i'\fBIntroduction\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\01 .sp 2.\h'|0.4i'\fBSystem Setup\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\02 .br \h'|0.4i'2.1.\h'|0.9i'Installing the System\l'|5.6i.'\0\02 .br \h'|0.4i'2.2.\h'|0.9i'Configuring the Device and Environment Tables\l'|5.6i.'\0\02 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.1.\h'|1.5i'Environment definitions\l'|5.6i.'\0\02 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.2.\h'|1.5i'The template LOGIN.CL\l'|5.6i.'\0\03 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.3.\h'|1.5i'The TAPECAP file\l'|5.6i.'\0\03 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.4.\h'|1.5i'The DEVICES.HLP file\l'|5.6i.'\0\03 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.5.\h'|1.5i'The TERMCAP file\l'|5.6i.'\0\03 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.6.\h'|1.5i'The GRAPHCAP file\l'|5.6i.'\0\04 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.7.\h'|1.5i'Configuring IRAF networking\l'|5.6i.'\0\04 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.8.\h'|1.5i'Configuring the IRAF account\l'|5.6i.'\0\06 .br \h'|0.9i'2.2.9.\h'|1.5i'Configuring user accounts for IRAF\l'|5.6i.'\0\06 .br \h'|0.4i'2.3.\h'|0.9i'Tuning Considerations\l'|5.6i.'\0\06 .br \h'|0.9i'2.3.2.\h'|1.5i'Stripping the system to reduce disk usage\l'|5.6i.'\0\06 .sp 3.\h'|0.4i'\fBSoftware Management\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\07 .br \h'|0.4i'3.1.\h'|0.9i'Multiple architecture support\l'|5.6i.'\0\07 .br \h'|0.4i'3.2.\h'|0.9i'Shared libraries\l'|5.6i.'\0\08 .br \h'|0.4i'3.3.\h'|0.9i'Layered software support\l'|5.6i.'\0\09 .br \h'|0.4i'3.4.\h'|0.9i'Software management tools\l'|5.6i.'\0\09 .br \h'|0.4i'3.5.\h'|0.9i'Modifying and updating a package\l'|5.6i.'\0\10 .br \h'|0.4i'3.6.\h'|0.9i'Installing and maintaining layered software\l'|5.6i.'\0\12 .br \h'|0.4i'3.7.\h'|0.9i'Configuring a custom LOCAL package\l'|5.6i.'\0\13 .br \h'|0.4i'3.8.\h'|0.9i'Updating the full IRAF system\l'|5.6i.'\0\13 .br \h'|0.9i'3.8.1.\h'|1.5i'The BOOTSTRAP\l'|5.6i.'\0\13 .br \h'|0.9i'3.8.2.\h'|1.5i'The SYSGEN\l'|5.6i.'\0\14 .br \h'|0.9i'3.8.3.\h'|1.5i'Localized software changes\l'|5.6i.'\0\15 .sp 4.\h'|0.4i'\fBGraphics and Image Display under SunView\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\16 .br \h'|0.4i'4.1.\h'|0.9i'The SunView environment\l'|5.6i.'\0\16 .br \h'|0.4i'4.2.\h'|0.9i'Vector graphics capabilities\l'|5.6i.'\0\17 .br \h'|0.4i'4.3.\h'|0.9i'Image Display capabilities\l'|5.6i.'\0\17 .br \h'|0.4i'4.4.\h'|0.9i'Using the workstation with a remote compute server\l'|5.6i.'\0\18 .sp 5.\h'|0.4i'\fBInterfacing New Graphics Devices\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\19 .br \h'|0.4i'5.1.\h'|0.9i'Graphics terminals\l'|5.6i.'\0\19 .br \h'|0.4i'5.2.\h'|0.9i'Graphics plotters\l'|5.6i.'\0\19 .br \h'|0.4i'5.3.\h'|0.9i'Image display devices\l'|5.6i.'\0\20 .sp 6.\h'|0.4i'\fBHost System Requirements\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\20 .br \h'|0.4i'6.1.\h'|0.9i'Memory requirements\l'|5.6i.'\0\20 .br \h'|0.4i'6.2.\h'|0.9i'Disk requirements\l'|5.6i.'\0\20 .br \h'|0.4i'6.3.\h'|0.9i'Diskless nodes\l'|5.6i.'\0\20 .sp \fBAppendix A.\0The IRAF Directory Structure\fP\l'|5.6i.'\0\21 .nr PN 0 .bp .NH Introduction .PP Once the IRAF system has been installed it will run, but there remain many things one might want to do to tailor the system to the local site. Examples of the kinds of customizations one might want to make are the following. .RS .IP \(bu Edit the default IRAF environment definitions to provide reasonable defaults for your site. .IP \(bu Make entries in the device descriptor tables for the devices in use at your site. .IP \(bu Code and install new device interfaces. .IP \(bu Enable and configure IRAF networking, e.g., to permit remote image display, tape drive, or file access. .IP \(bu Perform various optimizations, e.g., stripping the system to reduce disk usage. .IP \(bu Extend the system by installing layered software products. .IP \(bu Configure a custom LOCAL package so that locally developed software may be installed in the system. .RE .PP This document provides sufficient background information and instructions to guide the IRAF site manager in performing such customizations. Additional help is available via the IRAF HOTLINE (602 323-4160), or by sending mail to \f(CWiraf@noao.edu\fR (internet) or \f(CW5355::iraf\fP (SPAN). Contributions of interfaces developed for new devices, or any other software of general interest, are always welcome. .PP The IRAF software is organized in a way which attempts to isolate, so far as possible, the files or directories which must be modified to tailor the system for the local site. Most or all changes should affect only files in the local, dev, and hlib (unix/hlib) directories. Layered software products, including locally added software, reside outside of the IRAF core system directory tree and are maintained independently of the core system. .PP A summary of all modifications made to the IRAF system for a given IRAF release is given in the \fIRevisions Summary\fR distributed with the system. Additional information will be found in the system notes files (notes.v29, notes.v210, etc.) in the iraf/local and iraf/doc directories. This is the primary source of technical documentation for each release and should be consulted if questions arise regarding any of the system level features added in a new release of the core system. .bp .NH System Setup .NH 2 Installing the System .PP The procedure for installing or updating Sun/IRAF is documented in the \fISun/IRAF Installation Guide\fR. In short, an IRAF tape or network distribution is obtained and installed according to the instructions. The result is a full IRAF system, including both sources and executable binaries for the architectures to be supported. The system will have been modified to reflect the new IRAF root directory and should run, but will otherwise be a generic IRAF distribution. To get the most out of an IRAF installation it will be necessary to perform some of the additional steps outlined in the remainder of this document. .NH 2 Configuring the Device and Environment Tables .PP Teaching IRAF about the devices, network nodes, external programs, and other special resources available at a site is largely a matter of editing a standard set of device descriptor and environment setup files, all of which are simple text files. The versions of these files provided with the distribution are simply those in use on the NOAO system from which the tapes were made, at the time the tapes were generated. Hence while these files may be useful as examples of properly configured descriptor files, the defaults, and many specific device entries, will in many cases be meaningless for a different site. This is harmless but it may be confusing to the user if, for example, the default printer doesn't exist at your site. .PP The device and environment files also contain much material which any site will need, however, so care must be taken when editing the files. Important changes may be made to the global portions of these files as part of any IRAF release. To facilitate future updates, it is wise where possible to isolate any local changes or additions so that they may be copied into the new (distributed) version of the file in a future update. .NH 3 Environment definitions .PP Since IRAF is a machine and operating system independent, distributed system it has its own environment facility apart from that of the host system. Host system environment variables may be accessed as if they are part of the IRAF environment (which is sometimes useful but which can also be dangerous), but if the same variable is defined in the IRAF environment it is the IRAF variable which will be used. The IRAF environment definitions, as defined at CL startup time, are defined in a number of files in the unix/hlib directory. Chief among these is the \fBzzsetenv.def\fR file. Additional user modifiable definitions may be given in the template \fBlogin.cl\fR file (see \(sc2.2.2). .PP The zzsetenv.def file contains a number of environment definitions. Many of these define IRAF logical directories and should be left alone. Only those definitions in the header area of the file should need to be edited to customize the file for a site. It is the default editor, default device, etc. definitions in this file which are most likely to require modification for a site. .PP If the name of a default device is modified, the named device must also have an entry in the \fBtermcap\fR file (terminals and printers) or the \fBgraphcap\fR file (graphics terminals and image displays) in iraf/dev. There must also be an \fIeditor\f(CW.ed\fR file in dev for the default editor; \fIedt\fR, \fIemacs\fR, and \fIvi\fR are examples of currently supported editors. .PP Sample values of those variables most likely to require modification for a site are shown below. .XS set editor = "vi" set printer = "lpr" set stdplot = "lpr" set stdimage = "imt512" .XE .PP For example, you may wish to change the default editor to "emacs", the default printer to "lw5", or the default image display to "imt800". Note that the values of terminal and stdgraph, which also appear in the zzsetenv.def file, have little meaning except for debugging processes run standalone, as the values of the environment variables are reset automatically by \fIstty\fR at login time. The issues of interfacing new graphics and image display devices are discussed further in \(sc5. .NH 3 The template LOGIN.CL .PP The template login.cl file