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The current CASA Beta Release

The current released version is Beta Patch 1 (CASA Version 2.0 Rev 4769). This patch was released on 7 April 2008.

About the CASA Beta Release

Starting in October 2007, we are implementing a staged Beta Release of the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) data reduction package. This software has been under development in support of the ALMA and EVLA project, but is intended to also be of general use for radio astronomy data post-processing. This staged release will allow personnel involved in the construction, operations, and advisory committees for ALMA and EVLA to adopt early use of the package for commissioning, development of user support capabilities, and to provide feedback to the CASA team.

Initially, through mid 2008, access to the Beta and support for CASA users will be restricted to ALMA and EVLA project personnel and key committee members in order that the CASA development will not be burdened with user support and can continue to make progress to complete the suite of basic functionality and to pursue advanced algorithm development needed for ALMA and EVLA. During this period, CASA User Support Specialists will be trained in the use of the CASA Beta Release, and in turn these specialists will train others as needed. In 2008, we plan to gradually expand the availability of the Beta Release to others in the community as our user support capabilities ramp up.

It is anticipated that CASA will remain in Beta Release until at least late 2008 or early 2009. During the beta release period, we will provide "patches" to the release on an approximately Quarterly schedule in order to fold in ongoing developments. Patches will also be made as needed to fix bugs. The first such "Beta Patch 1.0" was made available in early April. The next ("Beta Patch 2.0") will be made available in early June 2008 (in time for the NRAO Synthesis Summer school).

Obtaining the CASA Beta Release

We are currently in "Phase I" of the Beta Release. This means that NRAO staff, ALMA and EVLA computing, science, and operations personnel, and designated ALMA, EVLA, CASA, and NRAO advisory and user committee members will be granted access to the release and to user support for the use of this release.

We apologize for any incovenience that this limited release policy may cause. However, the gradual staging of the release is necessary due to limited manpower within the project, in order to properly ramp up our User Support system and to not burden the developers. Please stay tuned as we open up to broader community use in 2008 and 2009!

There is a PDF document spelling out the CASA Beta Release and User Support Policy.

CASA is available to registered users through the my.nrao.edu portal. User support is available there also, now that the Helpdesk is operational.

Note that the Beta Release is only available for a limited number of supported platforms and OS:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 (32 and 64 bit)
  • Red Hat Fedora Core 6 and 7 (32 bit only)
  • Macintosh OSX (for Intel Macs, versions 10.4.7 and later, 32 bit only)

Science Scope

The Beta Release is aimed at supporting basic interferometric data reduction. It will support the import of data in a limited number of formats, and a reasonably full set of processing capabilities for only a limited number of observing modes. See the beta release notes for more information on supported observing modes and data formats.

Documentation and Beta Release Notes
  • The Beta Release Edition of the CASA Data Analysis Cookbook is a how-to manual aimed at scientific users. The Cookbook also contains a description of what is available in the Beta Release (look for the Beta Alert notices within).
  • The CASA Reference Manual goes into more detail on the use of the CASA Toolkit.
  • There is a set of Beta Release Notes that contain a list of key features and "gotchas" for potential users.
  • The Beta Release FAQ has a list of known problems that users should take a look at if they are encountering issues.

Getting Help for CASA

  • The primary references for user help are the CASA Data Analysis Cookbook and the CASA Reference Manual.
  • Official Beta Release Users will access the CASA HelpDesk through the NRAO Interactive Services my.nrao.edu portal. This is still under development.
  • For internal NRAO and ALMA/EVLA project users, CASA uses JIRA as its issue tracking system. Registered NRAO JIRA users can submit issues and maintain contact with CASA until resolution.


Please send any comments or questions about CASA to casa-request@nrao.edu

Copyright © 1995-2007 Associated Universities Inc., Washington, D.C.

This code is available under the terms of the GNU General Public Lincense

Modified on Tuesday, 06-May-2008 15:26:23 MDT