Highlights
Apart from many bug fixes and modernizations, a few new features were introduced:
- TaQL now supports copying columns to new columns (e.g. to make a backup of the `FLAG` column)
- Non-zero coordinates in JPL frames, e.g. the `SUN` frame, are now interpreted as an offset in right ascension and declination. Previously, coordinates in a JPL coordinate frame were ignored.
- The Dysco storage manager is now built by default as part of casacore.
General
- Improve continuous integration (1180, 1182), move from Travis CI to Github Actions (1086, 1097, 1098, 1161)
- Modernizations: remove Mutex (1095, 1127, 1128), typing system (1172, 1176)
- Allow building with newer compilers (1134, 1137, 1145, 1206, 1208, 1210, 1211)
- Build python3 by default, not python2 (1209)
MeasurementSet
- Improve reading of DataDescriptionId (1103)
- Compute feed information (1104) and field attributes (1109) on demand
- UVFits improvements: support X-Y mounts (1115), allow large antenna numbers (1144), fix handling FITS-IDI `GAIN_CURVE` (1151)
- Fix precision in `T+dT` syntax (1118)
Measures
- Allow offsets to JPL coordinates (1160)
Tables
- Cache iteration boundaries while sorting tables (1106)
- Use RefTable for iteration (1108)
- Adios2 related changes: 1110, 1116, 1121, 1148
- Make Dysco part of casacore (1117, 1125, 1146, 1166)
- Add TaQL commands `LIKE`, `COPYCOLUMN` and `DROPTABLE` (1154, 1169)
- Fix one bug in `rownr_t` migration for TiledDataStMan (1156)
- Improve documentation (1192)
Images
- Support CARTA opening images with a custom handler (1158)
- Allow easier python handling of beams (1184)