- IRAF
infobox software
name = IRAF
developer =NOAO
latest_release_version = 2.14
latest_release_date =14 January 2008
operating_system =Cross-platform
platform =
genre = Astronomical Analysis
license =
website = http://iraf.noao.eduIRAF (an acronym for Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) is a huge collection of
software written by astronomers and by programmers at theNational Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) geared towards the reduction of astronomical images in pixel array form, that is, data taken from imaging array detectors such as CCDs. It is available for all majoroperating system s for mainframes anddesktop computers . Although written forUNIX-like operating systems, use onMicrosoft Windows is made possible byCygwin . It is primarily used onLinux distribution s, with a growing share ofMac OS X users.IRAF commands (known as tasks) are organized into package structures. Additional packages may be added to IRAF. Packages may contain other packages. There are many packages available by NOAO and external developers often focusing on a particular branch of research or facility. Of particular note are the
STSDAS and TABLES packages by theSTScI .The licensing status of IRAF is conflicted but generally follows the
MIT license scheme, with some older parts of the code under a different license. Most notably, several functions in the graphics infrastructure are under a non-free software license which does not permit redistribution without permission. As this code is tightly integrated into a few tasks IRAF, the package as a whole is seen by several projects as non-redistributable and therefore non-free. NOAO seems to have made no effort to clarify this situation, open-source developers concerned with license issues have made no effort to correct this on their own, and so efforts to package the software for drop-in installation in GNU/Linux systems have lapsed.cite mailing list | url = http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-legal@lists.debian.org/msg24090.html | title = IRAF package license | mailinglist = debian-legal | date =2004-05-09 | last = Nerode |first = Nathan ]Technical details
A full IRAF working environment usually requires two other applications: an extended xterm window with a graphics windows (called xgterm and distributed in a separate X11IRAF package by NOAO) and an image display program referred to as an "image server". The two most popular image servers are "ds9" (by SAO) and "ximtool" (NOAO). The "ximtool" display server currently only supports 8-color displays but a new version is in the works.
References
External links
* [http://www.iraf.net IRAF.Net Forum]
* [http://iraf.noao.edu IRAF Project Homepage]
* [http://geco.phys.columbia.edu/~rubab/iraf/iraf_step_by_step_installation IRAF Installation on Ubuntu / Debian Linux]
* [http://iraf.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=137456 IRAF on a Knoppix Live CD (ISO-File download)]
* [http://www.paultheastronomer.com/pages/iraf/how_to_install_iraf.php IRAF installation guides for Linux, Mac and Windows]
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