Bug#690531: IRAF reload
Control: retitle 690531 ITP: iraf -- Astronomical Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
Control: owner 690531 !
Hi all,
IRAF packaging was on hold for quite a few years, due to its complicated
package structure, a buggy installation procedure, major bugs in the
code itself, and (most important) major issues in the licensing:
The source contain a number of code lines that were copied from the book
"Numerical Recipes in Fortran", and these lines are not freely
distributable. We are however now about to remove those code lines and
to replace them with free code: LAPACK, FFTPACK, and also self-written
code where appropriate.
So, I think it is now time to officially re-start the packaging. It may
still take quite a while until we have something ready, and and any help
is appreciated.
Since upstream's response is close to zero in the moment, the plan is to
create a temporary fork on github, tag a preliminary version "2.16.1p1"
(or so) there, and then start packaging from there. Since all changes
are also forwarded as pull requests to upstream, there is some hope that
the fork will be only temporary, and I hope that we can agree between
other distributions (Astroconda, Fedora etc.) to use a common set of
patches as long as upstream keeps silent.
Some links:
* Upstream IRAF repository:
https://github.com/iraf/iraf-v216
* My fork:
https://github.com/olebole/iraf-v216
(Most patches are in the "merge-all" branch; the NR replacements are
in the branch "local/replace-numerical-recipes")
* Debian packaging git repository (still untouched):
https://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/debian-astro/packages/iraf.git
* Upstream discussion forum:
http://iraf.net
Your help is very appreciated here! Please contact me if you want to
help, or directly provide patches or pull requests.
Best regards
Ole
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