[Last Change: 17 Nov 2025 (rev 38) — Page History]

SAOTrace Version 2 Installation

The most current version of SAOTrace is version 2.0.6

SAOTrace is provided as source code, Linux packages (both .deb and .rpm), container images and archives of the binaries.

File names have embedded version numbers in them, such as 2.y.z. Y and Z are integers, not fractions, so 2.1.10 is a newer version than 2.1.9

Release Notes

Release notes are available here.

Version 2.0.6 does not run natively on current or recent versions of Mac OS. Version 2.0.5 runs on older versions of MacOS

The current recommendation for MacOS users is to run it under Docker. Apple has announced that they are sunsetting RosettaCode. It is unknown how this will affect running x86 container images on Apple Silicon.

Installation Methods

SAOTrace is available as

1. archives of pre-built binaries;
2. packages for installation using the operating systems package manager;
3. container (e.g., docker or podman) images; and
4. source code

On supported Linux systems, archives are the easiest to install. On MacOS, the only option is to use the container images.

Supported Platforms

SAOTrace 2.0.6 is known to run on GNU/Linux.

The current version has been compiled and tested on the following platforms

O/S	Vendor/Distribution	Version	Arch	Compilers		Archive Directory	Package Directory
				C/C++	Fortran
GNU/Linux	AlmaLinux	8	x86_64	gcc 8.5.0	gfortran 8.5.0
GNU/Linux	AlmaLinux	9	x86_64	gcc 11.5.0	gfortran 11.5.0
GNU/Linux	AlmaLinux	10	x86_64	gcc 14.2.1	gfortran 14.2.1
GNU/Linux	Debian	11	x86_64	gcc 10.2.1	gfortran 10.2.1
GNU/Linux	Debian	12	x86_64	gcc 12.2.0	gfortran 12.2.0
GNU/Linux	Debian	13	x86_64	gcc 14.2.0	gfortran 14.2.0
GNU/Linux	Fedora	37	x86_64	gcc 12.3.1	gfortran 12.3.1
GNU/Linux	Fedora	41	x86_64	gcc 14.3.1	gfortran 14.3.1
GNU/Linux	Fedora	42	x86_64	gcc 15.1.1	gfortran 15.1.1
GNU/Linux	Mint	21.3	x86_64	gcc 11.4.0	gfortran 11.4.0
GNU/Linux	Mint	22	x86_64	gcc 13.3.0	gfortran 13.3.0
GNU/Linux	Mint	22.1	x86_64	gcc 13.3.0	gfortran 13.3.0
GNU/Linux	Mint	22.2	x86_64	gcc 13.3.0	gfortran 13.3.0
GNU/Linux	RHEL	8.8	x86_64	gcc 8.5.0	gfortran 8.5.0
GNU/Linux	RHEL	9	x86_64	gcc 11.5.0	gfortran 11.5.0
GNU/Linux	RHEL	10	x86_64	gcc 14.2.1	gfortran 14.2.1
GNU/Linux	RockyLinux	8	x86_64	gcc 8.3.1	gfortran 8.3.1
GNU/Linux	RockyLinux	9	x86_64	gcc 8.3.1	gfortran 8.3.1
GNU/Linux	RockyLinux	10	x86_64	gcc 8.3.1	gfortran 8.3.1
GNU/Linux	Ubuntu	22.04	x86_64	gcc 11.4.0	gfortran 11.4.0
GNU/Linux	Ubuntu	24.04	x86_64	gcc 13.3.0	gfortran 13.3.0
GNU/Linux	Ubuntu	25.04	x86_64	gcc 14.2.0	gfortran 14.2.0
GNU/Linux	Ubuntu	25.10	x86_64	gcc 15.2.0	gfortran 15.2.0

Archives

Archives contain compiled executables and library, and are designed to be installed anywhere on your system. While administrator privileges are not needed for installation, they depend upon other standard packages being installed, which will require administrator privileges. However, those packages are most likely already installed.

Archives are available in the Archive Directory links in the above table. Each directory contains a compressed tar file as well as a file (pkg-depends) which lists the system packages which must be installed. The Chandra raytrace configuration data are not included.

On Debian, Ubuntu, and Mint based systems, install via

sudo apt update
sudo apt install `cat pkg-depends`
sudo tar -C / -xf saotrace-2.0.6.tar.gz

On RedHat, RockyLinux, AlmaLinux, and Fedora based systems, install via

sudo yum install `cat pkg-depends`
sudo tar -C / -xf saotrace-2.0.6.tar.gz

Packages

On Linux these must be installed as an administrator, using the package manager. This method ensures that all dependencies are automatically installed.

Packages are available at the link appropriate to your operating system in. For each distribution there are two packages, one for the software, which is installed in /opt/saotrace/2.0.6, and the other for the Chandra raytrace configuration data which is installed in /opt/saotrace/config.

On Debian, Ubuntu, and Mint based systems, install via

sudo apt install ./*.deb

On RedHat, CentOS and Fedora based systems, install via

sudo yum install *.rpm

Container Image

A container image (as a tarball) and a script (run-saotrace) which runs SAOTrace using that image is available. The image includes both SAOTrace and the current Chandra raytrace configuration database.

To create a container image from the tarball, use either docker or podman. podman is preferred as it does not require administrator privileges.

podman image load -i saotrace-container-image-2.0.6.tar.gz

or

sudo docker image load -i saotrace-container-image-2.0.6.tar.gz

This will create a container image called saotrace:2.0.6.

Install the run-saotrace script wherever you like. Run it as

./run-saotrace --manual

to view documentation.

Building and installing SAOTrace

Download the Source Code

The source code for SAOTrace is available as a single compressed tar file here.

Unpack the tarball

tar xzvf saotrace-2.0.6.tar.gz

This will create a directory named saotrace-2.0.6.

Follow the Installation Instructions

Please read and follow the instructions in the INSTALL file included in the top directory of the source distribution.

Previous releases

O/S	Vendor/Distribution	Version	Arch	Archive	Package
					SAOTrace	Config
GNU/Linux	Debian	10	x86_64
GNU/Linux	Debian	11	x86_64
GNU/Linux	Fedora	34	x86_64
GNU/Linux	Mint	20.0	x86_64
GNU/Linux	CentOS	7	x86_64
GNU/Linux	CentOS	8	x86_64
GNU/Linux	Ubuntu	20.04	x86_64

Support

Please contact opticsoft@cfa.harvard.edu for all support issues.
This software is not CXC Data Systems software and is not supported in any fashion by them.
Please do not contact the CXC Helpdesk if you have problems.