SAOImageDS9 Version 8.8 Release Notes

Beta 1:

Summary

• Upgraded Tcl/Tk to version 9, including updates to many sub-packages
• Upgraded to SSL 3.6.2/TLS 2.0 to improve https site access.
• Now supports PDF export using Save Image for images and Export for plots.
• Now supports partial Healpix files, including Multi-Order-Coverage (MOC) files
• New movie script mode.
• Color bars now support the width and center options to adjust the width and placement
• The DSS-SAO image server is no longer being maintained and has been removed. 2MASS and VLA image servers updated to new interfaces. SKYVIEW updated list of surveys. The list of catalogs has also been refreshed.
• Several other bug fixes and build enhancements.

Details

• BUILD: Updated Makefiles to ensure that tclsh is getting picked up from the local build directory.
• OPENSSL: Updated to 3.6.2
• TLS: Upgraded to 2.0
• TLS: Tweaked to work with ds9 build
• CERTIFI: Added certifi package (2026.04.22) to obtain SSL certificates.
• HTTP: Updated to support changes in TLS 2.0
• WINDOWS: Changed packaging to use Inno Setup installer
• CUBE: Fix problem trying to access specific cube slices (123, 132, 213, etc.)
• VIEW: Advanced view now supports separate icons that are dark mode friendly.
• THEMES: Updated scid themes to 1.0.0 and added dark mode options.
• FOOTPRINT: Updated the URL to the CXC footprint service
• VOTABLE: Updated to support both POST and GET requests required by CXC footprint service.
• ILLUSTRATE: Fix problem loading illustrate mode files (.seg) that contain a line shape.
• COLORBAR: Updated URL for CPT-CITY color map repository.
• HTTP: Updated to respect Content-Disposition header keys which contain filename values; required for new cpt-city server.
• GRAPH: Parser updated to require horizontal or vertical options
• DATA: Updated to return an error message if there are no frames.
• DATA: Updated to return an error message if there is a frame but no data loaded in it.
• DSSSAO: The DSS server at SAO is no longer being actively maintained, so dsssao now returns an error message.
• EXAMINE: Fix bug when event file is loaded, data are now properly binned to 1.0/zoom level.
• XPA: Generate an error on xpa connect if already connected instead of trying to disconnect and re-init the connection.
• TKSAO: Updated to use pkg-config if xml2-config is not available
• TCLXML: Updated to use pkg-config if xml2-config and/or xslt-config are not available
• DS9: Updated to use pkg-config if xml2-config is not available
• CAT: Updated selection of easy access catalogs to remove obsoleted versions and include newer surveys.
• TCLLIB: Updated to 1.2
• TKLIB: Updated to 0.9
• TCLSIGNAL: Updated to 1.4.5
• AWTHEMES: Updated to 10.4.0
• TTKTHEMES: Updated to 3.3.0
• FITSY: Updated HEALPIX code to support Multi-Order-Coverage (MOC) maps and partial Healpix files. Contributed by Antonella Fruscione.
• PHOTO: Fix regression introduced in 8.7 saving TIFF and JPEG formats via xpaget ds9 jpeg > foo.jpg due to tkimg behavior change.
• MOVIE: New script option allows users to write a script of instructions to control the image display such as pan, zoom, add/delete regions, adjust color map/scaling, etc, and turn that into movie.
• MANIFEST: added Manifest.md to identify which packages come from where, versions, and identify upstream sources.
• GITHUB: added GitHub actions contributed by Doug Burke.
• SAVEIMAGE: Added new option: -saveimage pdf will save image to PDF format.
• PLOT: Added new export option: -plot export pdf will save plots to PDF format.
• TKBLT: Updated to expose plot tick mark locations, curve points, and more to support PDF plots.
• PDF4TCL: Added v0.9.4 to packages to provide PDF support.
• COLORBAR: Added -center and -width options to reposition the colorbar. Both are numbers in the range from 0 to 1. For center a value of 0.5 (default) will be the center of the image, 0 is all the way to the left (or bottom for vertical orientation) and 1 is at the right (top). For width a value of 1 (default) is the full width (height) of the image; a value of 0.5 would be 50% of the width (height) of the image.
• REGIONS: Added documentation for the interactive callback option with DS9 format region files.
• VLA and 2MASS: Updated to new URLs/interfaces.
• SKYVIEW: Updated the list of surveys that are available.
• ILLUSTRATE : Now supports rotated ellipses and boxes.
• FRAME: In tiled frame mode, users can now re-order frames by pressing the Control Key and clicking then dragging the frame to move it.
• GRID: Coordinate grid parameters are now displayed in a single widget.
• FITSY: Bug fix for lossless compressed GZIP floating point images (e.g. created by astropy). Contributed by Tim Jenness.
• TCL and TK: Updated to 9.0.3. Several subpackage updates:
  • DS9: UTF-8 encoding normalization in internationalization files; runtime fixes for coroutine self-deletion; Tcl 9 binary data handling; menu tearoff restoration
  • TCLXML: Minimal refactoring to adapt to Tcl 9’s removal of the “binary” option in file/I/O operations. Changes are predominantly mechanical updates to use Tcl 9-compatible alternatives.
  • TKBLT: Rotated text rendering fixes for Tk 9; missing stdarg.h include addition; pointer/string handling updates for Tcl 9 API compatibility. Fix for double-buffer compatibility on macOS.
  • TKCON: Single-line exit behavior fix for Tcl 9 compatibility
    
  • TKHTML: Placeholder image handling for binary data/Tcl 9 compatibility. Fix for double-buffer compatibility on macOS .
  • TKSAO: Extensive widget system refactoring; consistent updates across 26 rendering variant files (colorbar + frame truecolor); macOS-specific rendering fixes; internal Tcl/Tk API compatibility for event loop and object access. Fix for double-buffer compatibility on macOS
  • TKSVG: Windows issue fix
  • XPA: Tcl 9 event loop integration; network resilience improvements for XPA_METHOD=inet when DNS resolution fails ; additional Tcl 9 compatibility fixes