v0.38.0

This release of simtools, the simulation toolkit for the CTA Observatory, includes the following main changes:

Bugfixes

• Do not initialize simulation model reader when generating test resources. (#2525)
• Ensure that child processes of simtools-run-application use the given env file. (#2530)
• Bugfix in UTM to ground coordinates transformation for non-telescope array elements: ignore missing telescope axis height for altitude calculation. (#2533)
• HTCondor container workers now use safe Python path handling and do not inject the submitting checkout into PYTHONPATH. (#2544)
• Fix illuminator simulation error handling. (#2555)
• Honor the registered array-element list when generating array configurations. (#2563)
• Return a failing exit status when model-production directories differ. (#2564)
• Stream standalone reduced-event exports and fail when the input pattern matches no files. (#2565)
• Report duplicate threshold/run inputs instead of silently dropping one product. (#2566)
• Reject event histogram inputs with mixed exposure metadata or binning. (#2567)
• Require measured PSF data before running cumulative-PSF ray tracing. (#2568)
• Fail illuminator simulation when the requested selection schedules no pairs. (#2570)
• Support CORSIKA output validation without an expected shower count. (#2571)
• Convert FADC readout samples to nanoseconds when deriving pulse-shape parameters. (#2572)
• Validate zenith angles before applying the camera-efficiency secant airmass model. (#2574)
• Reject unknown primary particles during automatic trigger-rate spectrum selection. (#2575)
• Verify interaction-table SHA-256 digests when supplied by the manifest. (#2576)
• Allow camera-efficiency reference comparisons to tolerate architecture-dependent floating-point differences. (#2580)
• Fixes minor issues leading to failures of the simulation models documentation generation in the CI in simulation-models. (#2582)

Documentation

• Improve integration test skill. (#2521)

New Features

• Add signal-level production comparison to simtools-compare-productions. (#2469)
• Improve simulation production metadata and accessing of production files in file-based systems.
  Production runs now retain per-process resource records for CORSIKA, multipipe, and sim_telarray. (#2496)
• Adds process-level accounting to simulation production execution. (#2512)
• Improve metadata collection and validation to include sim_telarray and CORSIKA output. (#2513)
• Replace the sim_telarray testeff tool by a simtools implementation. (#2516)
• Add functionality to simtools-compare-productions to compare and plot required computing resources. (#2535)
• Update and cleanup derive_incident_angle to export incident angle model parameters. (#2543)
• Warn on DIRAC filename-length overflow in generated runner outputs. (#2547)
• Add a service application simtools-validate-repository-consistency to be used e.g., in the setting repository to validate complete configuration and metadata
  files. (#2559)
• Add ECSV support for model-parameter setting-workflow outputs and validation. (#2562)
• Add CORSIKA7 QGSJet-II / URQMD executables for flat and curved atmosphere (selected by corsika_he_interaction=qgs2). (#2583)

Maintenance

• Exporting trigger threshold as parameter and updating plotting. (#2457)
• Simplification in simulation models structure for CORSIKA and sim_telarray parameters. (#2493)
• Remove overwrite.yaml files and move overwrite dictionaries into job grid file metadata. (#2494)
• Reduce number of trigger to build-CI for CORSIKA and sim_telarray. (#2504)
• Isolate MongoDB routines and support reading simulation models from a fixed Git revision.
  MongoDB remains the fallback when no filesystem or Git source is configured. (#2506)
• Correct model-table serialization contracts, database asset identity handling, historical camera
  plotting, and generated model-parameter links. (#2508)
• Change azimuth of the simulation-prod integration test to a value that is neither North nor South. (#2510)
• Improve efficiency of CI testing changelogs. (#2524)
• Adding integration tests for simtools-derive-bias-curves and removing duplication from documentation. (#2526)
• Improve efficiency of several simtools applications by avoiding unjustified simulation model initialization. (#2528)
• Remove code and schema related to deprecated pedestal_events model parameter. (#2531)
• Rename simtools-db-get-parameter-from-db to simtools-get-model-parameter and
  simtools-db-get-array-layouts-from-db to simtools-get-array-layout. (#2532)
• Remove conversion application from sim_telarray configuration to simtools. (#2534)
• Speed up coordinate conversion workflows by loading only the required site parameters and caching dependency metadata.
  Restrict SIMTOOLS_TESTS_PATH handling to integration-test configuration. (#2536)
• Improve application startup by minimizing matplotlib imports. (#2537)
• Improve efficiency of schema validation CI (x10 speedup). (#2540)
• Address warnings issued during container builds. (#2545)
• Remove MongoDB-related code. Simulation models are now retrieved from filesystem or Git sources. (#2548)
• Improve file naming for trigger histogram writing; resolve model version issue with lists vs string handling. (#2550)
• Add GitHub mirror fallback for integration test dependencies. (#2556)
• Remove build-kit cache entries from container building workflows. (#2577)
• Address linter issues for python 3.14.7. (#2581)
• Add a preparation step to the integration tests workflows to provide required simulation model parameter files. (#2584)
• Improve dependency catalogue with better readability and complete list of systems.
  Allow test CI to select simulation-models and simtools-tests branches, defaulting to main independently of release dependency refs.
  Use readable Git refs in the dependency catalog and record observed commits in build provenance.
  Validate Git refs and artifact identifiers, honor optional interaction-table revisions, and bound production image tag lengths. (#2586)
• Skip no-commit-to-main check when running the software update workflow. (#2587)
• Minimize tests and documentation on dependency versions. (#2588)

Simulation model

• Update default simulation models tag to v0.18.0.
• Add new model parameter illuminator_tower_height. (#2514)