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Shall I update my calibration files with SASv6.0?

Yes. A large number of new calibration files have been released together with SASv6.0. Some of them are necessary for the SASv6.0 tasks to run properly.

Users must update their calibration file suite, alongside the SAS v6.0 installation. Wrong results can be generated if old calibration files are used together with SASv6.0.

Furthermore, care must be exercised when using the new calibration files with old SAS versions. One has to ensure that the Calibration Index File (CIF) does not include calibration files, which are understood only by functions developed for SASv6.0. SAS provides users with a very simple mechanism to ensure that this occurs: the analysisdate parameter in cifbuild. If a user intends to use a SAS version older than v6.0, s/he must generate her/his CIF with the following command:

cifbuild analysisdate=${Date_earlier_than_2004-03-24}

Users can ensure an automatic alignment between their local XMM-Newton calibration database and the most updated calibrations through XMM-Newton calibration archive mirroring automatic software.