Geert Barentsen

> Most other libraries doing this kind of thing don't use a flag for fsspec, but determine if the path is fsspec-like Good point! For paths with prefix `['http', 'https',...

> I am not excited at another refactor of `utils` if we can help it. I don't think we would necessarily touch `utils`, we just wouldn't be calling it from...

> This looks really nice! I mostly wonder whether there is a need to add more arguments to the `fits.open()` function - is it possible to do this at a...

> my suggestion would actually be a third alternative (C): adjust `download_file` to be able to handle `fsspec` (with some configuration options for `https` and for possible keyword arguments). Ah!...

Update: I have improved and simplified this PR based on the feedback received above. Thanks everyone 🙏! I made four changes: 1) I moved fsspec handling from `io.fits` to `utils.data.get_readable_fileobj()`....

Ping @saimn @mhvk -- I believe this PR is ready for review and go/no-go decision, time permitting!

> whether there is a minimum supported version number that we should fix for fsspec? Done! The most recent commit (d1c69cd90fdea9807e78967a3d9276ced09eeab6) specifies minimum versions numbers for fsspec and s3fs which...

Update: this PR should be ready for final review. :+1: I believe to have addressed all of the (excellent) feedback left above. I also rebased on main a few moments...

@pllim That makes sense. Shall I simply open the same issue there?

As an aside, @Cadair's comment triggered me to run `fitscheck --compliance` on JWST data just now and it has the following to say: ``` $ fitscheck --compliance https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02736/jw02736001001/jw02736001001_02101_00008_nrcblong_i2d.fits MISSING 'https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/ero/jw02736/jw02736001001/jw02736001001_02101_00008_nrcblong_i2d.fits'...