astro-containers

Apptainer/Singularity definition files for radio astronomy software images published to harbor.ral.uksrc.org (project: radio-astro-software). Each subdirectory contains a single .def file for the named application/version.

Contents

• aegean/aegean-v2.3.5.def – Aegean radio source finding stack.
• casacore/casacore-v3.7.1.def – Casacore libraries built from source.
• casa-modular/casa-modular-v6.7.0.def – CASA 6 modular build (pip-based).
• casa-standalone/casa-standalone-v6.7.2.def – CASA 6.7.2 standalone bundle with bundled GUIs unpacked.
• miriad/miriad-v2025.10.14.def – MIRIAD prebuilt binaries with environment setup.
• pybdsf/pybdsf-v1.13.0.def – PyBDSF source finder.
• sofia/sofia-v2.6.43.def – SoFiA-2 line/source finder.
• tricolour/tricolour-v0.8.1.2.def – Tricolour flagging/calibration tools.
• wsclean/wsclean-v3.6.def – WSClean + EveryBeam + IDG stack.

Build locally

# With fakeroot (preferred on shared systems)
apptainer build --fakeroot miriad-v2025.10.14.sif miriad/miriad-v2025.10.14.def

# With sudo if fakeroot is unavailable
sudo apptainer build miriad-v2025.10.14.sif miriad/miriad-v2025.10.14.def

Run/test an image

apptainer exec miriad-v2025.10.14.sif miriad help
apptainer shell miriad-v2025.10.14.sif

Push/pull from Harbor (oras)

# Push a built image
apptainer push miriad-v2025.10.14.sif \
  oras://harbor.ral.uksrc.org/radio-astro-software/miriad:v2025.10.14

# Pull a published image
apptainer pull oras://harbor.ral.uksrc.org/radio-astro-software/miriad:v2025.10.14

Authenticate with your Harbor robot account or token if required (APPTAINER_DOCKER_USERNAME/APPTAINER_DOCKER_PASSWORD or --oci-authfile or pass --docker-password and --docker-username).

For large images (>2 GB), use the ORAS helper script (chunked uploads are enabled by default):

python oras_transfer.py push --target harbor.ral.uksrc.org/radio-astro-software/miriad:v2025.10.14 miriad-v2025.10.14.sif
python oras_transfer.py pull --target harbor.ral.uksrc.org/radio-astro-software/miriad:v2025.10.14 --outdir ./images

Updating/adding images

1. Edit or add the relevant .def file.
2. Build and test the .sif.
3. Push to Harbor with a versioned tag.
4. Update this README if a new image or version is added.