Bugs: Other Software Packages

The following is a list of known conflicts between CIAO and other software packages.

A list of bugs fixed in CIAO 4.1 is available.

Caveats

1. Parameter file conflicts with HEAsoft

2. IPython Packaged with CIAO OTS (12 Dec 2007)

3. Linking external software: system environment variables not defined when starting CIAO (04 Jun 2008)

4. cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied (04 Jun 2008)

Bugs

1. Running CIAO and XSpec in the same terminal (15 Jun 2009)

Caveats

1. Parameter file conflicts with HEAsoft

   Both CIAO and FTOOLS use parameter files to store parameter values for tools, and provide tools for manipulating these files (e.g. plist, pset, punlearn; they have the same name in both systems). The location of the parameter files is taken from the $PFILES environment variables for CIAO and FTOOLS (or $UPARM if $PFILES does not exist).

   Common errors are:

   pget: could not get parameter "foo"
   
   and
   
   The following parameter:
       "foo,b,l,no,,,"Keyword""
   has the following error(s):
     o Mode field "l" is invalid.
   
   and
   
   The following parameter:
   "foo,i,h,INDEF,INDEF,INDEF,"description""
   has the following error(s):
   o Problem converting minimum field "INDEF" to parameter type "i".
   o Problem converting maximum field "INDEF" to parameter type "i".
   

   We recommend that you start FTOOLS before CIAO to minimize problems.

   More information on this problem is available in the CIAO and FTOOLS section of the Starting CIAO thread. Also refer to the related FAQ "The tool is failing because ")sval" has somehow shown up in the parameter value.".

2. IPython Packaged with CIAO OTS (12 Dec 2007)

   CIAO includes IPython in the CIAO OTS directory which is used by Sherpa and ChIPS to provide command-line user interfaces. These programs create an IPython profile in the directory $HOME/.ipython-ciao.

   If IPython users want any personal customizations to be available when running CIAO, they will have to copy them from $HOME/.ipython to $HOME/.ipython-ciao.

3. Linking external software: system environment variables not defined when starting CIAO (04 Jun 2008)

   Any system environment variable - LD_LIBRARY_PATH, DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH, PATH, etc. - is not defined when a user sets up a CIAO environment. Rather, the variable is defined as needed in the wrapper scripts that call individual tools, and then undefined when the wrapper script exits. This is fine for the majority of CIAO users.

   For the advanced user who want to override some of the CIAO defaults when running CIAO tools, there are additional steps needed. To append libraries to the CIAO library search path, set LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on a Mac). To prepend a library to the search path, should set CIAO_LD_LIBRARY_PATH (or CIAO_DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH). The user cannot prepend a search to PATH.

   Updated: more general write up about environment variables on all platforms, not just DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on the Mac.

4. cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied (04 Jun 2008)

   This means SE Linux is enabled on the user's system. There are 2 things that will fix this; do either of the following, not both:

   1. On the CIAO libraries and executables in the following directories

      $ASCDS_INSTALL/lib 
      $ASCDS_INSTALL/bin 
      $ASCDS_INSTALL/binexe 
      $ASCDS_INSTALL/ots/lib 
      $ASCDS_INSTALL/ots/bin 
      

      run the commands:

      $ su root
      # cd (to above CIAO directories)
      # chcon -c -v -R -u system_u -r object_r -t lib_t *
      # chcon -t texrel_shlib_t *
      

   2. Disable SE Linux

Bugs

1. Running CIAO and XSpec in the same terminal (15 Jun 2009)

   The $HEADAS environment variable is redefined when the CIAO software is started. This is necessary as CIAO packages XSpec models and some libraries for use with Sherpa; those models look in the $HEADAS/spectral/modelData directory for needed files.

