README

				   
                      fitsTcl Installation Guide


   fitsTcl is a TCL interface to the CFITSIO astronomical library
   which provides access to FITS data files.  It can be used either by
   itself within the standard Tcl/Tk applications tclsh and wish, or
   within the fv software package also distributed by the HEASARC at
   NASA Goddard.

   The fitsTcl User's Guide is located in the fitsTcl.html file
   distributed with fitsTcl and located on the web at:

       http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools/fv/fitsTcl.html

   fitsTcl can be built under PC Linux or Mac OS X, and requires the
   CFITSIO and Tcl packages.  Instructions for building the software
   are below.

   Please send any questions or problem reports to the FTOOLS help desk:
   
       ftoolshelp@bigbang.gsfc.nasa.gov.

   Before building fitsTcl, make sure you have Tcl installed on your
   machine and can locate the tcl.h header file.  To build the fitsTcl
   library:

   1.  Download the latest version of the cfitsio source code from:

         http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/fitsio/fitsio.html

       and unpack the tar file.

   2.  Unpack the compressed fitsTcl tar file and enter the fitsTcl-2.4
       directory.

   3.  Configure fitsTcl for your system with the command

          ./configure [optional arguments]

       where the optional arguments are:

          --prefix=DIR1 --with-cfitsio=DIR2 --with-tcl-includes=DIR3

          DIR1 is the installation path (default is /usr/local)

          DIR2 is the path to the cfitsio source directory
               (default is ./cfitsio)

          DIR3 is the path to the location of the tcl.h header file
               (default is $prefix/include or /usr/include).

       These may be considered optional only if the defaults are valid
       for your system/setup.

       Under the Cygwin environment, an additional argument is required:

          --with-tcl=DIR4

          DIR4 is the path to the location of the Tcl library (libtcl8.x.dll).

       The final library will be installed in the directory DIR1/lib
       which must exist.  Note that the library itself does not depend
       on the value of DIR1, only the installation step in the Makefile.

   4.  Build fitsTcl with the command

          make

   5.  Install fitsTcl either with the command

          make install

       which will place it in the DIR1/lib directory, or move the
       library (libfitstcl.so, or libfitstcl.dylib under Mac OS X)
       manually to where you want it.

   To use fitsTcl, startup tclsh or wish and type the command

       load libfitstcl.so (libfitstcl.dylib on Mac OS X)

   You may need to specify an explicit path to the library or set the
   LD_LIBRARY_PATH (DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH on Mac OS X) to its location.