hlib$login.cl, is the file used by \fImkiraf\fR to produce the user login.cl file. The user login.cl file, after having possibly been edited by the user, is read by the CL every time a new CL is started, with the CL processing all environment and task definitions, package loads, etc., in the login file. Hence this file plays an important role in establishing the IRAF environment seen by the user. .PP Examples of things one might want to change in the template login.cl are the commented out environment definitions, the commented out CL parameter assignments, the foreign task definitions making up the default \f(CWuser\fR package, and the list of packages to be loaded at startup time. For example, if there are host tasks or local packages which should be part of the default IRAF operating environment at your site, the template login.cl is the place to make the necessary changes. .NH 3 The TAPECAP file .PP Beginning with V2.10 IRAF magtape devices are described by the tapecap file, dev$tapecap. This replaces the "devices" file used in earlier versions of IRAF. The tapecap file describes each local magtape device and controls all i/o to the device, as well as device allocation. .PP The tapecap file included in the distributed system includes some generic device entries such as "mtxb1" (Exabyte unit 1, Sun ST driver), "mthp2" (HP7880 9 track drive, unit 2), and so on which you may be able to use as-is to access your local magtape devices. Most likely you will want to add some device aliases, and you may need to prepare custom device entries for local devices. There must be an entry in the tapecap file for a magtape device in order to be able to access the device from within IRAF. .PP Instructions for adding devices to the tapecap file are given in the document \fIIRAF Version 2.10 Revisions Summary\fR, in the discussion of the new magtape system. .NH 3 The DEVICES.HLP file .PP All physical devices that the user might need to access by name should be documented in the file dev$devices.hlp. Typing .XS cl> help devices .XE or just .XS cl> devices .XE in the CL will format and output the contents of this file. It is the IRAF name of the device, as given in files such as termcap, graphcap, and tapecap, which should appear in this help file. .NH 3 The TERMCAP file .PP There must be entries in this file for all local terminal and printer devices you wish to access from IRAF (there is currently no "printcap" file in IRAF). The entry for a printer contains one special device-specific entry, called \f(CWDD\fR. This consists of three fields: the device name, e.g. "node!device", the template for the temporary spoolfile, and the UNIX command to be used to dispose of the file to the printer. On most UNIX systems it is not necessary to make use of the node name and IRAF networking to access a remote device since UNIX \fIlpr\fR already provides this capability, however it might still be useful if the desired device does not have a local \fIlpr\fR entry for some reason. .PP If you have a local terminal which has no entry in the IRAF termcap file, you probably already have an entry in the UNIX termcap file. Simply copy it into the IRAF file; both systems use the same termcap database format and terminal device capabilities. However, if the terminal in question is a graphics terminal with a device entry in the graphcap file, you should add a `\f(CW:gd\fR' capability to the termcap entry. If the graphcap entry has a different name from the termcap entry, make it `\f(CW:gd=\fIgname\fR'. .NH 3 The GRAPHCAP file .PP There must be entries in the graphcap file for all graphics terminals, batch plotters, and image displays accessed by IRAF programs. New graphics terminals will need a new entry. The IRAF file gio$doc/gio.hlp contains documentation describing how to prepare graphcap device entries. A printed copy of this document is available from the iraf/docs directory in the IRAF network archive. However, once IRAF is up you may find it easier to generate your own copy using \fIhelp\fR, as follows: .XS cl> help gio$doc/gio.hlp fi+ | lprint .XE which will print the document on the default IRAF printer device (use the "device=" hidden parameter to specify a different device). Alternatively, to view the file on the terminal, .XS cl> phelp gio$doc/gio.hlp fi+ .XE .PP The help pages for the IRAF tasks \fIshowcap\fR and \fIstty\fR should also be reviewed as these utilities are useful for generating new graphcap entries. The i/o logging feature of \fIstty\fR is useful for determining exactly what characters your graphcap device entry is generating. The \fIgdevices\fR task is useful for printing summary information about the available graphics devices. .PP Help preparing new graphcap device entries is available if needed. We ask that new graphcap entries be sent back to us so that we may include them in the master graphcap file for all to benefit. .NH 3 Configuring IRAF networking .PP The dev directory contains several files (\f(CWhosts\fR, \f(CWirafhosts\fR, and \f(CWuhosts\fR) used by the IRAF network interface. IRAF networking is used to access remote image displays, printers, magtape devices, files, images, etc. via the network. Nodes do not necessarily have to have the same architecture, or even run the same operating system, so long as they can run IRAF. .PP To enable IRAF networking for a Sun/IRAF system, all that is necessary is to edit the "hosts" file. Make an entry for each logical node, in the format .XS \fInodename\fR [ \fIaliases\fR ] ":" \fIirafks.e-pathname\fR .XE following the examples given in the hosts file supplied with the distribution (which is the NOAO/Tucson hosts file). Note that there may be multiple logical entries for a single physical node. .PP The "uhosts" file is not used by UNIX/IRAF systems hence does not need to be modified (it used by VMS/IRAF). The "irafhosts" file is the template file used to create user .irafhosts files. It does not have to be modified, although you can do so if you wish to change the default parameter values given in the file. .PP To enable IRAF networking on a particular IRAF host, the SunOS \fBhostname\fR must appear as a primary name or alias somewhere in the IRAF hosts table. During process startup, the IRAF VOS looks for the system name for the current host and automatically disables networking if this name is not found. Hence IRAF networking is automatically disabled when the distributed system is first installed - unless you are unlucky enough to have installed the system on a host with the same name as one of the nodes in the NOAO host table. .PP Once IRAF networking is configured, the following command may be typed in the CL to verify that all is well: .XS cl> netstatus .XE This will print the host table and state the name of the local host. Read the output carefully to see if any problems are reported. .PP For IRAF networking to be of any use, it is necessary that IRAF be installed on at least two systems. In that case either system can serve as the server for an IRAF client (IRAF program) running on the other node. It is not necessary to have a separate copy of IRAF on each node, i.e., a single copy of IRAF may be NFS mounted on all nodes (you will need to run the IRAF \fIinstall\fR script on each client node). If it is not possible to install IRAF on a node for some reason (either directly or using NFS) it is possible to manage by installing only enough of IRAF to run the IRAF kernel server. Contact IRAF site support if you need to configure things in this manner. .PP Sun/IRAF currently supports only TCP/IP based networking. Networking between any heterogeneous collection of systems is possible provided they support TCP/IP based networking (virtually all UNIX-based systems do). The situation with networking between UNIX and VMS systems is more complex. V2.9 and earlier versions of VMS/IRAF support client-side only TCP/IP using the third party Wollongong software. For V2.10 we plan to drop support for the Wollongong software and switch to the more fully-featured Multinet instead (another third party product). We have long had an experimental DECNET networking interface for SunOS which is based on Sun's DECNET implementation, however at this time it does not appear worthwhile to release this as a supported product. Contact the IRAF project for further information on networking between UNIX and VMS systems. .PP Once IRAF networking is enabled, objects resident on the server node may be accessed from within IRAF merely by specifying the node name in the object name, with a "\fInode!\fR" prefix. For example, if \fIfoo\fR is a network node, .XS cl> page foo!hlib$motd cl> allocate foo!mta cl> devstatus foo!mta .XE .PP In a network of "trusted hosts" the network connection will be made automatically, without a password prompt. A password prompt will be generated if the user does not have permission to access the remote node with UNIX commands such as \fIrsh\fR. Each user has a .irafhosts file in their UNIX login directory which can be used to exercise more control over how the system connect to remote hosts. See the discussion of IRAF networking in the \fIIRAF Version 2.10 Revisions Summary\fR, or in the V2.10 system notes file, for a more in-depth discussion of how IRAF networking works. .PP To keep track of where files are in a distributed file system, IRAF uses \fBnetwork pathnames\fR. A network pathname is a name such as "foo!