[wfc] WFC Call for Votes on 64-bit Issues

[Arnold Rots]

Call for Regional FITS Committee Votes on 64-bit Integer Issues
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Bill Pence, as chair of the IAU FITS Working Group, has called on the
regional FITS committees to cast votes on a number of issues related
to the use of 64-bit integers.

Some general background information about the issue of supporting 64-bit
integers in FITS is available at http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_64bit.html
In addition, a PDF file is available from that web page which shows in
detail the 11 specific modifications to the wording of the FITS Standard
that are now being considered.

I am asking the committee members to vote separately on the following 4
specific issues to provide as much guidance as possible to the IAU-FWG.  In
each case, members may vote either "Yes", "No", or "Abstain - no opinion".

The deadline for the vote is September 4, 2005.  In view of this being
vacation time, I have extended the normal voting period from three to
four weeks.  If that still poses a problem for you, let me know asap.
I will be out of the office August 15-26.

Thank you,

  - Arnold Rots


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1)  Do you favor adding support to FITS for primary arrays and image
extensions containing  64-bit integer pixels, with BITPIX = 64?
(Changes 1 - 3 in the PDF file).
  [ ] Yes
  [ ] No
  [ ] Abstain

2) Do you favor adding support to FITS for 64-bit descriptor 'Q' columns in
binary tables (analogous to the 32-bit 'P' descriptor columns).  This will
support FITS files with a variable length array heap much larger than the
2 GB limit of 'P' descriptor columns.
(Changes 4 - 6 and 8 - 9).
  [ ] Yes
  [ ] No
  [ ] Abstain

3) Do you favor adding support to FITS for columns of 64-bit integer values
in binary tables, with TFORMn = 'K'?
(Changes 4, 7, and 10).
  [ ] Yes
  [ ] No
  [ ] Abstain

4) Do you support changing the definition of the 'P' descriptor pointers
from 'signed integers' to 'unsigned integers'. This change will not
invalidate any existing FITS files and will double the maximum allowed size
of the variable length heap from ~2 GB to ~4 GB.
(Change 11).
  [ ] Yes
  [ ] No
  [ ] Abstain


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Arnold H. Rots                                Chandra X-ray Science Center
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory                tel:  +1 617 496 7701
60 Garden Street, MS 67                              fax:  +1 617 495 7356
Cambridge, MA 02138                             arots at head.cfa.harvard.edu
USA                                     http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/
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