Maximum size for HISTORY descriptor of BDF files in MIDAS ?

[Klaus Banse <kbanse@eso.org>]

Dear Midas users,

   yes, indeed there was a a max. of elements for descriptors (32767 elements)
in "old" Midas versions which has been fixed together with the switch to
the new, long (hierarchical) descriptors from 97NOV on.
That meant, that you could write at most 409 HISTORY lines to a Midas file.

That's why we also had (and still have) the descr. HISTORY_UPDATE which could
be used to suppress adding HISTORY lines, as indicated in the help of the
topic [descriptors]

Midas> help [descr]
...

Character descriptor HISTORY:
String to hold the reduction history of a frame. All relevant MIDAS commands 
add a line of 80 chars. to this descriptor.
Since the maximum length of any descriptor is 32767 elements, there is
only space for history_lines from 400 operations. So if you are doing a lot
of operations on the same frame, it may be better to turn off the automatic
addition of history_lines to descriptor HISTORY.
Adding an integer descriptor (1 element) named HISTORY_UPDA to the frame 
and setting it to 0, inhibits the history addition.
  
Integer descriptor HISTORY_UPDA (1 element):
Serves as update flag for descriptor HISTORY of the same frame. 
If set to 1, descriptor HISTORY is updated. 
If set to 0, descriptor HISTORY is not updated.

...

(Reading this help text just reminds me that I have to update it, since that
limit is not relevant anymore...)

Regards,
Klaus Banse