/tmp3/images/m51.pix", i.e., a host or IRAF filename with the node name prepended. The network pathname allows an IRAF process running on any node to access an object regardless of where it is located on the network. .PP Inefficiencies can result when image pixel files are stored on disks which are cross-mounted using NFS. The typical problem arises when imdir (the pixel file storage directory) is set to a path such as "/data/iraf/user/", where /data is a NFS mounted directory. Since NFS is transparent to applications like IRAF, IRAF thinks that /data is a local disk and the network pathame for a pixel file will be something like "foo!/data/iraf" where "foo" is the hostname of the machine on which the file is written. If the image is then accessed from a different network node the image data will be accessed via an IRAF networking connection to node "foo", followed by an NFS connection to the node on which the disk is physically mounted, causing the data to traverse the network twice, slowing access and unnecessarily loading the network. .LP A simple way to avoid this sort of problem is to include the server name in the imdir, e.g., .XS cl> set imdir = "server!/data/iraf/user/" .XE This also has the advantage of avoiding NFS for pixel file access - NFS is fine for small files but can load the server excessively when used to access bulk image data. .PP Alternatively, one can set imdir to a value such as "HDR$pixels/", or disable IRAF networking for disk file access. In both cases NFS will be used for image file access. .NH 3 Configuring the IRAF account .PP The IRAF account, i.e., what one gets when one logs into SunOS as "iraf", is the account used by the IRAF site manager to work on the IRAF system. Anyone who uses this account is in effect a site manager, since they have permission to modify, delete, or rebuild any part of IRAF. For these and other reasons (e.g., concurrency problems) it is recommended that all routine use of IRAF be performed from other accounts (user accounts). .PP If the system has been installed according to the instructions given in the installation guide the login directory for the IRAF account will be iraf/local. This directory contains both a \f(CW.login\fR file defining the environment for the IRAF account, and a number of other "dot" files used to setup a sample SunView screen of the type that an IRAF user will want, i.e., with the IRAF graphics and image display windows. .PP Most site managers will probably want to customize these files according to their personal preferences. In doing this please use caution to avoid losing environment definitions, etc., which are essential to the correct operation of IRAF, including IRAF software development. .PP The default login.cl file supplied in the IRAF login directory uses machine independent pathnames and should work as-is (no need to do a \fImkiraf\fR - in fact \fImkiraf\fR has safeguards against inadvertent use within the IRAF directories and may not work in iraf/local). It may be necessary to edit the .login file to modify the way the environment variable \f(CWIRAFARCH\fR is defined. This variable, required for software development but optional for merely using IRAF, must be set to the name of the desired machine architecture, e.g., sparc, f68881, etc. If it is set to the name of an architecture for which there are no binaries, e.g., generic, the CL may not run, so be careful. The alias \fIsetarch\fR, defined in the iraf account .login, is convenient for setting the desired architecture for IRAF execution and software development. .NH 3 Configuring user accounts for IRAF .PP User accounts should be loosely modeled after the IRAF account. All that is required for a user to run IRAF is that they run \fImkiraf\fR in their desired IRAF login directory before starting up the CL. In many cases it may be desirable for the user, if using SunView, to copy the default SunView startup files from iraf/local as well (see \(sc4.1). Defining \f(CWIRAFARCH\fR in the user environment is not required unless the user will be doing any IRAF based software development (including IMFORT). .NH 2 Tuning Considerations .NH 3 Stripping the system to reduce disk usage .PP If the system is to be installed on multiple CPUs, or if a production version is to be installed on a workstation, it may be necessary or desirable to strip the system of all non-runtime files to save disk space. This equates to deleting all the sources and all the reference manuals and other documentation, excluding the online manual pages. A special utility called \fIrmfiles\fR (in the SOFTOOLS package) is provided for this purpose. It is not necessary to run \fIrmfiles\fR directly to strip the system. The preferred technique is to use "mkpkg strip" as in the following example (this may be executed from either the host system or from within IRAF). .XS % cd $iraf % mkpkg strip .XE .PP This will preserve all runtime files, permitting use of the standard system as well as user software development. Note that only the IRAF core system is stripped, i.e., if you want to strip any external layered software products, such as the NOAO package, a \fImkpkg strip\fR must be executed separately for each - \fIcd\fR to the root directory of the external package first. A tape backup of a system should always be made before the system is stripped; keep the backup indefinitely as it may be necessary to restore the sources in order to, e.g., install a bug fix or add-on software product. .NH Software Management .NH 2 Multiple architecture support .PP Often the computing facilities at a site consist of a heterogeneous network of workstations and servers. These machines will often have quite different architectures. Considering only a single vendor like Sun, as of 1992 one sees the three major architectures SPARC, Motorola 68020, and Intel 80386, and several minor variations on these architectures, i.e., the floating point options for the Sun-3, namely the Motorola 68881 coprocessor, the Sun floating point accelerator (FPA), and software floating point (Sun is trying to phase some of these out but the need for multiple architecture support is not likely to go away). .PP Since IRAF is a large system it is undesirable to have to maintain a separate copy of IRAF for each machine architecture on a network. For this reason IRAF provides support for multiple architectures within a single copy of IRAF. To be accessible by multiple network clients, this central IRAF system will typically be NFS mounted on each client. .PP Multiple architecture support is implemented by separating the IRAF sources and binaries into different directory trees. The sources are architecture independent and hence sharable by machines of any architecture. All of the architecture dependence is concentrated into the binaries, which are collected together into the so-called BIN directories, one for each architecture. The BIN directory contains all the object files, object libraries, executables, and shared library images for an architecture, supporting both IRAF execution and software development for that architecture. A given system can support any number of BIN directories, and therefore any number of architectures. .PP In IRAF terminology, when we refer to an "architecture" what we really mean is a type of BIN. The correspondence between BINs and hardware architectures is not necessarily one-to-one, i.e., multiple BINs can exist for a single compiler architecture by compiling the system with different compilation flags, as different versions of the software, and so on. Examples of some currently supported software architectures are shown below. .DS .TS center; ci ci ci l l l. Architecture System Description .sp f68881 Sun-3 mc68020, 68881 floating point coprocessor ffpa Sun-3 mc68020, Sun floating point accelerator board generic any no binaries i386 386i Intel 80386, 80387 floating point coprocessor pg any compiled with -pg option for profiling sparc Sun-4 Sun SPARC (RISC) architecture, integral fpu .TE .DE .PP Most of these correspond to hardware architectures or floating point hardware options. The exceptions are the generic architecture, which is what the distributed system is configured to by default (to avoid having any architecture dependent binary files mingled with the sources), and the "pg" architecture, which is not normally distributed to user sites, but is a good example of a custom software architecture used for software development. .PP When running IRAF on a system configured for multiple architectures, selection of the BIN (architecture) to be used is controlled by the UNIX environment variable \f(CWIRAFARCH\fR, e.g., .XS % setenv IRAFARCH f68881 .XE would cause IRAF to run using the f68881 architecture, corresponding to the BIN directory bin.f68881. Once inside the CL one can check the current architecture by entering one of the following commands (the output in each case is shown as well). .XS cl> show IRAFARCH f68881 .XE or .XS .cc # cl> show arch .f68881 #cc .XE .LP If IRAFARCH is undefined at CL startup time a default architecture will be selected based on the current machine architecture, the available floating point hardware, and the available BINs. The IRAFARCH variable controls not only the architecture of the executables used to run IRAF, but the libraries used to link IRAF programs, when doing software development from within the IRAF or host environment. .PP Additional information on multiple architecture support is provided in the system notes file for V2.8, file doc$notes.v28. .NH 2 Shared libraries .PP Sun/IRAF provides a shared library facility for SunOS 4.0 and later versions of SunOS (but not for SunOS-3). All architectures are supported. So long as everything is working properly, the existence and use of the shared library