<s>
The	O
Starlink	B-Operating_System
Project	I-Operating_System
,	O
referred	O
to	O
by	O
users	O
as	O
Starlink	O
and	O
by	O
developers	O
as	O
simply	O
The	O
Project	O
,	O
was	O
a	O
UK	O
astronomical	O
computing	O
project	O
which	O
supplied	O
general-purpose	O
data	O
reduction	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
former	O
respect	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
analogous	O
to	O
the	O
US	O
IRAF	B-Application
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Part	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
is	O
relicensed	O
under	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
GPL	I-License
while	O
some	O
of	O
it	O
remain	O
under	O
the	O
original	O
custom	O
licence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
1982	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
had	O
a	O
staff	O
of	O
17	O
,	O
serving	O
about	O
400	O
users	O
at	O
six	O
sites	O
,	O
using	O
seven	O
VAXen	B-Device
(	O
six	O
VAX-11/780s	O
and	O
one	O
VAX-11/750	O
,	O
representing	O
a	O
total	O
of	O
about	O
6.5	O
GB	O
of	O
disk	O
space	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
were	O
networked	O
from	O
the	O
outset	O
,	O
first	O
with	O
DECNET	B-Protocol
and	O
later	O
with	O
X.25	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Between	O
1992	O
and	O
1995	O
the	O
project	O
switched	O
to	O
UNIX	O
(	O
and	O
switched	O
the	O
networking	O
to	O
TCP/IP	O
)	O
,	O
supporting	O
Digital	B-Operating_System
UNIX	I-Operating_System
on	O
Alpha-based	O
systems	O
,	O
and	O
Solaris	B-Application
on	O
systems	O
from	O
Sun	O
Microsystems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
late	O
1990s	O
it	O
was	O
additionally	O
supporting	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
and	O
by	O
2005	O
it	O
was	O
supporting	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Solaris	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Tru64	B-Operating_System
UNIX	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
about	O
this	O
time	O
that	O
the	O
project	O
open-sourced	O
its	O
software	O
(	O
using	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
;	O
it	O
had	O
previously	O
had	O
an	O
`academic	O
use	O
only	O
 '	O
licence	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
reworked	O
its	O
build	O
system	O
so	O
that	O
the	O
software	O
could	O
be	O
built	O
on	O
a	O
much	O
broader	O
range	O
of	O
POSIX-like	O
systems	O
,	O
including	O
OS	B-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
and	O
Cygwin	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Though	O
it	O
was	O
not	O
explicitly	O
funded	O
to	O
do	O
so	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
an	O
early	O
participant	O
in	O
the	O
Virtual	B-Application
Observatory	I-Application
movement	O
,	O
and	O
contributed	O
to	O
the	O
IVOA	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
its	O
VO	O
applications	O
was	O
TOPCAT	O
,	O
development	O
of	O
which	O
continues	O
,	O
with	O
AstroGrid	B-Operating_System
funding	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
wider	O
context	O
,	O
KAPPA	O
offers	O
facilities	O
not	O
in	O
IRAF	B-Application
,	O
for	O
instance	O
handling	O
of	O
data	O
errors	O
,	O
quality	O
masking	O
,	O
a	O
graphics	O
database	O
,	O
availability	O
from	O
the	O
shell	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
more	O
n-dimensional	O
applications	O
,	O
widespread	O
use	O
of	O
data	O
axes	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
different	O
style	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
automatic	O
data	O
conversion	O
and	O
the	O
availability	O
of	O
KAPPA	O
and	O
other	O
Starlink	O
packages	O
from	O
within	O
the	O
IRAF	B-Application
command	O
language	O
,	O
it	O
's	O
possible	O
to	O
pick	O
the	O
best	O
of	O
the	O
relevant	O
tools	O
from	O
both	O
systems	O
to	O
get	O
the	O
job	O
done	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CCDPACK	O
A	O
package	O
of	O
programs	O
for	O
reducing	O
CCD-like	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
has	O
Fortran	B-Application
,	O
C	O
and	O
Python	O
bindings	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
well	O
as	O
this	O
GPL	B-License
version	O
,	O
there	O
is	O
also	O
a	O
available	O
from	O
its	O
original	O
author	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
predates	O
the	O
Hierarchical	B-Application
Data	I-Application
Format	I-Application
by	O
several	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
end	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
's	O
code	O
base	O
consisted	O
of	O
around	O
100	O
components	O
,	O
totalling	O
around	O
2,100,000	O
source	O
lines	O
of	O
code	O
written	O
by	O
the	O
project	O
or	O
curated	O
by	O
it	O
,	O
in	O
various	O
languages	O
including	O
Fortran	B-Application
,	O
C	O
,	O
C++	O
,	O
Java	O
,	O
Perl	O
and	O
Tcl/Tk	O
,	O
plus	O
another	O
700,000	O
lines	O
of	O
customised	O
third-party	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Git	B-Application
repository	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Astrophysics	B-Application
Source	I-Application
Code	I-Application
Library	I-Application
maintains	O
an	O
entry	O
on	O
Starlink	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hawaiki	O
(	O
Deneb	B-Application
)	O
on	O
2010	O
January	O
20	O
.	O
</s>
