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Changelog

[Unreleased]

Added

  • Documentation Examples: Consolidated example scripts and guides into the official documentation. Added a new docs/examples.md page that includes an interactive Jupyter Notebook-style walkthrough and CLI quick-start guide.
  • Added pocs version command to display the current version of panoptes-pocs and panoptes-utils.
  • Improved pocs camera take-bias organization: each run now uses its own timestamped subfolder for both raw frames and the master bias.

Changed

  • Documentation Migration: Transitioned from Sphinx/reStructuredText to MkDocs/Markdown with the Material theme. #1414
  • Updated AGENTS.md and GEMINI.md to mandate the use of Markdown and MkDocs for all future documentation.
  • Added GitHub Actions workflow for automated documentation deployment to GitHub Pages.

Removed

  • Removed the examples/ directory and moved its content to an interactive Jupyter walkthrough in docs/examples.md.

Fixed

  • Fixed zsh-autosuggestions not working in the install-zsh.sh script by ensuring history is configured before plugins are loaded. #1416
  • Fixed pocs camera take-bias processing all files in the bias directory instead of just the current run.
  • Fixed namespaces = false in pyproject.toml that broke the panoptes namespace package shared with panoptes-utils.

0.8.1 - 2026-03-20

Fixed

  • Fixed pocs power CLI commands causing Pydantic validation errors in the power service by correctly sending JSON payloads. #1411

Added

  • Calibration frame commands for taking bias frames and flat fields
    • pocs camera take-bias: Takes bias frames (zero exposure), stacks them, and reports statistics (default: 10 frames)
    • pocs run take-flats: Takes flat field images with automatic exposure adjustment and mount positioning
  • ZWO cameras now have a fix_bit_padding option: True means restore raw data to native resolution of camera, False (default) will keep the data driver-padded 16-bits.
  • Ability to store the weather readings permanently via the config. #1405

Changed

  • Upgraded fastapi from <0.106.0 to the latest stable release (v0.135.1). #1408
  • Observation exposure time defaults: when exptime is not specified in field files, observations now use the cameras.defaults.exptime configuration value instead of a hardcoded 120 seconds. This allows setting camera-specific defaults (e.g., 30s for ZWO cameras, 120s for DSLRs) in the config without needing to specify exposure time for every field. The fallback remains 120 seconds if not configured.
  • pocs camera setup now automatically sets cameras.defaults.exptime to 1 second when ZWO cameras are detected, optimizing the default for faster-readout CCD cameras.
  • CompoundObservation now raises a clear ValueError if instantiated without an exptime parameter, since it requires a sequence of exposure times to cycle through.
  • DarkObservation now explicitly passes the first exposure time to the parent Observation class, ensuring consistent behavior with the new default exptime logic.

0.8.0 - 2026-02-17

Added

  • Tags support for observations: observations can now be tagged with arbitrary string labels for metadata searching and filtering. Tags are specified in field YAML files under the observation key and are included in observation status, serialization, and FITS headers. #968
  • AGENTS.md file documenting available AI agents and their capabilities
  • Beginner documentation: conceptual overview, architecture guide, glossary, and CLI examples #173
  • Beginner Resources section in main README (top-level) #173
  • Enhanced installation script with visual progress indicators, spinner animations, and colored output
  • Automated udev rule creation and installation for iOptron mounts in pocs mount setup #1320
  • uv.lock file for reproducible dependency installations

Changed

  • Breaking: Migrated from Hatch to UV package manager with setuptools build backend
    • Replaced Hatch build system with setuptools + setuptools-scm for versioning
    • Updated pyproject.toml to use modern PEP 735 dependency groups (testing, lint, dev)
    • Migrated from hatch-vcs to setuptools-scm for git-based versioning
    • Updated README with UV installation and usage instructions
    • Renamed install-hatch.sh to install-uv.sh
    • Updated install-pocs.sh to use uv sync instead of Hatch commands
    • Updated CLI commands to use run_uv_command() instead of run_hatch_command()
    • Removed Hatch environment configurations in favor of UV's dependency group system
  • Reorganized pyproject.toml to use modern setuptools automatic package discovery
  • Updated dependency versions: certifi>=2024.2.2, requests>=2.32.0, urllib3>=2.0.7
  • Updated GitHub Actions workflows to use uv for faster CI/CD:
    • Test workflow now uses uv sync with dependency groups and caching
    • Release workflow uses uv build and uv publish for PyPI publishing
    • Updated to modern action versions (actions/checkout@v4, actions/setup-python@v5)
  • Improved installation scripts with better error handling and user feedback
  • Enhanced install.sh with step-by-step progress tracking and live log tailing
  • Improved ZSH installation script with better shell switching logic
  • Updated system dependency installation for better compatibility
  • examples/beginner_simulation.py: use local config, display devices, fix simulators parameter
  • Documentation: clickable links, CLI-first approach, plain language

0.7.8

Generic

  • Breaking changes #1074

    • Python 3.8

    • Default service install does not include focuser dependencies.

