vpguess -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the README file for version 1.5 of vpguess by J. Liske, jliske@eso.org, http://www.eso.org/~jliske/vpguess/ Release date: 16/04/2008 vpguess is a program to facilitate the fitting of multiple Voigt profiles to spectroscopic data. It is a graphical interface to VPFIT by R.F. Carswell, J.K. Webb and others (see http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~rfc/vpfit.html). Although VPFIT has been outfitted with some graphics capabilities of its own I hope that vpguess may be a useful alternative. It was originally meant to simplify the process of setting up first guesses for a subsequent fit with VPFIT. However, it has since been developed into a full interface to VPFIT. It may also be used independently of VPFIT for displaying data, playing around with data and models, "chi-by-eye" fits, displaying the result of a proper fit, pretty plots, etc. INSTALLATION ------------ For instructions on how to install vpguess and indeed for any other questions please see the vpguess WWW pages at http://www.eso.org/~jliske/vpguess/ DISCLAIMER ---------- Copyright (C) 2001,2003,2005,2008 by Jochen Liske, jliske@eso.org This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see . HISTORY AND CHANGES ------------------- 16/04/08 - Release of version 1.5. 15/04/08 - Fixed a bug that crashed vpguess during writing of a data chunk and during 'F'itting. - Updated things to work with VPFIT version 9.5 (including atom.dat). - Updated web pages accordingly. 25/03/08 - The values of the keywords that identify columns (ascii files), image lines/apertures (2D fits files) or bands (3D fits files) no longer have to be exactly equal to the 'magic' words but only need to contain them. - Minor adjustment to the way that 2D fits files are read. - Updated web pages accordingly. 16/10/07 - Added capability to scroll the ion and transition lists that are offered during 'l'ine adding. Also added a '?' command to both. Updated web pages accordingly. 16/02/07 - Fixed bug that didn't allow negative cl or zl parameters when editing continuum and zero level corrections. 20/01/05 - Release of version 1.4. 18/01/05 - Replaced spabs.f with mktau.c, hence fixing the 'bug' that forced the creation of a spectrum by adding lines one by one, rather than all in one go. mktau.c also features an improved treatment of the Lyman limit region and a higher precision Voigt function (voigt.c). - Updated constants in const.h. - Updated things to VPFIT version 7. - Substantially updated web pages. 12/01/05 - Release of version 1.3. 03/01/05 - Substantially changed the way ASCII data files are read, by including support for ASCII header (.hdr) files. - Improved accuracy of spabs.f. - Substantially updated web pages. 07/04/04 - Added Mac OS X stuff to Makefile. - Result of a fit is now read from fort.18, since later versions of vpfit don't seem to produce fort.15 anymore. - Added '|' command for cropping of data chunks. 18/11/03 - Release of version 1.2. 17/11/03 - Added capability to read fits spectra. - Removed the need for two different atom.dat files by changing the way spabs() receives atomic data. - Removed restrictions (in vpguess.h) on size of data chunks, number of fitting regions per data chunk, number of transitions per ion and size of atomic data file. - Updated the VPFIT interface to work with VPFIT Version 5.04. - Fixed various small buglets. - Updated web pages. 12/11/03 - Fixed bug in vpgpick.c that crashed vpguess on some systems when adding a 'l'ine. 25/09/03 - Fixed 'bug' that didn't allow negative redshifts. 05/09/03 - Moved the web page to ESO. 13/06/03 - Fixed bug that allowed the character '[' in ties. 22/04/03 - Fixed the bug with use of tying when 'C'opying absorption systems. - Added 'Ctrl-u' command to unload, i.e. 'forget', a data chunk. 15/05/02 - Added history (up and down arrow keys) and filename completion (tab) to filename queries. 20/06/01 - Release of version 1.1. 19/06/01 - Added 'C' command which allows the copying of multiple absorption lines to multiple ions with optional tying of parameters. - Added help menus ('?' command) in error fudging mode and for the marking of fitting regions. - Added 'o' command in line editing mode. - Fixed bug that didn't allow the letters 'e' and 'E' to be used in ties (because they were interpreted as exponentials). - Added -f command line switch to allow the naming of a save file on the command line. - 's', 'r', 'g' and 'h' commands are not silent anymore. 07/06/01 - Added panel switching capability and '?' command while selecting absorption lines for ties. - Fixed bug that wouldn't allow you to select continuum or zero level corrections from buttons. 29/05/01 - Fixed the plotting of residuals. Added commands to allow control of plotting of residuals. - Fixed bug that didn't allow the deletion of continuum and zero level corrections. - Fixed windowing commands. 24/05/01 - Fixed bug that gave funny initial column density when adding a new line for a non-normalised spectrum. 21/05/01 - Release of version 1.0. Everything that went before this didn't have a version number and is considered ancient history. This is the first version that has nothing majorly wrong with it (I think).