Docker

Docker is a tool that packages an application and all its dependencies into a container, making it easy to run consistently on any computer system. This solves lots of annoying problems with, e.g., inconsistent library versions and environments.

There are a number of astronomical software packages that are available as Docker containers. Here are some that I use.

HEASoft 6.33.2

Note: I currently use the native Mac and Linux versions of HEASOFT, so the following instructions are out of date but might still be useful, so I am leaving them here.

• HEASsoft is a package of High Energy Astrophysics Software used for the extraction, reduction, and analysis of X-ray data.
• More information can be found on the HEASoft & Docker. This pages says, "Note that the HEASARC CALDB has been set up in your environment using the remote setting".

Mac installation and usage

Installation

With the Docker desktop running, proceeded as follows.

wget https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/FTP/software/lheasoft/release/heasoft-6.33.2docker0.98.tar
tar xvf heasoft-6.33.2docker0.98.tar
make

Usage

/opt/X11/bin/xhost + 127.0.0.1
docker run --rm -it -e DISPLAY=host.docker.internal:0 -v /Users/user1/data:/mydata heasoft:v6.33.2 tcsh

With X11 and mounting the host directory /Users/user1/data inside the container as /mydata.

Note in XQuartz settings under the security tab "Allow connections from network clients" needs to be checked.

So, for example, if you are in the working directory of the observational data you want to analyse you can do the following

/opt/X11/bin/xhost + 127.0.0.1
docker run --rm -it -e DISPLAY=host.docker.internal:0 -v ${PWD}:/data heasoft:v6.33.2 tcsh
cd /data
ls
xspec

and then analyse the data. All of your data will be visible (and read / writable) to the container in the /data directory. Instead of xspec you can run any FTOOL / HEASoft command.