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jasercion edited this page Dec 18, 2025 · 4 revisions

The release of each version of the Fermitools will be announced on the fermi-soft mailing list. Please see the FSSC's instructions on subscribing to it and other Fermi mailing lists that may be of interest.

2.5.1 (2025-12-18)

Patch of 2.5.0 to include an update to the gtexpcube2 fhelp file that was not included in the previous release.

2.5.0 (2025-12-18)

An updated version (2.5.0) of the Fermitools is now available. A large number of changes have been made focusing on resolving issues with dependencies, internal tool testing and validation, and resolving outstanding issues. These changes include packaging a set of external dependencies with the tools for improved build and installation performance, a range of bug fixes and enhancements to backend code, and a complete overhaul of the FSSC build system.

Updates and Build System Improvements

  • The FSSC now distributes the compiled dependency libraries within the Fermitools. These no longer need to be added via package manager when installing the tools:
    • clhep
    • cppunit
    • f2c
    • fftw
    • gsl
    • healpix_cxx
    • wcslib
    • xercesc
  • The FSSC completely overhauled the Fermitools build and validation pipeline and has switched over to a Github Actions based system from Azure. This has provided the following enhancements:
    • Fermitools build and upload time is over twice as fast.
    • Automated test coverage has greatly increased and now incorporates additional testing based on the FSSC analysis threads.
    • Fermipy compatibility testing has been incorporated into the FSSC build and validation pipeline.
    • Maintenance required for the pipeline has been greatly decreased by streamlining the structure.
  • Documentation has been moved to https://github.com/fermi-lat/ScienceTools/wiki. The old wiki associated with the Fermitools-Conda repository will no longer be updated and should be used only for legacy builds.
  • The following tools have been deprecated:
    • gtophase
    • gtpphase
    • gtephem

Bug Fixes

  • SolarSystemTools #5 resolved. The issue where gtltcubesun would throw a segmentation fault when calculating a moving target livetime cube on linux-based machines has been fixed.
  • Likelihood #81 has been confirmed as resolved and closed.
  • Likelihood #127 has been confirmed as resolved and closed.
  • Likelihood #138 has been addressed with a short-term fix. The input parameter evtype must now be specified by the user when calling the tool due to a bug identified in the tool's automatic event type selection from the input counts map file. This will be patched fully in the next release. Users should take care to select the appropriate evtype for their analysis when using this tool.
  • Fermitools-conda #162 resolved and ST_version.py now reports correct versioning information.

Additional Notes

The following issues have now been closed due to either being superseded, fixed with interim OS/third party dependency updates, or were found to be no longer applicable to the current codebase. If you believe an issue to be closed in error please check the issue for linked superseding issues and, if there are none, reopen the issue and contact the FSSC:

2.4.0 (2025-04-21)

An updated version (2.4.0) of the Fermitools is now available. Improvements focus on resolving issues with outdated dependencies and improving compatibility (e.g., Astropy). This release also includes a range of bug fixes, enhancements to backend code, and updates to the build system.

Updates and Build System Improvements

  • Python updated to 3.11.11.
  • Astropy updated to 7.0.1.
  • Compatible with Fermipy version 1.4.0.
  • Removed pkgconfig dependency.
  • Updated build pipeline across all Fermitools submodules.

Bug Fixes

  • The likelihood plotting engine has been overhauled. The crash with interactive gtlike plotting on MacOS has been fixed (Issue 88). Linux plotting issues remain unresolved.
  • Fixed an issue within gtorbsim that prevented the rocking profile from accurately propagating through the mission week (Issue 169).
  • Fixed likelihood scan() crash if fix_src_pars = True (Issue 22).
  • Fixed issue with likelihood not properly handling memory clean up with the delete_local_fixed (Issue 90) and save_all_srcmaps flags (Issue 127).
  • Fixed deactivation issue (Issue 142).
  • Addressed Numpy datatype deprecation errors in all relevant code locations (Issue 143).
  • Fixed skymaps module import (Issue 18).
  • Gtburst has several changes:
    • Various fixes to work with newer versions of Python, Matplotlib, and other packages.
    • The "-fast" option is now enabled by default and no longer available. The "-gui" option can be used to revert to the old behavior.
    • "Make spectra for XSPEC" function has been fixed.
    • The Various fixes to work with newer versions of Python, Matplotlib, and other packages.
    • The "-fast" option is now enabled by default and no longer available. The "-gui" option can be used to revert to the old behavior.
    • "Make spectra for XSPEC" function has been fixed.
    • “Interactively recenter the ROI” has been disabled.

2.2.0 (2022-06-21)

This release is primarily aimed at solving problems that have made the Fermitools difficult to build and led to installation problems and lengthy installation times due to dependency resolution and dependency conflicts. These goals were primarily achieved by removing CERN's ROOT package from the Fermitools, which was the source of many of these issues.

