Installing modsCCDRed
Version 2.0.3 - 2017 May 21

System Requirements
-------------------

The modsCCDRed Python programs have been tested on Linux (CentOS 5 to
7) and Mac OS X (v10.7 Lion thru 10.12 Sierra) operating systems.

Python 2.5 or later is required, and the programs have been used
primarily with Python versions 2.7 for the past year.  We have adopted
the free Anaconda Python distribution from Continuum Analytics
(continuum.io), as the most stable and trouble free distribution on
all platforms, especially, Mac.

NOTE: These programs will NOT run under Python 3 at the present time,
      but the end is near for Python 2.7, so it won't be that long.

If you do not use anaconda python, you will need to load and install
the numpy and astropy modules before you can use modsCCDRed.

Your computer should have at least 4 Gb of memory in order to be able
to perform the image median stacking steps, but otherwise the programs
work with single images, but more is better.  Runtime performance will
depend on memory and processor speed, and is somewhat I/O limited
given the large (24 Mpixel) images involved.  On an older 2-processor
2.8GHz Pentium 4 computer with 8Gb of RAM running CentOS 5.8, the time
required to bias, flat-field, bad column fix and axis flip a single
full-frame unbinned 8x3K MODS red-channel spectrum is about 13
seconds.


Downloading modsCCDRed
----------------------

The tar file is available at

    http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/MODS/Software/modsCCDRed/

This webpage will have links to the latest release and older versions,
as well as copies of this manual.


Unpacking
---------

Unpack the tarball (e.g., modsCCDRed_v2.0.3.tgz) in the usual way

   tar xvzpf modsCCDRed_v2.0.3.tgz

this will create the modsCCDRed directory and fill it with the
programs and support files.

The modsCCDRed directory has two subdirectories:

   database/ - Default bad pixel list (bpl) files for the MODS CCDs
       Docs/ - Copy of this manual (PDF) and any supplementary documentation

All of the Python programs are in the main folder.


Installation
------------
	
You have two options: Personal or Public installation

For a personal installation, you have two ways to install the files to use:

  1. Keep the modsCCDRed Python programs in place, and put the
     modsCCDRed directory in your default execution path.

  2. Copy the executable Python programs into your ~/bin/ or
     ~/programs/ directory where you put executables in your default
     execution path.

For a public installation, e.g., on a central disk to share one copy
of the package among many users, we suggest logging in as root and
unpacking the tarball in your usual place for public add-on programs,
e.g., /usr/local/, and then installing the executables in, e.g.,
/usr/local/bin/.


Common Bad Pixel Lists
----------------------

To use the default bad pixel lists, users need to define this
environment variable

   setenv MODS_DBDIR /usr/local/LBT/modsCCDRed/database/

for a csh/tcsh shells with a public installation where the source code
lives in /usr/local/LBT/.  Other shells (e.g., bash) use a different
syntax.

Users can always override the default bad pixel list used with one of
these methods:

   1. Redefining the MODS_DBDIR environment variable to point to the
      directory with their personal copies of bpl files with the same
      names (e.g., mods1r.bpl).

   2. Undefining MODS_DBDIR, at which point the modsCCDRed programs
      default to the current working directory (./), and look for the
      standard names.

   3. Using the -l flag with no path to use a custom file in
      MODS_DBDIR (or ./ if undefined), e.g., "modsFixPixl -l mym1r.bpl"

   4. Using the -l flag to give the full path and name of a
      particular bad pixel list file to use, e.g., 
        modsFixPix -l /my/path/to/mym1r.bpl

There is no requirement of using the MODS_DBDIR environment variable,
but care should be taken to avoid having multiple, possibly
conflicting versions of bad pixel lists spread through many
directories.


Updates
-------

At present, updates must be obtained by checking the MODS Software
webpage.  Later versions of modsCCDRed will come with a script to
check for updates and install them.  This facility is still in
development at the writing of this manual.


------------------------------
R. Pogge, OSU Astronomy Dept.
pogge.1@osu.edu