Subject: AUTHOR --> CREATOR keyword

From: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Pence)
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 93 11:41:12 EDT

The following describes a new FITS keyword that we plan to use within the OGIP.
As usual, any comments on this are welcome.

-Bill Pence
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                      Proposed CREATOR Keyword 

It is often useful to identify which software program created a
particular FITS file.  The reserved AUTHOR keyword has sometimes been
used for this purpose, but this is not consistent with the original
intent of the AUTHOR keyword to cite a publication.  Instead, the
following keyword should be used for this purpose:

CREATOR = 'program name'      / Program that created this FITS file

When appropriate, the value of the CREATOR keyword should also
reference the specific version of the program that created the FITS
file (e.g., 'WRITEFITS V3.2').  It is intented that this keyword should
refer to the program that originally defined the FITS file structure
and wrote the contents.  If a FITS file is subsequently copied largely
intact into a new FITS by another program, then the value of the
CREATOR keyword should still refer to the original program.  HISTORY
keywords should be used instead to document any further processing that
is performed on the file after it is created.

---

From: Lucio Chiappetti <lucio at IFCTR.MI.CNR.IT>
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 17:22:47 +0100 (MET)

> CREATOR = 'program name'      / Program that created this FITS file

  How does this fit in / conflict with / complement the usage of the
  ORIGIN keyword ?

I have seen this used for the above purpose. MIDAS-written FITS files
have ORIGIN='ESO-MIDAS', IRAF-written files have ORIGIN='KPNO-IRAF'.
I thought that this was "THE" convention, my own programs set ORIGIN='XAS'.
Any comment from FITS standard authorities ?

(on the other hand the name CREATOR is fine, resembles the %%Creator
comment in Postscript files)