Features

  • Removed Root and Root-dependent features
    • Standalone MINUIT2 optimizer implemented
    • Skymaps package removed
    • Pulsar and GRBObs models have been removed from gtobssim
  • Astropy will default to the latest version (currently 5.1 on release)
  • Python upgraded to 3.9
  • Native ARM builds for Apple M1 processors available

Bug Fixes

  • libCLHEP: Cannot open shared object file error fixed (Issue #107)
  • ModelEditor Tk callback error fixed (Issue #97)
  • Padding of PSF containment for diffuse sources adjusted to address (Issue #103
  • Fixed issue with gtburst overwriting files when downloading multiple files from the LAT data server (gtburst PR #7)
  • PFILES environment variable now sets correctly in csh activation script

2.0.8 (2021-01-20)

Features

Bug Fixes

2.0.0 (2020-09-21)

Features

  • The Fermitools have been updated to use Python 3. Python 2 has been sunset and is no longer supported.
  • The CALDB has been updated to add P8R3_V3 IRFs.
    • These IRFs use an in-flight calibration method to change the PSF event type effective area (as a function of energy and incidence angle) in order to improve the agreement between the observed and predicted numbers of events.
    • Please see that caveats at https://fermi.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/data/analysis/LAT_caveats.html.
    • Removed behavior that would automatically change selected IRFs to the latest version if only the version string had changed (e..g., change a call to P8R3_V2 IRFs to P8R3_V3). Added a warning if you are using an old version of the IRFs.
  • Added the PLSuperExpCutoff4 model.
  • ROOT has been updated to ROOT6. ROOT5 support has been deprecated.
  • Fermitools now compiled with Conda provided compilers (gcc 7.5.* and Clang 9.*)
    • condaforge/label/cf201901 label replaced with condaforge in the Fermitools install command

Bug Fixes

1.2.23 (2020-02-11)

Features

Bug Fixes

1.2.1 (2019-10-04)

Bug Fixes

  • A bug which was preventing updated parameter files from installing has been fixed.

1.2.0 (2019-10-03)

Features

  • The release contains a major update to the implementation of the energy dispersion correction method in the Fermitools. It can now take into account the interplay between the energy dispersion and PSF. Please read the usage recommendations and details and the caveats below.
  • A new tool called gtdrm has been added. It estimates the energy dispersion matrix for the energy binning that you are using and can be used to evaluate the size of the effect and help you decide how many bins to use.

Bug Fixes

  • Updated the fhelp files to add missing parameters.
  • Restored the "modeleditor" wrapper around ModelEditor.py that was missing from previous Fermitools releases.

Caveats

  • The gtobssim cannot use the energy dispersion correction method implemented in this release but can still use the previous correction method.
  • Any gtlike and pyLikehood analysis with edisp_bins > 0 using a source map file or exposure map file that does not include the extra energy bins will abort and give you a message explaining that you need to remake the offending file.
  • You may encounter a "missing parameter" error due to the addition of the edisp_bins parameter in several likelihood tools. You should remove the old parameter files (usually in your $HOME/pfiles directory). Running the tool again will install an updated parameter file.

1.0.10 (2019-07-15)

Features

1.0.9 (2019-07-01)

Bug Fixes

1.0.7 (2019-06-19)

Bug Fixes

Features

1.0.5 (2019-05-21)

Bug Fixes

1.0.2 (2019-04-22)

Bug Fixes

  • gtsrcmaps has been patched to prevent PSF extrapolation from going outside of range near the edge of large regions of interest

1.0.1 (2019-03-06)

Due to conda-forge changes, the label cf201901 is currently required during installation to avoid mismatched symbol errors. See the Installation Instructions and User Notes for more details. We hope to make this unnecessary for the next release of the Fermitools.

Improvements

  • Likelihood:
    • SummedLikelihood handling of priors has been improved.
    • ModelMap file writing has been made more efficient.
    • apply_psf and apply_exposure options moved to XML SpatialModel block.
    • Added GaussianError class to as a possible implementation of priors on parameters.
    • Switches added to turn on/off PSF convolution and exposure on a source by source basis.
  • gtmodel : Added phased_expmap parameter.
  • pointlike: A number of updates to bring it up to date with the latest development changes.
  • Implemented various C++17 standard compliance updates.

Bug Fixes

  • gtsrcmaps now generates properly filled source maps.
  • Likelihood: EblAtten bug fixed. Now the state of the underlying parameters is latched befored cloning.
  • gtexpcube2: HEALPix ordering scheme in has been fixed.
  • Astro package: Fixed error in Geodetic coordinate calculation.

1.0.0 (2018-10-15)

  • Initial release
  • Name change: The Fermi Science Support Center has opted to rename the version of the Fermi ScienceTools that is released via the Conda package management system 'Fermitools'. This is to deliniate between the old binary/source tarball download releases (which will remain 'ScienceTools') and the Fermitools conda package.
  • The primary goals of this release are to A) Transition to the Conda-based distribution system and B) Release required irfs and isotropic templates for use with the concurrently released P305 data set.
  • New IRFs and Isotropic Templates are included in this release for use with P305 data.
  • This release does NOT have updated Galactic Diffuse Models. The FSSC recommends continuing to use the current galactic diffuse model (gll_iem_v06.fits). This model can be obtained from the FSSC website or from the fermitools-data conda package.
  • A number of compatibility changes and bug fixes were made to the codebase to accomodate the Conda distribution system transition.
  • The ScienceTools/Fermitools codebase is now accessible via fermi-lat github.

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