should be transparent to the user and to the site manager. This section gives an overview of the shared library facility to point the reader in the right direction in case questions should arise. .PP What the shared library facility does is take most of the IRAF system software (currently the contents of the \f(CWex\fR, \f(CWsys\fR, \f(CWvops\fR, and \f(CWos\fR libraries) and link it together into a special sharable image, the file \f(CWS\fIn\fP.e\fR in each core system BIN directory (\fIn\fR is the shared image version number, e.g. "S6.e"). This file is mapped into the virtual memory of each IRAF process at process startup time. Since the shared image is shared by all IRAF processes, each process uses less physical memory, and the process pagein time is reduced, speeding process execution. Likewise, since the subroutines forming the shared image are no longer linked into each individual process executable, substantial disk space is saved for the BIN directories. Link time is correspondingly reduced, speeding software development. .PP The shared library facility consists of the \fBshared image\fR itself, which is an actual executable image (though not runnable on all systems), and the \fBshared library\fR, contained in the library lib$libshare.a, which defines each VOS symbol (subroutine), and which is what is linked into each IRAF program. The shared library object module does not consume any space in the applications program, rather it consists entirely of symbols pointing to \fBtransfer vector\fR slots in the header area of the shared image. The transfer vector slots point to the actual subroutines. .PP When an IRAF program is linked with \fIxc\fR, one has the option of linking with either the shared library or the individual system libraries. Linking with the shared library is the default; the \f(CW-z\fR flag disables linking with the shared library. In the final stages of linking \fIxc\fR runs the HSI utility \fIedsym\fR to edit the symbol table of the output executable, modifying the shared library (VOS) symbols to point directly into the shared image (to facilitate symbolic debugging), optionally deleting all shared library symbols, or performing some other operation upon the shared library symbols, depending upon the \fIxc\fR link flags given. .PP At process startup time, upon entry to the process main (a C main for Sun/IRAF) the shared image will not yet have been mapped into the address space of the process, hence any attempted references to VOS symbols would result in a segmentation violation. The \fIzzstrt\fR procedure, called by the process main during process startup, opens the shared image file and maps it into the virtual space of the IRAF program. Once the IRAF main prompt appears (when running an IRAF process standalone), all initialization will have completed. .PP Each BIN, if linked with the shared library, will have its own shared image file \f(CWS\fIn\fP.e\fR. If the shared image is relinked this file will be moved to \f(CWS\fIn\fP.e.1\fR and the new shared image will take its place; any old shared image files should eventually be deleted to save disk space, once any IRAF processes using them have terminated. Normally when the shared image is rebuilt it is not necessary to relink applications programs, since the transfer vector causes the linked application to be unaffected by relocation of the shared image functions. .PP If the shared image is rebuilt and its version number (the \fIn\fR in \f(CWS\fIn\fP.e\fR) is incremented, the transfer vector is rebuilt the new shared image cannot be used with previously linked applications. These old applications will still continue to run, however, so long as the older shared image is still available. It is common practice to have at least two shared image versions installed in a BIN directory. .PP Further information on the Sun/IRAF shared library facility in given in the IRAF V2.8 system notes file. In particular, anyone doing extensive IRAF based software development should review this material, e.g., to learn how to debug processes that are linked with the shared image. .NH 2 Layered software support .PP An IRAF installation consists of the core IRAF system and any number of external packages, or "layered software products". As the name suggests, layered software products are layered upon the core IRAF system. Layered software requires the facilities of the core system to run, and is portable to any computer which already runs IRAF. Any number of layered products can be installed in IRAF to produce the IRAF system seen by the user at a given site. .PP The support provided by IRAF for layered software is essentially the same as that provided for maintaining the core IRAF system itself (the core system is a special case of a layered package). Each layered package (usually this refers to a suite of subpackages) is a system in itself, similar in structure to the core IRAF system. Hence, there is a LIB, one or more BINs, a help database, and all the sources and runtime files. A good example of an external package is the NOAO package. Except for the fact that NOAO is rooted in the IRAF directories, NOAO is equivalent to any other layered product, e.g., STSDAS, TABLES, XRAY, CTIO, NLOCAL, ICE, and so on. In general, layered products should be rooted somewhere outside the IRAF directory tree to simplify updates. .NH 2 Software management tools .PP IRAF software management is performed with a standard set of tools, consisting of the tasks in the SOFTOOLS package, plus the host system editors and debuggers. Some of the most important and often used tools for IRAF software development and software maintenance are the following. .sp .RS .IP \f(CWmkhelpdb\fP 20 Updates the HELP database of the core IRAF system or an external package. The core system, and each external package, has its own help database. The help database is the machine independent file \f(CWhelpdb.mip\fR in the package library (LIB directory). The help database file is generated with \fImkhelpdb\fR by compiling the \f(CWroot.hd\fR file in the same directory. .IP \f(CWmkpkg\fP 20 The "make-package" utility. Used to make or update package trees. Will update the contents of the current directory tree. When run at the root iraf directory, updates the full IRAF system; when run at the root directory of an external package, updates the external package. Note that updating the core IRAF system does not update any external packages (including NOAO). When updating an external package, the package name must be specified, e.g., "\fImkpkg -p noao\fR". .IP \f(CWrmbin\fP 20 Descends a directory tree or trees, finding and optionally listing or deleting all binary files therein. This is used, for example, to strip the binaries from a directory tree to leave only sources, to force \fImkpkg\fR to do a full recompile of a package, or to locate all the binaries files for some reason. IRAF has its own notion of what a binary file is. By default, files with the "known" file extensions (.[aoe], .[xfh] etc.) are classified as binary or text (machine independent) files immediately, while a heuristic involving examination of the file data is used to classify other files. Alternatively, a list of file extensions to be searched for may optionally be given. .IP \f(CWrtar,wtar\fP 20 These are the portable IRAF tarfile writer (\fIwtar\fR) and reader (\fIrtar\fR). About the only reasons to use these with Sun/IRAF are if one wants to move only the machine independent or source files (\fIwtar\fR, like \fIrmbin\fR, can discriminate between machine generated and machine independent files), or if one is importing files written to a tarfile on a VMS/IRAF system, where the files are blank padded and the trailing blanks need to be stripped with \fIrtar\fR. .IP \f(CWxc\fP 20 The X (SPP) compiler. This is analogous to the UNIX \fIcc\fR except that it can compile ".x" or SPP source files, knows how to link with the IRAF system libraries and the shared library, knows how to read the environment of external packages, and so on. .RE .sp .PP The SOFTOOLS package contains other tasks of interest, e.g., a program \fImktags\fR for making a tags file for the \fIvi\fR editor, a help database examine tool, and other tasks. Further information on these tasks is available in the online help pages. .NH 2 Modifying and updating a package .PP IRAF applications development is most conveniently performed from within the IRAF environment, since testing must be done from within the environment. The usual edit-compile-test development cycle is illustrated below. This takes place within the \fIpackage directory\fR containing all the files specific to a given package. .RS .IP \(bu Edit one or more source files. .IP \(bu Use \fImkpkg\fR to compile any modified files, or files which include a modified file, and relink the package executable. .IP \(bu Test the new executable. .RE .PP The mkpkg file for a package can be written to do anything, but by convention the following commands are usually provided. .sp .RS .IP "\f(CWmkpkg\fP" 20 The \fImkpkg\fR command with no arguments does the default mkpkg operation; for a subpackage this is usually the same as \fImkpkg relink\fR below. For the root mkpkg in a layered package it udpates the entire layered package. .IP "\f(CWmkpkg libpkg.a\fP" 20 Updates the package library, compiling any files which have been modified or which reference include files which have been modified. Private package libraries are intentionally given the generic name libpkg.a to symbolize that they are private to the package. .IP "\f(CWmkpkg relink\fP" 20 Rebuilds the