Possible pixel bounds checking bug in imcopy

[olebole]

This is taken from iraf.net#1467524 from 2012-13-09 by Jason Quinn:

When I use imcopy on a .imh image such as dev$pix, it reports an error if I try to copy a section that exceeds the boundary of the image:

vocl> imhead dev$pix
dev$pix[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
vocl>
vocl> imcopy dev$pix[*,1:512] test1.fits
dev$pix[*,1:512] -> test1.fits
vocl>
vocl> imcopy dev$pix[*,1:513] test2.fits
dev$pix[*,1:513] -> test2.fits
ERROR: Pixel storage file is truncated (dev$pix[*,1:513])

If however I use a FITS image, I do not get a warning for several pixels past the boundary of the image.

vocl> imcopy dev$pix jjj.fits
dev$pix -> jjj.fits
vocl>
vocl> imhead jjj.fits
jjj.fits[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
vocl>
vocl> imcopy jjj.fits[*,1:512] test3.fits
jjj.fits[*,1:512] -> test3.fits
vocl>
vocl> imcopy jjj.fits[*,1:513] test4.fits
jjj.fits[*,1:513] -> test4.fits
vocl>
vocl> imcopy jjj.fits[*,1:514] test5.fits
jjj.fits[*,1:514] -> test5.fits
vocl>
vocl> imcopy jjj.fits[*,1:515] test6.fits
jjj.fits[*,1:515] -> test6.fits
ERROR: Pixel storage file is truncated (jjj.fits[*,1:515])

Are the [*,1:513] and [*,1:514] commands exposing some sort of error checking bug? The file is only 512x512.If I run fitsverify on the test image, test2.fits and test6.fits give fatal errors while test3.fits and test4.fits are valid FITS files but they have been extended by 1 and 2 pixels, respectively, in the y-direction.Also, when I try an imhead on the files I also get two different results depending on whether I use *.fits vs test*.fits as the argument to imhead. This seems to violate the principle of least surprise.

vocl> imhead *.fits
jjj.fits[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
test1.fits[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
test2.fits: FXF: EOF encountered while reading FITS file (test2.fits)
test3.fits[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
test4.fits[512,513][short]: m51 B 600s
test5.fits[512,514][short]: m51 B 600s
test6.fits: FXF: EOF encountered while reading FITS file (test6.fits)
vocl> imhead test*.fits
test1.fits[512,512][short]: m51 B 600s
ERROR: Seek error on file (skyfire!/home/jquinn/projects/test2.fits)

Cheers, Jason

@iraf answered:

Hi Jason,Just wanted to acknowledge that I can reproduce the problem but haven't had time to look at it in detail yet. It'll be fixed for the next update, thanks for the report.-Mike

However, in 2.16.1 (released 2013), the problem still remains.