   Workaround:

   In order to run both CIAO and XSpec in the same window, it is necessary to reset the $HEADAS variable before running XSpec. The following shell script is one method of doing so:

   unix% cat xspec.sh
   #!/bin/csh
   
   setenv HEADAS <Your Local HEADAS Path>
   source ${HEADAS}/headas-init.csh
   
   ${HEADAS}/bin/xspec $*
   

   Place this script in your $PATH. Then CIAO and XSpec may be run in the same window in this way:

   unix% setenv HEADAS /soft/lheasoft/headas/sparc-sun-solaris2.8; \
         source $HEADAS/headas-init.csh
   
   unix% echo $HEADAS
   /soft/lheasoft/headas/sparc-sun-solaris2.8
   
   unix% ciao
   CIAO configuration is complete...
    CIAO version     :  CIAO 4.1 Friday, December 5, 2008
    Proposal Toolkit version :  Cycle 11 Friday, December 5, 2008
    bin dir          :  /soft/ciao/bin
    Python path      :  CIAO
   
   unix% echo $HEADAS
   /soft/ciao/ots/spectral
   
   unix% xspec.sh
   
                   XSPEC version: 12.4.0ag
           Build Date/Time: Tue Jul 15 22:37:42 2008
   
   XSPEC12>
   

   The shell script has its own environment, within which you can reassign the $HEADAS variable. After running XSpec, the shell script exits and you are back to the parent shell, where HEADAS remains set to point to the CIAO location.

   In the future, the definition of HEADAS will occur when Sherpa is used, instead of when CIAO is started. This workaround will then no longer be necessary.

Bugs fixed in CIAO 4.1

The following is a list of bugs that were fixed in the CIAO 4.1 software release.

1. Linking external software against the CIAO infrastructure (08 Jun 2007)
   (Mac OS X Intel and PPC)

   The CXC libraries libpix.dylib, libds.dylib, cxcparam.dylib, and libNewHdr2.dylib have dependencies on libreadline and libhistory that are hardwired to CXC library files.

   Workaround:

   To link external software against these libraries, add:

   -L<location of CIAO>/ots/lib -lreadline -lhistory
   

   to the link lines.

   The linking issue will be fixed in the next CIAO release.

2. Python Packaged with CIAO OTS (12 Dec 2007)

   CIAO 4.0 uses the Python software packaged in the CIAO OTS directory for the Sherpa and ChIPS applications. In the window where CIAO is sourced any other Python installation is overwritten: this may interfere with other Python applications on the user's system. At present, the workaround is to run CIAO in a separate window from other Python applications. The CXC is working to resolve this issue.

   In CIAO 4.1, a user can now specify the version of Python to use by updating their $HOME/.ciaorc file and allowing PYTHOn to point to the location of python the user wishes to use, e.g. PYTHON /usr/local.

3. Ghostscript tools (gs, gv, etc.) fail in CIAO window (02 Apr 2008)

   Because ghostscript is packaged with CIAO, some users may see a conflict with the CIAO-installed ghostscript and their system version. This conflict may also present itself in ghostscript tools such as gv. If the following error message occurs when trying to run ghostscript application, it is most likely due to a version conflict:

   Error: /invalidfontGPL Ghostscript 8.56: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1 in /findfont
   

   Workaround:

   In a terminal where CIAO has not been started:

   unix% gs -h
   ...
   Search path:
      . : /usr/share/ghostscript/8.15/lib :
      /usr/share/ghostscript/8.15/Resource : /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts :
      /usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript : /usr/share/fonts/default/Type1 :
      /usr/share/fonts/default/amspsfnt/pfb :
      /usr/share/fonts/default/cmpsfont/pfb : /usr/share/fonts/japanese :
      /etc/ghostscript
   For more information, see /usr/share/ghostscript/8.15/doc/Use.htm.
   Report bugs to bug-gs@ghostscript.com, using the form in Bug-form.htm.
   

   Copy all the font directories from the search path into the GS_LIB environment variable:

   unix% setenv GS_LIB "/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts:/usr/share/fonts/
   default/ghostscript:/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1:/usr/share
   /fonts/default/amspsfnt/pfb:/usr/share/fonts/default/cmpsfont
   /pfb:/usr/share/fonts/japanese:/etc/ghostscript"