[gnuastro-devel] [task #14885] CFITSIO and WCSLIB as optional dependencies

[Mohammad Akhlaghi]

URL:
  <http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?14885>

                 Summary: CFITSIO and WCSLIB as optional dependencies
                 Project: GNU Astronomy Utilities
            Submitted by: makhlaghi
            Submitted on: Sat 17 Mar 2018 02:07:41 PM CET
         Should Start On: Sat 17 Mar 2018 12:00:00 AM CET
   Should be Finished on: Sat 17 Mar 2018 12:00:00 AM CET
                Category: Installation
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: Enhancement
                  Status: Postponed
                 Privacy: Public
        Percent Complete: 0%
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                  Effort: 0.00

    _______________________________________________________

Details:

Currently these two libraries are mandatory dependencies for Gnuastro.
However, recently Gnuastro also accepts TIFF images and previously it also
read JPEG images. Therefore the progarm inputs don't necessarily need to be
FITS images (as they currently are except for ConvertType) and output datasets
can also be written in JPEG/TIFF also.

Therefore if someone doesn't use FITS files, but still wants to benefit from
Gnuastro's features, they shouldn't be forced to install CFITSIO or WCSLIB.

To do this, we just have to make an `array' library that will read and write
the separate formats based on filename. Similar to how
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnuastro.git/tree/lib/table.c table.c] reads
the desired input/output format and uses the appropriate library to do the
job.

Ofcourse, FITS isn't just for arrays (images or cubes), it is also a wondeful
format for tables. For now the only other alternative is plain text. But
later, we can also use other standards (with other optional dependencies).

FITS will remain the suggested/recommended format throughout Gnuastro, it is
far more superior for scientific processing than other formats for many
reasons (allowing tables/images with a huge variety of types, multiple
extensions, human-readable keywords and etc...).

But as some non-astronomy groups are starting to use Gnuastro and they only
use TIFF/JPEG formats, there is no need to force them to install FITS prior to
installing Gnuastro.




    _______________________________________________________

Reply to this item at:

  <http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?14885>

_______________________________________________
  Message sent via/by Savannah
  http://savannah.gnu.org/