package executable, i.e., updates the package library and relinks the package executable. By convention, this is the file xx_\fIpkgname\fR.e\fR in the package directory, where \fIpkgname\fR is the package name. .IP "\f(CWmkpkg install\fP" 20 Installs the package executable, i.e., renames the xx_foo.e file to x_foo.e in the global BIN directory for the layered package to which the subpackage \fIfoo\fR belongs. .IP "\f(CWmkpkg update\fP" 20 Does everything, i.e., a \fIrelink\fR followed by an \fIinstall\fR. .RE .sp .PP If one wishes to test the new program before installing it one should do a \fIrelink\fR (i.e., merely type "mkpkg" since that defaults to relink), then run the host system debugger on the resultant executable. The process is debugged standalone, running the task by giving its name to the standalone process interpreter. The CL task \fIdparam\fR is useful for dumping a task's parameters to a text file to avoid having to answer parameter queries during process execution. The LOGIPC debugging facility introduced in V2.10 is also useful for debugging subprocesses. If the new program is to be tested under the CL before installation, a \fItask\fR statement can be interactively typed into the CL to cause the CL to run the "xx_" version of the package executable, rather than old installed version. .PP When updating a package other than in the core IRAF system, the \f(CW-p\fR flag, or the equivalent \f(CWPKGENV\fR environment variable, must be used to indicate the system or layered product being updated. For example, "mkpkg -p noao update" would be used to update one of the subpackages of the NOAO layered package. If the package being updated references any libraries or include files in \fIother\fR layered packages, those packages must be indicated with a "-p pkgname" flag as well, to cause the external package to be searched. .PP The CL process cache can complicate debugging and testing if one forgets that it is there. When a task is run under the CL, the executing process remains idle in the CL process cache following task termination. If a new executable is installed while the old one is still in the process cache, the CL will automatically run the new executable (the CL checks the modify date on the executable file every time a task is run). If however an executable is currently running, either in the process cache or because some other user is using the program, it may not be possible to set debugger breakpoints. .PP The IRAF shared image can also complicate debugging, although for most applications-level debugging the shared library is transparent. By default the shared image symbols are included in the symbol table of an output executable following a link, so in a debug session the shared image will appear to be part of the applications program. When debugging a program linked with the shared library, the process must be run with the \f(CW-w\fR flag to cause the shared image to be mapped with write permission, allowing breakpoints to be set in the shared image (that is, you type something like ":r -w" when running the process under the debugger). Linking with the \f(CW-z\fR flag will prevent use of the shared image entirely. .PP A full description of these techniques is beyond the scope of this manual, but one need not be an expert at IRAF software development techniques to perform simple updates. Most simple revisions, e.g., bug fixes or updates, can be made by merely editing or replacing the affected files and typing .XS cl> mkpkg .XE or .XS cl> mkpkg update .XE to update the package. .NH 2 Installing and maintaining layered software .PP The procedures for installing layered software products are similar to those used to install the core IRAF system, or update a package. Layered software may be distributed in source only form, or with binaries; it may be configured for a single architecture, or may be preconfigured to support multiple architectures. The exact procedures to be followed to install a layered product will in general be product dependent, and should be documented in the installation guide for the product. .LP In brief, the procedure to be followed should resemble the following: .RS .IP \(bu Create the root directory for the new software, somewhere outside the IRAF directories. .IP \(bu Restore the files to disk from a tape or network archive distribution file. .IP \(bu Edit the core system file hlib$extern.pkg to "install" the new package in IRAF. This file is the sole link between the IRAF core system and the external package. .IP \(bu Configure the package BIN directory or directories, either by restoring the BIN to disk from an archive file, or by recompiling and relinking the package with \fImkpkg\fR. .RE .LP As always, there are some little things to watch out for. When using \fImkpkg\fR on a layered product, you must give the name of the system being operated upon, e.g., .XS cl> mkpkg -p foo update .XE where \fIfoo\fR is the system or package name, e.g., "noao", "local", etc. The \f(CW-p\fR flag can be omitted by defining \f(CWPKGENV\fR in your UNIX environment, but this only works for updates to a single package. .PP An external system of packages may be configured for multiple architecture support by repeating what was done for the core system. One sets up several BIN directories, one for each architecture, named \f(CWbin.\fIarch\fR, where \fIarch\fR is "f68881", "ffpa", "sparc", etc. These directories, or symbolic links to the actual directories, go into the root directory of the external system. A symbolic link \f(CWbin\fR pointing to an empty directory bin.generic, and the directory itself, are added to the system's root directory. The system is then stripped of its binaries with \fIrmbin\fR, if it is not already a source only system. Examine the file zzsetenv.def in the layered package LIB directory to verify that the definition for the system BIN (which may be called anything) includes the string "(arch)", e.g., .XS set noaobin = "noao$bin(arch)/" .XE .LP The binaries for each architecture may then be generated by configuring the system for the desired architecture and running \fImkpkg\fR to update the binaries, for example, .XS cl> cd foo cl> mkpkg sparc cl> mkpkg -p foo update >& spool & .XE where \fIfoo\fR is the name of the system being updated. If any questions arise, examination of a working example of a system configured for multiple architecture support (e.g., the NOAO packages) may reveal the answers. .PP Once installed and configured, a layered product may be deinstalled merely by archiving the package directory tree, deleting the files, and commenting out the affected lines of hlib$extern.pkg. With the BINs already configured reinstallation is a simple matter of restoring the files to disk and editing the extern.pkg file. .NH 2 Configuring a custom LOCAL package .PP Anyone who uses IRAF enough will eventually want to add their own software to the system, by copying and modifying the distributed versions of programs, by obtaining and installing isolated programs written elsewhere, or by writing new programs of their own. A single user can do this by developing software for their own personal use, defining the necessary \fItask\fR statements etc. to run the software in their personal login.cl or loginuser.cl file. To go one step further and install the new software in IRAF so that it can be used by everyone at a site, one must configure a custom local package. .PP The procedures for configuring and maintaining a custom LOCAL package are similar to those outlined in \(sc3.5 for installing and maintaining layered software, since a custom LOCAL will in fact be a layered software product, possibly even something one might want to export to another site (although custom LOCALs may contain non-portable or site specific software). .PP To make a custom local you make a copy of the "template local" package (iraf$local) somewhere outside the IRAF directory tree, change the name to whatever you wish to call the new layered package, and install it as outlined in \(sc3.5. The purpose of the template local is to provide the framework necessary for a external package; a couple of simple tasks are provided in the template local to serve as examples. Once you have configured a local copy of the template local and gotten it to compile and link, it should be a simple matter to add new tasks to the existing framework. .NH 2 Updating the full IRAF system .PP This section will describe how to recompile or relink IRAF. Before we get into this however, it should be emphasized that \fImost users will never need to recompile or relink IRAF\fR. In fact, this is not something that one should attempt lightly - don't do it unless you have some special circumstance which requires a custom build of the system (such as a port). Even then you might want to set up a second copy of IRAF to be used for the experiment, keeping the production system around as the standard system. If you change the system it is a good idea to make sure that you can undo the change. .PP While the procedure for building IRAF is straightforward, it is easy to make a mistake and without considerable knowledge of IRAF it may be difficult to recover from such a a mistake (for example, running out of disk space during a build, or an architecture mismatch resulting in a corrupted library or shared image build failure). More seriously, the software - SunOS, the Sun Fortran compiler, the local system configuration, and IRAF - is changing constantly. A build of IRAF brings all these things together at one time, and every build needs to be independently and