[fitsbits] BINTABLE/TABLE column count limitation

[Maren Purves]

Phil Hodge wrote:
> On 06/06/2012 12:31 PM, Lucio Chiappetti wrote:
>> And the "once FITS forever FITS" principle makes rather tricky to go
>> beyond the 8-char kwd name limit (unless one uses very specific
>> conventions for very specific purposes, e.g. ESO HIERARCH)
>
> Allowing keywords longer than eight characters is not the same as
> requiring it.  Existing files that are FITS-compliant would not be
> invalidated by allowing free-format header records.

While this is true, older FITS readers would not necessarily
be able to read the newer FITS files - where I don't remember
whether such a requirement exists.

Aloha,
Maren Purves