    • Default service is running a public jupyter lab.

    • Default Docker command is a ipython console with the simulators loaded.

    • Docker image only contains limited set of files.

    • Directories inside the service image have been simplified for easier mapping onto desired targets on the host. The main top-level directory (i.e. $PANDIR) is now /POCS with other folders nested underneath.

    • Removing peas scripts.

    • New Power Board and arduino sketch for controlling power and reading currents. #1038

    • Serial Mount: clarify the driver, brand, and model options. #1085

      • brand and model determine the directory/file to use for looking up the mount commands. brand should be a subdir of the directories.mounts config entry (which is set to resources/mounts by default) and model should be the name of the yaml file (without the extension).
      • driver should be the fully qualified namespace to the python file. Fixes #1081

    Example:

      # This will look for `resources/mounts/ioptron/cem40.yaml`
  # for the command file and will load the `driver` via `load_module`
  mount:
    brand: ioptron
    model: cem40
    driver: panoptes.pocs.mount.ioptron.cem40

Added

  • Simple example script for creating a POCS instance with all simulators. #1074
  • Using threading.excepthook to log errors in camera exposure threads. #1074
  • Adding cem40.py mount driver and commands file. #1085

Changed

  • Updated install script (includes ZSH again). #1074
  • Pointing state is skipped if num_pointing_images==0. #1074
  • The default radius for solving images is 15°.
  • Don't parse mount commands with new serializers, which was turning the 0040 mount version into a date for some reason. #1085
  • Organized the mount command files better. #1085
  • Don't update config server when creating simulator. Fixes #1080

Docker

  • PANUSER owns conda. #1068
  • Dockerfile cleanup for better builds. #1068
  • Docker image does not contain focuser extras by default. #1068
  • Images use gcr.io/panoptes-exp/panoptes-utils as base. #1074
  • Docker files are all contained within docker folder. #1074
  • Docker image has tycho2 10-19 index files for plate-solving. #1074
  • Docker services (config-server and pocs-control) are started in global mode so tehre can be only one. # 1074
  • Config changed to run with simulators out of the box. #1074

Removing

  • Old scripts and config files. #1074

Testing

  • Fix the log level in conftest. #1068
  • Move all tests into tests subdir from project root. #1068
  • Cleanup of testing setup, especially for GHA. #1068
  • Simplify testing service by removing tests/env file. #1074

0.7.7 - 2021-01-19

Added

  • Conda environment file. (@wtgee #1066)
  • Add the [gsutil]{.title-ref} to [google]{.title-ref} install options. Required for uploading data. (@wtgee #1036, #1037)
  • Ability to specify autofocus plots in config file. (@wtgee #1029)
  • A "developer" version of the panoptes-pocs docker image is cloudbuilt automatically on merge with develop. (@wtgee #1010)
  • Better error checking in cameras, including ability to store error. (@AnthonyHorton #1007)
  • Added error.InvalidConfig exception. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Config options to control camera processing options and allow for [defaults]{.title-ref} in the config that applies to all cameras: (@wtgee #1007)
    • cameras.defaults.compress_fits if FITS files should be fpacked. Default True.
    • cameras.defaults.record_observations if observation metadata should be recorded. Default True.
    • cameras.defaults.make_pretty_images to make jpgs from images. Default True.

Breaking

  • The model parameter for the camera and subcomponents needs a fully resolved namespace for either the module or class. (@wtgee #1007)
  • The take_exposure method returns an event to indicate that exposure is in progress, not to indicate when exposure has completed. The event is stored in the camera object and accessible via camera.is_exposing. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Removed camera temperature stability checking for now. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Moved the AbstractGphotoCamera class into it's own namespace and file. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Python moved back to 3.7. (#1021)

Bug fixes

  • Fix incorrect import of autofocus plots. (@wtgee #1034)
  • DSLR simulator cameras properly override the cooling defaults. (@wtgee #1001)
  • Stability checks for cooled cameras so they are only marked ready when cooled condition has stabilized. (@danjampro #990)
  • Properly closed the autofocus matplotlib figures. (@wtgee #1029)
  • Prevent thumbnails from being larger than image. (@wtgee #1029)