carefully tested. An OS upgrade or a new version of the Fortran compiler may not yet be supported by the version of IRAF you have locally. Any problems with the SunOS configuration can cause a build to fail, or introduce bugs (for example, Sun Fortran problems have been common since the compiler was unbundled). .PP The precompiled binaries we ship with IRAF have been carefully prepared and tested, usually over a period of months. They are the same as are used at NOAO and at most IRAF sites, so even if there are bugs they will likely have already been seen elsewhere and a workaround determined. If the bugs are new then since we have the exact same IRAF system we are more likely to be able to reproduce and fix the bug. Often the bug is not in the IRAF software at all but in the host system or IRAF configuration. As soon as an executable is rebuilt (even something as simple as a relink) you have new, untested, software. .NH 3 The BOOTSTRAP .PP To fully build IRAF from the sources is a three step process. First the system is "bootstrapped", which builds the host system interface (HSI) executables. A "sysgen" of the core system is then performed; this compiles all the system libraries and builds the core system applications. Finally, the bootstrap is then repeated, to make use of some of the functions from the IRAF libraries compiled in step two. .PP To bootstrap Sun/IRAF, login as IRAF and enter the commands shown below. This takes a while and generates a lot of output, so the output should be spooled in a file. .LP For a Sun-4 (sparc) system: .XS % cd $iraf % mkpkg sparc % cd $iraf/unix % reboot >& spool & .XE For a Sun-3 system: .XS % cd $iraf % mkpkg f68881 % cd $iraf/unix % reboot >& spool & .XE .PP There are two types of bootstrap, the initial bootstrap starting from a source only system, called the NOVOS bootstrap, and the final or VOS bootstrap, performed once the IRAF system libraries \f(CWlibsys.a\fR and \f(CWlibvops.a\fR exist. The bootstrap script \fIreboot\fR will automatically determine whether or not the VOS libraries are available and will perform a NOVOS bootstrap if the libraries cannot be found. It is important to restore the sparc or f68881 architecture before attempting a bootstrap, as otherwise a NOVOS bootstrap will be performed. .NH 3 The SYSGEN .PP By sysgen we refer to an update of the core IRAF system - all of the files comprising the runtime system, excluding the HSI which is generated by the bootstrap. On a source only system, the sysgen will fully recompile the core system, build all libraries and applications, and link and install the shared image and executables. On an already built system, the sysgen scans the full IRAF directory tree to see if anything is out of date, recompiles any files that need it, then relinks and installs new executables. .PP To do a full sysgen of IRAF one merely runs \fImkpkg\fR at the IRAF root. If the system is configured for multiple architecture support one must repeat the sysgen for each architecture. Each sysgen builds or updates a single BIN directory. Since a full sysgen takes a long time and generates a lot of output which later has to be reviewed, it is best to run the job in batch mode with the output redirected. For example to update the sparc binaries: .XS % cd $iraf % mkpkg sparc % mkpkg >& spool & .XE To watch what is going on after this command has been submitted and while it is running, try .XS % tail -f spool .XE Sysgens are restartable, so if the sysgen aborts for any reason, simply fix the problem and start it up again. Modules that have already been compiled should not need to be recompiled. How long the sysgen takes depends upon how much work it has to do. The worst case is if the system and applications libraries have to be fully recompiled. If the system libraries already exist they will merely be updated. Once the system libraries are up to date the sysgen will rebuild the shared library if any of the system libraries involved were modified, then the core system executables will be relinked. .PP A full sysgen generates a lot of output, too much to be safely reviewed for errors by simply paging the spool file. Enter the following command to review the output (this assumes that the output has been saved in a file named "spool"). .XS % mkpkg summary .XE It is normal for a number of compiler messages warning about assigning character data to an integer variable to appear in the spooled output if the full system has been compiled. There should be no serious error messages if a supported and tested system is being recompiled. .PP The above procedure only updates the core IRAF system. To update a layered product one must repeat the sysgen process for the layered system. For example, to update the sparc binaries for the NOAO package: .XS % cd $iraf/noao % mkpkg sparc % mkpkg -p noao >& spool & .XE This must be repeated for each supported architecture. Layered systems are independent of one another and hence must be updated separately. .PP To force a full recompile of the core system or a layered package, one can use \fIrmbin\fR to delete the objects, libraries, etc. scattered throughout the system, or do a "mkpkg generic" and then delete the \f(CWOBJS.arc.Z\fR file in the BIN one wishes to regenerate (the latter approach is probably safest). .PP A full IRAF core system sysgen currently takes anywhere from 3 to 30 hours, depending upon the system (e.g. from 30 hours on a VAX 11/750, to 3 hours on a big modern server). On most systems a full sysgen is a good job to run overnight. .PP .NH 3 Localized software changes .PP The bootstrap and the sysgen are unusual in that they update the entire HSI, core IRAF system, or layered package. Many software changes are more localized. If only a few files are changed a sysgen will pick up the changes and update whatever needs to be updated, but for localized changes a sysgen really does more than it needs to (if the changes are scattered all over the system an incremental sysgen-relink will still be best). .PP To make a localized change to a core system VOS library and update the linked applications to reflect the change all one really needs to do is change the desired source files, run \fImkpkg\fR in the library source directory to compile the modules and update the affected libraries, and then build a new IRAF shared image (this assumes that the changes affect only the libraries used to make the shared image, i.e., libsys, libex, libvops, and libos). Updating only the shared image, without relinking all the applications, has the advantage that you can put the runtime system back the way it was by just swapping the old shared image back in - a single file. .PP For example, assume we want to make a minor change to some files in the VOS interface IMIO, compiling for the sparc architecture. We could do this as follows (this assumes that one is logged in as IRAF and that the usual IRAF environment is defined). .XS % whoami iraf % cd $iraf % mkpkg sparc % cd imio \fR(edit the files)\fP % mkpkg \fR# update IMIO libraries (libex)\fP % % cd $iraf/bin.sparc \fR# save copy of old shared image\fP % cp S6.e S6.e.V210 % % cd shlib % tar -cf ~/shlib.tar . \fR# backup shlib just in case\fP % mkpkg update \fR# make and install new shared image\fP .XE .PP Changing applications is even easier. Ensure that the system architecture is set correctly (i.e. "mkpkg sparc" at the iraf or layered package root), edit the affected files in the package source directory, and type "mkpkg -p <pkgname> update" in the root directory of the package being edited. This will compile any modified files, and link and install a new executable. You can do this from within the CL and immediately run the revised program. .PP We should emphasize again that, although we document the procedures for making changes to the software here, to avoid introducing bugs we do not recommend changing any of the IRAF software except in unusual (or at least carefully controlled) circumstances. To make custom changes to an application, it is best to make a local copy of the full package somewhere outside the standard IRAF system. If changes are made to the IRAF system software it is best to set up an entire new copy of IRAF on a machine separate from the normal production installation, so that one can experiment at will without affecting the standard system. An alternative which does not require duplicating the full system is to use the \f(CWIRAFULIB\fR environment variable. This can be used to safely experiment with custom changes to the IRAF system software outside the main system; IRAFULIB lets you define a private directory to be searched for IRAF global include files, libraries, executables, etc., allowing you to have your own private versions of any of these. See the system notes files for further information on how to use IRAFULIB. .NH Graphics and Image Display under SunView .PP Sun/IRAF may be used from any ordinary video or graphics terminal, or from a Sun workstation run either as a terminal or under the SunView windowing system (IRAF can also be run from X, but full support for X on Suns is not yet available at the time this is being written). Our concern here is with the use of IRAF on a Sun workstation running SunView. [Jul92 note - this section, discussing SunView support dates from the original Jun89 document and is being left as is. The X11 support package will be system independent and is being distributed separately from Sun/IRAF. If you wish, you can already run Sun/IRAF under X11, using \fIxterm\fR and \fIsaoimage\fR for graphics and image display]. .PP The standard