[iaufwg] Final wording of 64-bit image support

[William Pence]

Dear IAU FITS Working Group members,

As you recall, last December we voted to add support for 64-bit integer 
images to the FITS Standard.  The vote was 19 Yes, 2 No, and 1 Abstain. 
Since 86% of the members voted 'yes', the proposal was approved, however the 
2 'no' votes forced a 6-month delay in the final adoption of the measure. 
The main purpose of this delay is to allow everyone time to reflect on the 
measure, and perhaps come up with some compromise wording that everyone 
could accept.

This 6 month period ends in June, so if anyone (especially those that voted 
'No') have any suggestions for modifying the wording of the proposal that 
might be acceptable to everyone, now is the time to make them.

For reference, the web page at http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_64bit.html 
provides a lot of background information.  In particular, it has links to 
the marked-up PDF document that shows the specific changes to the wording of 
the FITS standard that we approved, as well as a link to the provisional 
2.1b version of the FITS Standard that incorporates all these changes. 
Unless we agree on any further changes before June, this will become the 
official version of the FITS Standard.

regards,
Bill
-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Dr. William Pence                       pence at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)