MIRIAD

MIRIAD V4 is the official release. The current development version is 4.0.5 (as of Aug 21, 2004), available via CVS. The MIRIAD V3 release is still available under a CVS branchname MIR3 but is not further developed, except serious bug fixes (the last official version is 3.1.1). We still recommend MIRIAD V3 for (BIMA) production work, and MIRIAD V4 if you need to work with non-BIMA data, large files and/or large number of antennae (e.g. ATA, ALMA or LOFAR) for simulations. For general image analysis MIRIAD V4 should also be used. The ATNF version of MIRIAD is (as of Aug 21, 2006) currently being merged into MIRIAD V5 (branchname: MIR5).

MIRIAD (Multichannel Image Reconstruction, Image Analysis and Display) is a toolbox, in the form of an environment with a large set of moderate-sized programs which perform individual tasks, involving calibration, mapping, deconvolution and image analysis of interferometric data. MIRIAD software was also used in parts of the Hat Creek (BIMA) telescope control software; data obtained from the telescopes is directly written into MIRIAD format with a MIRIAD user interface.

A little history: MIRIAD was originally developed in 1987 on Sun workstations (SUN OS 3.2), but has since then been ported to a large number of UNIX flavors (SUN OS 4.x, 5.x, SGI/IRIX, HP/UX, ConvexOS, DEC Alpha, LINUX, and VAX/VMS. Most of the code is written in Fortran 77, with some lower level I/O routine in ANSI-C, also available as a seperate library "mirlib". This core (C) library of MIRIAD is also used in AIPS++ and the CARMA online system.

Two slightly different distributions of MIRIAD currently exist: the original BIMA release (now called CARMA or V4), and the ATNF release. This page is the homepage for the CARMA release of MIRIAD, but we are working on making the difference between MIRIAD-A and MIRIAD-B as small as possible, and you will find most, if not all, ATNF routines in the CARMA release of MIRIAD.

On 5-mar-2001 the Illinois RCS archive of 15-feb-2001 was converted for CVS at Maryland. You can now find daily CVS snapshot (source code only, but including CVS tags) and stable releases with binaries for some popular architectures in the anonymous ftp area.