SunView system provides standard window tools which can be used to run IRAF, e.g., \fIshelltool\fR and \fItektool\fR. \fIshelltool\fR is ok as a terminal but cannot do graphics. \fItektool\fR can do graphics but is much too inflexible, and is not much good as a terminal since it cannot scroll or erase text. To provide a reasonable combination of video terminal and vector graphics capabilities, we have extended SunView by adding a general purpose virtual graphics terminal window tool called \fIgterm\fR, and an image display server window tool called \fIimtool\fR. Both programs are implemented at the SunView level as general purpose window tools, and are useful independently of IRAF. Detailed documentation on the basic operation and use of these programs is given in the \fIgterm\fR(l) and \fIimtool\fR(1) manual pages. Our concern in this document is with the use of these programs with IRAF. .NH 2 The SunView environment .PP The graphics and image display tools provided with IRAF operate within the SunView windowing environment much like the standard tools provided with SunView. To help illustrate the use of these tools, Sun/IRAF is distributed with a sample SunView environment already configured for the IRAF account. This consists of the following files in the IRAF account login directory, iraf$local. .RS .IP \f(CW.defaults\fP 20 Sets up the defaults for how the window system looks, e.g., enables the custom rootmenu file. .IP \f(CW.rootmenu\fP 20 An example of a sophisticated, multilevel custom rootmenu, including entries for gterm and imtool. .IP \f(CW.suntools\fP 20 Defines a screen layout that includes gterm and imtool windows, including sizing and positioning the graphics window. .IP \f(CW.sunview\fP 20 Same as the \f(CW.suntools\fP file, which Sun plans to rename to \f(CW.sunview\fP in a future version of SunOS. .IP \f(CW.ttyswrc\fP 20 Defines some function keys for \fItty\fP subwindows (gterm). .RE .PP No one screen layout will suit all users or all applications. Everyone will wish to customize the workstation screen to suit their preferences and the type of work they are doing, but it is recommended that users copy these files to serve as a starting point. .NH 2 Vector graphics capabilities .PP The standard graphics terminal emulator for Sun/IRAF under SunView is \fIgterm\fR, which emulates a conventional dual plane text/graphics terminal. This software terminal is driven via an ASCII datastream like a conventional hard terminal (except that the effective baud rate is much higher). The text window behaves like the Sun console and the graphics window behaves like a Tektronix 4012, plus some IRAF oriented extensions. Since gterm emulates standard text and graphics devices non-IRAF programs can easily be run as well as IRAF programs. .PP Configuring IRAF to use gterm is very simple. The following command does the job. This is normally executed by the login.cl or loginuser.cl file at login time. .XS cl> stty gterm .XE .PP A number of function keys are recognized by gterm which one should be aware of. Some of these are built into gterm itself, others are defined in the default \f(CW.ttyswrc\fR file. .RS .IP F7 Toggle between fullscreen graphics window and normal graphics window. .IP F8 Clear (if in graphics mode) or enable (if in text mode) output to the graphics plane. Used to manually put the terminal into 4012 emulation mode. .IP F9 Clear (if in text mode) or enable (if in graphics mode) the text plane. Closing the graphics plane will also enable the text plane. .IP R1 Set text window size to 24 lines by 80 columns. .IP R2 Set text window size to 34 lines by 80 columns. .IP R3 Set text window size to 40 lines by 80 columns. .IP R5 Set text window size to 54 lines by 80 columns. Tallest possible text window using standard font. .RE .PP The text window may also be manually resized using the mouse but the function keys are most convenient for rapid changes to the window height. The IRAF software will automatically sense that the window size has changed whenever a screen oriented program is run. The current window size can be printed with \f(CWstty show\fR, or updated with \f(CWstty resize\fR. .PP There is a \fBframe menu\fR which may be used to access a number of useful functions, e.g., logging of all output to the terminal, or bitmap hardcopies of the text or graphics windows or the full screen. Control over the terminal setup is provided by a \fBsetup panel\fR. .PP Note that the \fIgraphics\fR window may also be resized and moved about on the screen. A number of predefined standard window sizes are provided via the gterm setup panel, ranging from pretty small to the full screen. The graphics window may also be interactively adjusted with the mouse to some arbitrary size, but the advantage of the predefined window sizes is that they all have the same standard aspect ratio and size in characters (35x80). Multiple IRAF sessions running in multiple gterm windows are possible; using different colors makes it easier to remember which window is which. .PP Aside from the dynamic nature of windows in the SunView environment, operation of IRAF from a gterm window is straightforward and should present no problems for someone already familiar with the use of IRAF on a conventional graphics terminal. Further information is given in the gterm manual page, \fIgterm\fR(l) (a UNIX level manpage). .NH 2 Image Display capabilities .PP Image display for IRAF running in the SunView environment is provided by the \fIimtool\fR display server prototype. The current \fIimtool\fR program provides a basic display capability, including programmed access from the IRAF environment to load images, interactive windowing of the display, pseudocolor, dithered (Postscript) or Sun rasterfile image hardcopy, an interactive image cursor readback capability, zoom and pan, a variety of frame buffer sizes, independent frame buffer and display window sizing, up to four frames, each with its own state, and programmable frame blink. \fIimtool\fR runs as a display server, meaning that it sits idle most of the time, waiting for some client, e.g., IRAF, to send it an image to be displayed via some form of interprocess communication. .PP To use imtool from within IRAF one must define the logical device and enable image cursor input. For example, .XS cl> reset stdimage = imt512 .XE would configure IRAF and imtool for use with a 512 pixel square frame buffer (image display image memory). A variety of frame buffer sizes are predefined; see the \f(CWimtoolrc\fR file (normally in /usr/local/lib) for a complete list of possible configurations. .LP The image cursor is enabled by .XS cl> reset stdimcur = stdimage .XE .LP This is the default for Sun/IRAF. Setting \f(CWstdimcur\fR to "text" disables the image cursor, allowing cursor values to be typed in interactively in the terminal window. This is useful, for example, when running image oriented programs from a simple terminal. .PP The standard IRAF interface to the display server is the \fIdisplay\fR program in the TV package. Automatic determination of the optimum intensity mapping to the 200 imtool greylevels is provided. Entire frames can be displayed, or one can write to subregions of the display. Other programs useful with the image display include \fIimexamine\fR, used to interactively examine images under image cursor control, \fIimedit\fR, used to edit images using the display, and \fItvmark\fR, used to write color graphics into a display frame. .PP The display server has the capability of displaying the cursor (mouse) position and pixel value in image pixel units as the mouse is moved about in the window. In addition, text file cursor lists can be generated and displayed, or the image cursor can be read interactively from within IRAF. The image cursor may be called up at any time by typing .XS cl> =imcur .XE into the CL. Applications programs which read the interactive image cursor will do this automatically during program execution. .PP Imtool supports a number of special function keys and other keyboard accelerators, a \fBframe menu\fR, a \fBsetup panel\fR and so on. Further information on the operation of imtool is given in the online manual page, \fIimtool\fR(l) (a UNIX level manpage). Further information on the use of the image cursor is given in the online help page \f(CWcursors\fR. .NH 2 Using the workstation with a remote compute server .PP A common mode of operation with a workstation is to run Sun/IRAF under SunView directly on the workstation which runs IRAF, accessing files either on a local disk, or on a remote disk via a network interface (NFS, IRAFKS, etc.). It is also possible, however, to run SunView with gterm and imtool on the workstation, but run IRAF on a remote node, e.g., some powerful compute server such as a large Sun server, a large VAX, or a vector minisupercomputer or supercomputer, possibly quite some distance away. This is done by logging onto the workstation, starting up SunView and a \fIgterm\fR window, logging onto the remote machine with \fIrlogin\fR, \fItelnet\fR, or whatever, and starting up IRAF on the remote node. .LP After IRAF comes up one need only type .XS cl> stty gterm cl> reset node = \fIhostname\fP .XE to tell the remote IRAF that it is talking to a gterm window and that the image display is on the network node \fIhostname\fR. .PP In this mode one is effectively using the workstation as a sort of super terminal with powerful graphics and image display capabilities. One gets the best of both worlds, i.e., a state of the art user interface, and the compute power of a large machine. It