13/2/04.

Steve, Dave G.,

As promised in previous messages, I've prepared a final release of
Figaro, including the few extant changes.  It is now ready to be
collected.  I've also prepared an additional tar archive containing
additional Figaro stuff which is not included in a release.  In
particular anyone supporting Figaro should look at the Maintenance Note
in:

  .../ figaro/release/note/release_v3.tex

The details of the release are:

ftp:        ftp.roe.ac.uk
directory:  /pub/acd/release/figaro
files:      figaro_2004_02_09.tar.Z
            figaro_2004_02_12_extrastuff.tar.Z

The release should all build and install in the normal way.  Get back to
me if there are problems.

With the submission of this release I relinquish support of Figaro.
I'll no longer fix bugs or prepare releases.

After due consideration I've decided that I'm prepared to remain on the
e-mail distribution list for Figaro bugs ([log in to unmask]).  I
won't normally respond to bugs submitted to this e-mail address, and
someone else should be assigned as the primary contact.  However, I may
jump in with advice if the problem is one that I know the solution to
(but that doesn't happen very often :-) ).  It is probably worth
mentioning that the volume of traffic now is much lower than it used to be.

I've also updated the Figaro Web pages so that they refer to the latest
version.  These pages are currently hosted from my WWW home directory.
I'm happy for them to remain there, but I'll no longer update them.
Alternatively, I'll create a tar archive of them and pass them on if you
prefer.

Finally, a couple of months ago I was pleased to rescue a couple of
copies of the `Figaro Programmer's Guide' from being thrown out when one
of the System Manager's offices here was being cleared out.  These
manuals are now a collector's item.  Mike Lawden used to have a stack of
them, but they vanished round about the time that he did.  I've never
seen the Latex source, though Mike might have had a copy and Keith
Shortridge may well still retain it.  Anyway, I'll post a copy to
whoever is assigned to look after Figaro.

As I've previously mentioned I'll continue to support CAT and CURSA on a
`best efforts' basis, though these too now require very little work.  I
hope to supply new releases of them in a few months (I'd originally hoped
to do so this week, but I've been distracted with various AstroGrid
alarums and excursions).

cheers,
Clive.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clive Davenhall                                      Institute for Astronomy,
e-mail (internet, JANET): acd @ roe.ac.uk        Royal Observatory Edinburgh,
fax from within the UK:   0131-668-8416            Blackford Hill, Edinburgh,
fax from overseas:     +44-131-668-8416                    EH9 3HJ, Scotland.