Abstract
Contributed Talk - Splinter E-Science
Tuesday, 19 September 2017, 15:40 (HS2)
Fedora Astronomy - Integration of astronomical software into a Linux distribution
C. Dersch1
1Philipps-Universitaet Marburg, Fachbereich Physik, D-35032 Marburg, Germany
Fedora Astronomy is an effort to improve the astronomical software ecosystem. Many
fundamental software packages in astronomy are free software and required for the
astronomers daily work. An example is the Astropy package with its many affiliated
packages for more special applications, but also the AstrOmatic software like SExtractor
and applications to access the Virtual Observatory.
Fedora Astronomy is organized as a Special Interest Group (SIG) which
takes care of the integration of astronomical software into the Fedora Linux distribution.
The advantage of this way of software distribution is a well integration into the operating system
and between the different packages. Another task of the Fedora Astronomy SIG is the
deployment of a ready to use Linux environment for the purposes of both amateur and
professional astronomers, the Fedora Astronomy Lab.
Finally the Fedora Astronomy SIG discusses issues, for example changes in depending applications
or licensing, with upstream developers and takes care of the cooperation with other
distribution projects like Debian Astronomy.
The talk will cover the organization of the Fedora Astronomy SIG as well as the current state
of Fedora Astronomy and its position in the astronomical software ecosystem.
Furthermore possible improvements in scientific software distribution and schemes for
cooperation between the different Linux distributions will be discussed.