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process-spec

process-spec constructs a script for processing a set of 1 or 2-dimensional spectra. The script is in the form of a standard UNIX makefile, which is executed with the UNIX command make.

 

USAGE	process-spec [spectrum-set]
INPUT	optional spectrum-set
OUTPUT	spectrum-set.make spetrum-set.pset
PARAMETERS	none

 

Details:

process-spec allows one to pipeline most of the processes needed to construct a spectrum file from a set of observations. One must start with:

• a set of object, comparison arc, and spectral flat-field exposures
• optionally, a bias frame
• optionally, a bad pixel file
• an observation definition file appropriate for the set of exposures

On being invoked without a pset file, process-spec prompts for the needed information:

process-spec

Spectrum set:           Mymask_night1

Associated obsdef file: Mymask

Bad pixel file:         mybadfile

File prefix:            "ccd" or "ift"

Science frame(CR=>done) 005

    Bias frame:         bias

    Comparison arcs:    003 007

    Flat frames:        004 006

Science frame(CR=>done) 007

    Bias frame:         bias

    Compairson arcs:    009

    Flat frames:        006 008

Science frame(CR=>done)

process-spec has the following restrictions on input:

• with the exception of the bias frame, all frame names must be numbers, which are converted into frame names by adding the prefix "ccd", thus frame 005 becomes ccd005.
• the bias frame can be a single number, a single name such as "bias", or "none" if no bias frame is to be used.
• the bad pixel file can either be a filename (without the ".badpix" extension) or "none".
• multiple frames can be specified for the flats
• one or two frames can be specified for the comparison arc

in addition, process-spec requires the following

• the bias_file must be set to "none" in the biasflat and Sflats parameter files
• the clean parameter in the sumspec parameter file must be set to "yes
• because process-spec examines the data files to determine certain processing steps, COSMOS_IMAGE_DIR must point to the directory containing the image files
• because process-spec reads the extract-spec parameter file to determine whether the output will be 1 or 2-dimensional spectra, the parameter file must be set up properly before running process-spec

process-spec constructs a script to run the following programs on the data set:

• map-spectra
• adjust-map
• Sflats
• biasflat
• subsky
• extract-spec
• sumspec, if more than one science frame is specified

The output of the above invocation of process-spec is a makefile called Mymask_night1.make. It is run with the standard UNIX make command:

make -f Mymask_night1.make

The outcome of this operation will be a combined 1 or 2-d spectrum file named Mymask_night1_[1 2]spec.fits

process-spec also creates a file named, in this example, Mymask_night1.pset which contains all of the information input when the program was run. Invoking process-spec with the name of this file creates a makefile without the need to reenter the information. The pset file is a text file which can be edited to correct mistakes or add additional data.

make is a program which is handy when some files need to be made out of other files. It's usual application is in program development: object files need to be made out of source files, executables out of object files and libraries, etc. In COSMOS, map files need to be made out of obsdef and arc image files, _s files out of map files and object image files, etc.

The handy thing about make is that it never wastes effort: it understands which files are the products of which other files, and only remakes the former if the latter have changed. Thus, if one runs make on Mymask_night1.make for the first time. all of the programs are executed. However, if one immediately reruns make, it will respond:

make 'Mymask_night1_2spec.fits' is up to date

If, now, one changed one or more of the input files, most likely one of the parameter files for the programs, but possibly some image file as well, make will rerun only those parts of the script which depend on the changed file.

If all goes well, the screen output of make will be identical to what would be seen if all of the programs were run manually. If there is an error in one of the programs, make will quit at that point. If make cannot find one of the files that is required to process the data, it will also quit, with the following strange-sounding complaint:

make: *** No rule to make target `somefile', needed by `anotherfile'.  Stop.

where somefile is the missing file, and anotherfile is the output file of one of the programs. In this case, check to see why somefile is missing.

 

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