GNU Astronomy Utilities (gnuastro)
===================================

GNU Astronomy Utilities is an official GNU program. It consists of a
set of utilities for astronomical data analysis directly from the
command line in a system that integrates fully with the GNU operating
system.

All the various utilities share the same basic command line user
interface for the comfort of both the users and developers. GNU
Astronomy Utilities is written to comply fully with the GNU coding
standards so it integrates finely with the GNU/Linux operating
system. This also enables astronomers to expect a fully familiar
experience in the source code, building, installing and command line
user interaction that they have seen in all the other GNU software
that they use.

GNU Astronomy Utilities comes with a complete and detailed
tutorial/manual in various formats (plain text, info, docbook, PDF and
HTML). You can get any of the formats from the GNU Astronomical
Utilities webpage. If you have already installed gnuastro, you can see
the manual by running:

    $ info gnuastro



Installing and running:
------------

The list of gnuastro requirements are fully explained in the
manual. To install gnuastro, after downloading or cloning it, all you
have to do is to run the standard configuring, compiling and
installing commands that are common to all GNU applications. In the
downloaded directory (`$` as user and `#` as root):

    $ ./configure
    $ make
    $ make check
    # make install

See `./INSTALL` for a standard review of the GNU build and install
methods.

All the programs in GNU Astronomy Utilities use the standard GNU/Linux
commandline options for configuration. Running any of the executables
with the `--help` option for a complete list of options and a short
explanation of each.