[fitsbits] start of Public Comment Period on blank header space convention

[Mark Calabretta]

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:57:14 -0400
Erik Bray <embray at stsci.edu> wrote:

> I think there are two classes of "conventions" being discussed here though.  For 
> example, I feel like there are some conventions such as the Green Bank 
> convention that are data models particular to local usage conventions, and do 
> not affect how a reader / writer for *generic* FITS files interprets the 
> contents of the file.  I think having conventions like that *in* the standard is 
> confusing unless it is clearly called out as an example practice and not 
> something that is required to be supported by all FITS software.

"Scope" is a concept that is conspicuously absent from FITS.

INHERIT and the Green Bank convention define scoping rules for FITS
keywords.  They greatly affect how a reader interprets the metadata
in a FITS file.

Regards,
Mark Calabretta