matters little what operating system is used on the remote machine, so long as it also runs IRAF. Except for the details of the login sequence, operation is completely transparent; gterm does not care whether the process it is talking to is on a local or remote node. Performance, e.g,. for image loads, is often \fIbetter\fR than when everything is run directly on the local node, due to the more powerful server. .NH Interfacing New Graphics Devices .PP There are three types of graphics devices that concern us here. These are the graphics terminals, graphics plotters, and image displays. .NH 2 Graphics terminals .PP The IRAF system as distributed is capable of talking to just about any conventional graphics terminal or terminal emulator, using the \fIstdgraph\fR graphics kernel supplied with the system. All one need do to interface to a new graphics terminal is add new graphcap and termcap entries for the device. This can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on one's level of expertise, and the characteristics of the device. Be sure to check the contents of the dev$graphcap file to see if the terminal is already supported, before trying to write a new entry. Useful documentation for writing graphcap entries is the GIO reference manual and the HELP pages for the \fIshowcap\fR and \fIstty\fR tasks (see \(sc2.2.6). Assistance with interfacing new graphics terminals is available via the IRAF Hotline. .NH 2 Graphics plotters .PP The current IRAF system comes with several graphics kernels used to drive graphics plotters. The standard plotter interface the SGI graphics kernel, which is interfaced as the tasks \fIsgikern\fR and \fIstdplot\fR in the PLOT package. Further information on the SGI plotter interface is given in the paper \fIThe IRAF Simple Graphics Interface\fR, a copy of which is included with the IRAF installation kit. .PP SGI device interfaces for most plotter devices already exist, and adding support for new devices is straightforward. Sources for the SGI device translators supplied with the distributed system are maintained in the directory iraf/unix/gdev/sgidev. NOAO serves as a clearinghouse for new SGI plotter device interfaces; contact us if you do not find support for a local plotter device in the distributed system, and if you plan to implement a new device interface let us know so that we may help other sites with the same device. .PP The older NCAR kernel is used to generate NCAR metacode and can be interfaced to an NCAR metacode translator at the host system level to get plots on devices supported by host-level NCAR metacode translators. The host level NCAR metacode translators are not included in the standard IRAF distribution, but public domain versions of the NCAR implementation for UNIX systems are widely available. A site which already has the NCAR software may wish to go this route, but the SGI interface will provide a more efficient and simpler solution in most cases. .PP The remaining possibility with the current system is the \fIcalcomp\fR kernel. Many sites will have a Calcomp or Versaplot library (or Calcomp compatible library) already available locally. To make use of such a library to get plotter output on any devices supported by the interface, one may copy the library to the hlib directory and relink the Calcomp graphics kernel. .PP A graphcap entry for each new device will also be required. Information on preparing graphcap entries for graphics devices is given in the GIO design document, and many actual working examples will be found in the graphcap file. The best approach is usually to copy one of these and modify it. .NH 2 Image display devices .PP The standard image display facility for a Sun workstation running the SunView window system is \fIimtool\fR (\(sc4.3). Image display under the MIT X window system is also available using the \fIsaoimage\fR display server. This was developed for IRAF by SAO; distribution kits are available from the IRAF network archive. .PP Some interfaces for hardware image display devices are also available, although a general display interface is not yet included in the system. Only the IIS model 70 and 75 are current supported by NOAO. Interfaces for other devices are possible using the current datastream interface, which is based on the IIS model 70 datastream protocol with extensions for passing the WCS, image cursor readback, etc. (see the ZFIOGD driver in unix/gdev). This is how all the current displays, e.g., imtool and ximage, and the IIS devices, are interfaced, and there is no reason why other devices could not be interfaced to IRAF via the same interface. Eventually this prototype interface will be obsoleted and replaced by a more general interface. .NH Host System Requirements .PP IRAF is currently supported on all Sun models, i.e., the Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i, and SPARCstation (as well as many systems other than Sun of course). Any of these system will make excellent IRAF hosts. Be aware that the 386i is architecturally incompatible with the other Suns, which will cause problems in client/server configurations. .PP In a typical installation there will be a large central compute server, usually a fast Sun-4 with several Gb of fast SMD or IPI disk and 32-64 Mb of memory, serving a number of SPARCstation or Sun-3 or 4 nodes. For scientific use, a color screen (16 inch is fine) and several hundred Mb of local disk is desirable. The local SCSI disk is comparatively slow and is no substitute for the large, fast disks on the server, but is cheap and is worthwhile for server independence alone. The GX graphics accelerator option available on the newer systems is attractive and is recommended, finances permitting. .NH 2 Memory requirements .PP The windowing systems used in these workstations tend to be very memory intensive; the typical screen with ten or so windows uses a lot of memory. With the introduction of the virtual files system in SunOS 4.0, the memory requirements of SunOS have increased ever further. Interactive performance will suffer greatly if the system pages a lot. Fortunately, memory is becoming relatively cheap. No Sun system, including personal diskless nodes, should be configured with less than 8 Mb of main memory; 20 Mb or more is recommended if you plan to do a lot of image processing. On servers, 32, 64, or even 128 Mb is not an unreasonable amount of memory to try to configure the system with. .NH 2 Disk requirements .PP The amount of disk required by a user depends greatly on the application, so it is hard to recommend a minimum disk size. For a system with access to a central server, no disk or 200-300 Mb of local SCSI disk is fine. For a standalone system with no access to large server, 500-600 Mb is about the minimum. A server should have several Gb of fast disk. .NH 2 Diskless nodes .PP For an application such as programming or word processing, a diskless node connected to a large file server is a cost effective approach delivering good performance. Some local disk for boot, swap, and local file storage is desirable but not essential. For most IRAF applications however, where serious image processing is planned, one is inevitably going to want to run large batch image processing jobs directly on the server, implying that a \fIcompute\fR rather than \fIfile\fR server is what is needed (i.e., one will want to avoid heavy NFS loading on the server). A diskless node is still viable, but one will want to run jobs which involve heavy disk i/o directly on the server, reserving the workstation for the interactive things, e.g., graphics and image display, and compute bound image analysis tasks. Small SCSI disks are getting cheap enough that almost any color workstation equipped with say, 12-16 Mb of memory, probably warrants several Mb of local disk for server independence, swap, and local file storage. .SH Appendix A. The IRAF Directory Structure .PP A graph of the current full Sun/IRAF directory structure is given at the end of this document. The main branches of the tree are summarized below. Beneath the directories shown are some 300 subdirectories, the largest directory trees being \f(CWsys\fR, \f(CWpkg\fR, and \f(CWnoao\fR. The entire contents of all directories other than \f(CWunix\fR, \f(CWlocal\fR, and \f(CWdev\fR are fully portable, and are identical in all installations of IRAF sharing the same version number. .XS bin \fR- the IRAF BIN directories\fP dev \fR- device tables (termcap, graphcap, etc.)\fP doc \fR- assorted IRAF manuals\fP lib \fR- the system library; global files\fP local \fR- iraf login directory; locally added software\fP math \fR- sources for the mathematical libraries\fP noao \fR- packages for NOAO data reduction\fP pkg \fR- the IRAF applications packages\fP sys \fR- the virtual operating system (VOS)\fP unix \fR- the UNIX host system interface (HSI = kernel + bootstrap utilities)\fP .XE .LP The contents of the \f(CWunix\fR directory (host system interface) are as follows: .XS as \fR- assembler sources\fP bin \fR- the HSI BIN directories\fP boot \fR- bootstrap utilities (mkpkg, rtar, wtar, etc.)\fP gdev \fR- graphics device interfaces (SGI device translators)\fP hlib \fR- host dependent library; global files\fP os \fR- OS interface routines (UNIX/IRAF kernel)\fP reboot \fR- executable script run to reboot the HSI\fP shlib \fR- shared library facility sources\fP sun \fR- gterm and imtool sources\fP .XE .PP If you will be working with the system much at the system level, it will be well worthwhile to spend some time exploring these directories and gaining familiarity with the system.