v5.0.0

New in Version 5.0.0!:

• This is a major release since I've moved to a completely different and modern build system: meson, along with the meson-python backend. This was required since Numpy has deprecated numpy.distutils and this caused python builds to stop working with Python v3.12.
  • See the INSTALL.md for updated installation instructions.
  • You will need to install meson, meson-python, and ninja, but that is easily done via pip!
  • Python v3.8 or newer is now required.
• All of the old Spigot-related codes have been removed. If you need to process Spigot data, please use the classis branch that is mentioned in the README.md.
• All of the slalib codes (and the python interface to it) have been removed. If you need that stuff, you should transition to ERFA and/or Astropy.
• There are two nice new python utilities:
  • binary_utils.py reads a parfile of a binary pulsar and computes min/max observed barycentric spin periods or velocities as either a function of the orbit (default), or for a prescribed duration of time, and optionally plots those. It also shows basic information about the binary.
  • compare_periods.py compares candidate spin periods and their integer and fractional harmonics with one or more parfiles to a prescribed fractional tolerance.