Changed

  • Clean up dependencies and offer extras install options. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Split some hardware options, such as focuser, which has extra dependencies.
  • Consolidate config files into conf_files dir. This includes targets and state machine files. (@wtgee #1066)
  • Change thumbnail_size to cutout_size consistently. (@wtgee #1040.)
  • Camera observation updates:
    • TheSkyX utilities added (from panoptes-utils). (@wtgee #1066)
    • headers param fixed so truly optional. The POINTING keyword is checked in the metadata, not original headers. Closes #1002. (@wtgee #1009)
    • Passing approved headers will actually write them to file. (@wtgee #1009)
    • blocking=False param added. If True, will wait on observation_event. (@wtgee #1009)
    • Renamed metadata variables to be consistent. (@wtgee #1009)
    • _process_fits is responsible for writing the headers rather than calling out to panoptes-utils. Allows for easier overrides. (@wtgee #1009)
    • dslr simulator readout time improved. (@wtgee #1009)
    • process_exposure doesn't require the exposure_event to be passed because that is the cameras is_exposing property. (@wtgee #1009)
    • The autofocus plotting has been moved to an external file. (@wtgee #1029)
  • Changelog cleanup. (@wtgee #1008)
  • panoptes-utils updates:
    • Updated panoptes-utils to v0.2.30. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Updated panoptes-utils to v0.2.29. (@wtgee #1021)
    • Updated panoptes-utils to v0.2.28. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Updated panoptes-utils to v0.2.27 to support the envvars for starting config server. (@wtgee #1001)
  • Move the wait-for-it.sh script into scripts. (@wtgee #1001)
  • Camera:
    • Changed how subcomponents for camera are created. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Camera and subcomponent stringification changed for clarity. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Can reassign SDK camera if same UID is presented with flag to create_cameras_from_config. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Add support for taking "dark" frames for cameras with mechanical shutters or opaque filters in the filterwheel. (@AnthonyHorton #989)
    • _poll_exposure was needlessly being called in a threading.Timer rather than a simple threading.Event. (@wtgee @1007)
    • Slight improvements to the timeout and readout for exposures with the simulators. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Docker:
    • Default $PANUSER is now pocs-user instead of panoptes. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Docker images default to latest instead of develop. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Removed developer docker image. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Updated to match panoptes-utils Docker updates: removal of source-extractor and more. (@wtgee #1008)
    • gphoto2 comes from apt. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Local setup script doesn't build panoptes-utils but assumes done otherwise or uses gcr.io. (@wtgee #1007)
  • Testing:
    • Added tests/env file for setting up testing. (@wtgee #1066)
    • Config server is started as part of pytest again (reverting below). (@wtgee #1066)
    • Testing is run from a locally built Docker image for both local and CI testing. (@wtgee #1001)
    • Config file for testing is moved to $PANDIR/tests/testing.yaml. (@wtgee #1001)
    • Config server for testing is started external to pytest, which is currently lowering coverage. (@wtgee #1001)
    • Coverage reports are generated inside the Docker container. (@wtgee #1001)
    • Default log level set to TRACE. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Less hard-coding of fixtures and answers, more config server. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Renamed the cameras in testing fixtures. (@wtgee #1007)
    • Cooled cameras have temperature stability check in conftest. (@wtgee #1007)

Removed

  • Removed testing and local setup scripts. (@wtgee #1066)
  • Removed manuals from resources directory. (@wtgee #1066)
  • Removed all arduino files, to be replaced by Firmata. See instructions on gitbook docs. (@wtgee #1035)
  • Remove create_camera_simulator helper function. (@wtgee #1007)

0.7.6 - 2020-08-21

Changed

  • Dependency updates:

    • panoptes-utils to 0.2.26. (#995)
    • panoptes-utils to 0.2.21. (#979)
    • panoptes-utils to 0.2.20. (#974)

  • Install script. (#974)

    • Env var file is sourced for zshrc and bashrc.
    • Fix the clone of the repos in install script. (#978)
    • Adding a date version to script. (#979)
    • docker-compose version bumped to 1.26.2. (#979)
    • Better testing for ssh access. (#984)
    • Using linuxserver.io docker-compose so we also have arm version without work. (#986)
    • Fixing conditional so script can proceed without restart. (#986)
    • Generalizing install script in sections. (#986)

  • Development Environment (#974)

    • Many cleanups to environment and launch. See docs.
    • Config server started along with development environment.
    • Docker images and python packages are now automated via GitHub Actions and Google Cloud Build. (#995)

  • Docker image updates (#972)

