Available packages on the LOFAR offline clusternodes

This page gives an overview of available packages, other than the 'standard' ones distributed as part of the Linux distribution, and how to initialize these. See the Login environment page for instructions on activating packages at login time.

This is the NRAO developped package that provides Graphical interfaces like those available in the old AIPS++ packages. It provides the following useful tools (see directory /opt/Casa/bin):

• casabrowser → A table browser (much like the old glish-based browser)
• casaplotms → A tool to make 2-D plots of data in a MS
• casaviewer → Visualizer
• casapy → Casa's Python interface.

Extensive documentation can be found on this NRAO-hosted webpage.

• The release and helpdesk can be obtained from http://my.nrao.edu. Versions are available for Linux and Mac OSX 10.5 and 10.6.
• Details about the release including new capabilities, release notes, and the full user reference and cookbook can be found at the CASA home page: http://casa.nrao.edu
• We are also pleased to announce the creation of a new CASA wiki with fully annotated tutorials and tips: http://casaguides.nrao.edu. More guides covering a wider range of data possibilities will be added over time.

The current version (as of Dec 8th 2010) is Casa 3.1.0 .

Casa uses the IERS measures tables that are provided by the distribution; this is linked in with the code. If you want to use custom IERS tables, you'll have to make a $HOME/.casarc file that contains the directory where your version of the tables are. For instance:

measures.directory: /opt/casacore/data

We make available official releases of casacore for people that like to develop against stable libraries of casacore. The latest development version of casacore is available in the LofIm package described below. The current release is version 1.2.0.

For documentation, etc., see the casacore homepage: http://code.google.com/p/casacore/

Casacore uses the IERS measures tables that are in /opt/casacore/data; this location is linked in during the build. If you want to use custom IERS tables, you'll have to make a $HOME/.casarc file that contains the directory where your version of the tables are. For instance:

measures.directory: /users/foobar/IERS

The package LofIm (Lofar Imaging) consists of the following subpackages:

• casacore
• casarest
• pyrap
• LOFAR
• ASKAPsoft

All these are build every night in a single go, with source code extracted from each package's source repository. Activating the LofIm package ensures that you will have a consistent set of libraries and executables.

To activate it on commandline use:

> use LofIm 

This will activate the version that was build last night. It will add all settings needed to use the subpackages toyour PATH, PYTHONPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables.

As all of the individual subpackages are in a development phase, we cannot guarantee that each nightly build is bugfree, or even that is has succeeded. Therefore, we keep a 'buffer' of previous builds for a week. This ensures that if a nightly build has failed, you can use a (working) previous build. To activate a previous build on commandline use:

> use LofIm <day> (e.g., use LofIm Wed)

If the problem that caused a build to fail has not been solved in a week's time, you will not be able to use the package until it has been fixed. In due time we will implement a system with a release policy, that will enable you to use 'stable' versions of these libraries.

LofIm uses the IERS measures tables that are in /opt/casacore/data; this is linked in with the code. If you want to use custom IERS tables, you'll have to make a $HOME/.casarc file that contains the directory where your version of the tables are. For instance:

measures.directory: /users/foobar/IERS

The GDL package contains the following subpackages:

1. gdl (Gnu data language)
2. gsl (GNU Scientific Library)
3. plplot

These work together and form a useful packages used by the Pulsar group.

We have made available several useful Python modules. These can be activated with a single command:

> use Pythonlibs

(see this page for information on how to activate at login time). The Pythonlibs currently contain:

• Numpy → version 1.3.0
• SciPy → version 0.7.1
• matplotlib → version 0.99.1.1
• PyFits → version 2.2.2
• PyEphem → version 3.7.3.4
• PyFFTW → version 0.2
• PyTables → version 2.1.2
• H5Py → Version 1.2.1
• Aipy → Version 0.9.1

The LUS stands for Lofar User Software. It is a part of the User Software Groups (USG) software package. The main packages that are build are the DAL (Data Access Layer) and the Pulsar package (TEMPO, PResto, etc.). Information about these packages can be obtained by Lars Baehren (DAL, build system) or Anastasia Alexov (Pulsar software).

The LUS is build on a daily basis on lfe001 and available on all cluster nodes. To activate it type:

> use LUS

It will add items to the PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, PYTHONPATH variables, and add LOFARSOFT, PRESTO and TEMPO env. vars. to your login session.