Installation

This page describes how to install and configure kred for reducing DECam data.

Requirements

Kred requires Python 3.8 or later with the following package versions:

Additionally, the external program SWarp must be installed separately for image mosaicing.

Clone the kred repository to your home directory:

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/kslong/kred.git

Create and activate a new conda environment with the required packages:

conda create --name kred python=3.10 scipy astropy numpy matplotlib
conda activate kred
conda install -c conda-forge photutils astroquery gaiaxpy

Alternatively, install with pip after creating the environment:

conda create --name kred python=3.10
conda activate kred
pip install scipy astropy numpy matplotlib photutils astroquery gaiaxpy

Add the following to your shell configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export KRED=$HOME/kred/
export PATH=$PATH:$KRED/py_progs/
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:$KRED/py_progs/

Then reload your shell configuration:

source ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc

SWarp is required for creating tile mosaics. Install it using your system package manager:

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install swarp

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install swarp

Conda:

conda install -c conda-forge astromatic-swarp

Verify that kred is correctly installed:

# Check that scripts are accessible
MefSum.py -h

# Check Python imports
python -c "import MefSum; print('OK')"

# Check SWarp
swarp -v

Kred expects a specific directory structure for processing. Create a working directory and ensure it contains:

Working Directory/
├── DECam_MEF/          # Raw multi-extension FITS files
└── config/             # Configuration files (optional)

Output directories are created automatically during processing:

Directory	Contents
`Summary/`	Field and tile inventory (MefSum)
`DECam_PREP/`	Rescaled images (MefPrep)
`DECam_SWARP/`	Tile mosaics without background matching
`DECam_BACK/`	Temporary background images
`DECam_PREP2/`	Background-corrected images (BackSub)
`DECam_SWARP2/`	Tile mosaics with background matching
`DECam_SUB/`	Continuum-subtracted images (CleanStars)
`TabPhot/`	Photometry tables
`Figs_phot/`	Photometry figures
`GAIA/`	Cached GAIA catalogs

Once installed, see the main documentation for the standard processing pipeline. A quick test to verify everything works:

cd /path/to/working/directory
MefCheck.py LMC_c42
MefSum.py -np 4 LMC_c42