    • Updated install-pocs.sh script.
    • latest installs the panoptes-pocs module from pip
    • develop installs via pip install -e[google.testing] and is used for running the CI tests.
    • developer-env installs locally but with all options, i.e. pip install -e[google,testing,plotting,developer]. Also builds jupyterlab and other developer tools. Starts a jupyterlab instance by default.
    • Use new arduino-cli installer.
    • Add bin/panoptes-develop and bin/wait-for-it.sh to installed scripts.
    • Add docker/setup-local-environment.sh, a convenience script for building local images.
    • Python moved to 3.8. (#974)
    • Docker images are now built with buildx to get an arm version running. (#978)
    • Removing readline and pendulum dependencies. (#978)
    • Fully automated build and release of packages with GitHub Actions. (#995)

  • Testing (#974)

    • Removing all the dynamic config server info, making things a lot simpler.
    • docker-compose files for running tests.
    • Misc documentation updates.
    • Code coverage no longer ignores test.
    • Testing is run via panoptes-develop test.
    • Log files are rotated during each run.

  • POCS (#974)

    • POCS instance cannot initialize unless it's observatory.can_observe.
    • Set simulator config item at start of POCS init method if simulators (note plural) is passed.
    • Simplification of the run method and the various predicates used to control it. Now just use the computed keep_running.
    • Adding some action flags to the pocs.yaml file.
    • Remove POCS.check_environment class method.
    • Add a console_log_level and stderr_log_level. The former is written to the log file in $PANLOG and is meant to be tailed in the console. The stderr_log_level is what would be displayed, e.g. in a jupyter notebook. (#977)
    • Mount simulator better name and stringify. (#977)
    • Global db object for PanBase (#977)
    • Allow for custom folder for metadata. (#979)
      • Default changed to metadata.

  • Camera simulator cleanup. (#974)

  • Scheduler (#974)

  • The fields_file is read when scheduler is created.

0.7.4 - 2020-05-31

Note that we skipped 0.7.2 and 0.7.3.

Bug fixes

  • Package name is panoptes-pocs for namespace consistency. (#971)
  • README changed to rst. (#971)

0.7.1 - 2020-05-31

If you thought 9 months between releases was a long time, how about 18 months! :) This version has a lot of breaking changes and is not backwards compatible with previous versions. The release is a (big) stepping stone on the way to 0.8.0 and (eventually!) a 1.0.0.

The entire repo has been redesigned to support docker images. This comes with a number of changes, including the refactoring of many items into the panoptes-utils repo.

There are a lot of changes included in this release, highlights below:

This changelog is likely missing some things. The release was large. Too large. 
If you think something might be working different that just might be true. Check the forums.

Added

  • Storing an explicit safety collection in the database.
  • Configuration file specific for testing rather than relying on pocs.yaml.
  • Convenience scripts for running tests inside docker container:

scripts/testing/test-software.sh

  • GitHub Actions for testing and coverage upload.

Changed

  • Docker as default. (#951).
  • Weather items have moved to aag-weather.
    • Two docker containers run from the aag-weather image and have a docker/docker-compose-aag.yaml file to start.
  • Config items related to the configuration system have been moved to the Config Server in panoptes-utils repo.
    • The main interface for POCS related items is through self.get_config, which can take a key and a default, e.g. self.get_config('mount.horizon', default='30 deg').
    • Test writing is affected and is currently more difficult than would be ideal. An updated test writing document will be following this release.
  • Logging has changed to loguru and has been greatly simplified:
    • get_root_logger has been replaced by get_logger.

  • The per-run logs have been removed and have been replaced by two logs files:

    • $PANDIR/logs/panoptes.log: Log file meant for watching on the command line (via tail) or for otherwise human-readable logs. Rotated daily at 11:30 am. Only the previous days' log is retained.
    • $PANDIR/logs/panoptes_YYYYMMDD.log: Log file meant for archive or information gathering. Stored in JSON format for ingestion into log analysis service. Rotated daily at 11:30 and stored in a compressed file for 7 days. Future updates will add option to upload to google servers.

  • loguru provides two new log levels

    • trace: one level below debug.
    • success: one level above info.

Breaking

  • Mount: unparking has been moved from the ready to the slewing state. This fixes a problem where after waiting 10 minutes for observation check, the mount would move from park to home to park without checking weather safety.
  • Documentation updates.
  • Lots of conversions to f-strings.
  • Renamed codecov configuration file to be compliant.
  • Switch to pyscaffold for package maintenance.
  • "Waiting" method changes:
    • sleep has been renamed to wait.
  • All status() methods have been converted to properties that return a useful dict.
  • Making proper abstractmethods.
  • Documentation updates where found.
  • Many log and f-string fixes.
  • pocs.config_port property available publicly.
  • horizon check for state happens directly in run.