MIRIAD V2.x is now deprecated (also doesn't work well on linux), it been replaced with the CVS managed version (since mid 2001). The easiest way to find out which version you have is to look at the contents of the file $MIR/VERSION, if you don't have it, you have the old version, or certainly not a regulated/blessed version. Another way of telling is if your version is a date (such 12-oct-95); those are old releases. It could also be that you have the ATNF/MIRIAD version, who don't maintain a VERSION file (yet). Try the command
```
tail $MIR/changes.txt
```
in that case and it should get you pretty close.
Miriad Party at OVRO (Feb 2007)
Introduction to MIRIAD although claimed for CARMA users, useful for anybody starting out with miriad.
Installation notes, in cut and pastable form, for the CVS enabled tar file.
There is now an FAQ on post-installation problem
There is also an FAQ for users.
CVS for MIRIAD (an introduction for MIRIAD developers)
- CVS Install: A full example how to use anonymous CVS to install and update your miriad version. You can also download this shell script and run it to install miriad. Works for most architectures, but could need some tailoring.
- Example 1: checkout code for xcorf, and tinker with it
- Miriad working on Mac OS X 10.2 (Ramprasad Rao) - 10.3 with IBM's xlf/xlc compilers also works (dec 6, 2003), details upcoming. I've got my own mac hints page if you're still in trouble.
MIRIAD and ATNF are using a slightly different code base of Miriad. We are working on ironing out some of the differences
MIRIAD and CARMA, and notes on changes during the commissioning phase.
MIRIAD and WSRT, some notes by Tom Oosterlo on how to use miriad with the WSRT.
MIRIAD and SMA is in development as of version 4.0.4
MIRIAD and IRAM, some notes on using MIRIAD with the PdB array.
Features of BIMA MIRIAD V3.x (Feb 2001 - development ended Feb 2003)
- re-integrated the manuals from the ATNF, with BIMA chapters where needed (the old BIMA manuals are still there, but merely for historic reasons)
- various UMD tools now added to the official release:
  - mirmake (alternative to mir.prog), and support for Makefile's (done)
  - mirman (graphical frontend to man pages) (done)
  - mirsao, mirtng, mirds9 (miriad frontend to saoimage/ds9) (done)
  - cubemask/saomask (done)
  - exporting a mini-miriad C library (mostly for AIPS++) (done, see install/mirlib.export)
  - conversion to autconf (uncertain)
- converted source code control from RCS to CVS (done)
- integrated recently developed BIMASONG software into miriad (partially done)
- database of example shell scriptsfrom users
- support to convert and compare with the ATNF version of miriad
- support for binaries for Linux and Solaris for the stable releases (linux done, see also astromake)
- support for benchmarks and testing if miriad produces "correct" results (regression and baseline testing) (partially done) (See also benchmark notes)
- better scaleable properties of MAXANT, MAXBASE, MAXDIM, MAXCHAN.... (added in version 3.1.x)
- Able to read the minor difference in dataformat of visibility data with MIR4 (see below)
- Development stopped. Bugfixes will need to be made to the MIR3 branchname for those who use CVS.
FINK packaging is in progress: wip See also the Fink FAQ on unstable packages
wip in python:, produced by Nicholas Chapman
Expected Features of CARMA MIRIAD V4.x (Feb 2003 - )
- Name change from BIMA to CARMA (done)
- All of the missed V3.x changes of course
- Support for files larger than 2 GB. (partially done) This will be a staged support, initially fortran code that uses integer counters can only address up to 8GB. If your FORTRAN compiler supports INTEGER*8, files larger than 8GB can be supported. Version 4.1 will support files > 8GB also.
- Proper ansi export library of the C routines in miriad (mostly for AIPS++) (done)
- Support for ATNF, WSRT and OVRO, some with specific code, and ALMA and ATA (up to 2048 antennas)
- Python friendly interfaces for scripting (done)
- Option to use the highly optimized fftw library instead of our own FFT routines. (work in progress by WSRT group)
- Files > 2GB produced with MIR4 will not be readable by MIR3 and below, but MIR3 files will be processed by MIR4. File < 2GB in MIR4 are ok in MIR3.
- integration of code for SMA (partially done)
new stuff: A very rough list of changes to the CVS archive. For binary releases it is recommended you upgrade via astromake, but you can also untar any of the following:
- V3.0.0 : 01mar13 (Linux/RH62, standard release, i.e. old egcs compiler)
- V3.0.1 : 01may16 (Linux/RH62 but w/ gcc 2.95.3) not a complete release
  Using the miriad benchmark, timing went from 142.0 to 122.6 sec!!!
- V3.0.2: 01jun15 (Linux/RH62 but w/ gcc 2.95.3)
- V3.0.4: 02jun24 (Linux/MDK80 but w/ gcc 2.95.3)
- V3.1.0: 03feb23 -- note this is the last development release for 3.x. Any subsequent fixes to 3.x will be bugfixes in a MIR3 branch. Development now occurs in MIR4, which has been merged into the mainline. (Linux/RH73 w/ gcc 2.96)
- V3.1.1: 04jan13 (Linux/RH9 w/ gcc 3.2.2). This version can read MIR4 data, as long as the data is < 2GB, with the usual number of bugfixes. It will also probably be the last maintained release in the MIR3 series, as development has been going on in the MIR4 series.
- V4.0.3: 10dec04. Many cleanup and bug fixes. No new major functionality added, but be aware, this is a pre-release for CARMA.
- V4.0.4: 06aug21. Integrate the SMA code and experiment with the new --with-telescope= flag to configure. CARMA tools have now also appeared. Support for the new gcc4/g95 series.
- V4.0.5: progressing in CVS : continuing bugfixes while V5 is tested on the MIR5 branch.
- V5.0.0: (branchname: MIR5). Merging ATNF and CARMA version of miriad.
Future / Work in Progress
known bugs/problems
history: some notes on the history of Miriad
First steps to interoperate GILDAS and MIRIAD (Pety et al.)
(12-feb-2004) the upcoming miriad4 whitepaper, to result in a carma memo on the current status and future of miriad.
astro-ph (dec 2006)

Page last modified: . by Peter Teuben