Removed

  • Cleanup of any stale or unused code.
  • All mongo related code.
  • Consolidate configration files: .pycodestyle.cfg, .coveragerc into setup.cfg.
  • Weather related items. These have been moved to aag-weather.
  • All notebook tutorials in favor of panoptes-tutorials
  • Remove all old install and startup scripts.

0.6.2 - 2018-09-27

One week between releases is a lot better than 9 months! ;) Some small but important changes mark this release including faster testing times on local machines. Also a quick release to remove some of the CloudSQL features (but see the shiny new Cloud Functions over in the panoptes-network repo!).

Fixed

  • Use unit_id for sequence and image ids. Important for processing consistency #613.
  • State Machine

Changed

  • Remove camera creation from Observatory #612.
  • Smarter event waiting #625.
  • More cleanup, especially path names and pretty images #610, #613, #614, #620.
  • Caching some of the build dirs #611.
  • Only use Mongo DB type during local testing - Local testing with 1/3rd the wait! #616.
  • Google Cloud #599
  • Storage improvements #601.

Added

  • CountdownTimer utility #625.

Removed

  • Google Cloud #599
  • Reverted some of the CloudSQL connectivity #652
  • Remove spline smoothing focus #621.

0.6.1 - 2018-09-20

  • Lots of changes in this release. In particular we've pushed through a lot of changes
  • (especially with the help of @jamessynge) to make the development process a lot
  • smoother. This has in turn contribute to the quality of the codebase.

Too long between releases but even more exciting improvements to come! Next up is tackling the events notification system, which will let us start having some vastly improved UI features.

Below is a list of some of the changes.

Thanks to first-time contributors: @jermainegug @jeremylan as well as contributions from many folks over at https://github.com/AstroHuntsman/huntsman-pocs.

Fixed

  • Fix for DATE-OBS fits header #589.
  • Better property settings for DSLRs #589.
  • Pretty image improvements #589.
  • Autofocus improvements for SBIG/Focuser #535.
  • Primary camera updates #614, 620.
  • Many bug fixes #457, #589.
  • Many fixes #509, #518.

Changed

  • POCS Shell: Hitting Ctrl-c will complete movement through states #590.
  • Pointing updates, including auto_correct #580.
  • Tracking mode updates (fixes for Northern Hemisphere only!) #549.
  • Serial interaction improvements #388, #403.
  • Shutdown improvements #407, #421.
  • Changes from May Huntsman commissioning run #535
  • Better and consistent topic terminology #593, #605.
  • Anticipation of coming events.
  • Default to rereading the fields file for targets #488.
  • Timelapse updates #523, #591.

Added

  • Basic scripts for bias and dark frames.
  • Add support for Optec FocusLynx based focus controllers #512.
  • Pretty images from FITS files. Thanks @jermainegug! #538.
  • pyflakes testing support for bug squashing! #596.
  • pycodestyle for better code! #594.
  • Threads instead of process #468.
  • Fix coverage & Travis config for concurrency #566.
  • Google Cloud #599
  • Added instructions for authentication #600.
  • Add a pan_id to units for GCE interaction#595.
  • Adding Google CloudDB interaction #602.
  • Much work on arduinos and sensors #422.
  • Startup scripts for easier setup #475.
  • Install scripts for Ubuntu 18.04 #585.
  • New database type: mongo, file, memory #414.
  • Twitter! Slack! Social median interactions. Hooray! Thanks @jeremylan! #522

0.6.0 - 2017-12-30

Changed

  • Enforce 100 character limit for code #159.
  • Using root-relative module imports #252.
  • Observatory is now a parameter for a POCS instance #195.
  • Better handling of simulator types #200.
  • Log improvements:
    • Separate files for each level and new naming scheme
    • Reduced log format
    • Better reusing of logger
    • Single shared MongoClient connection
    • Improvements to build process
  • State machine location more flexible
  • Testing improvements
  • Updates to many wiki pages.
  • Misc bug fixes and improvements.

Added

  • Merge PEAS into POCS
  • Merge PACE into POCS
  • Support added for testing of serial devices
  • Basic dome support
  • Polar alignment helper functions moved from PIAA

Removed

  • Remove threading support from rs232.SerialData.

0.5.1 - 2017-12-02

Added

  • First real release!
  • Working POCS features:
    • mount (iOptron)
    • cameras (DSLR, SBIG)
    • focuser (Birger)
    • scheduler (simple)
    • Relies on separate repositories PEAS and PACE
    • Automated testing with travis-ci.org
    • Code coverage via codecov.io
    • Basic install scripts