Install cdsclient with Homebrew, dnf, MacPorts

Project links

• Homepage
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• Detex
• abibcode
• aclient
• aclient_cgi
• catClient.py
• catcat
• find2mas6x
• find2mass
• find2mass6x
• find2massi
• find_cats
• find_cats.gz
• find_gen
• find_gen1
• findacro
• findcat
• findcfhtd
• findcfhtw
• findcmc14
• findcmc15
• findenis
• findenis1
• findenis2
• findenis3
• findgalex5a
• findgalex5m
• findglimpse
• findgsc
• findgsc1.1
• findgsc1.2
• findgsc1.3
• findgsc2.2

Project history

The official CDS documentation describes cdsclient as a set of C and shell routines buildable on Unix workstations and Linux PCs. Once compiled, the package queries CDS databases or network mirrors and provides both generic clients and catalog-specific fast paths.

The documentation page is versioned 30-Dec-2009 and records individual tool dates that trace the package's catalog-service role: vizquery is listed as a September 2003 generic VizieR query program, find_cats as a January 2008 large-survey query program, and many survey clients as later catalog-specific additions. The CDS software directory shows archived cdsclient releases 3.81 and 3.83 in 2016, 3.84 in 2017, and 4.07 in October 2024.

Adoption history

cdsclient is niche research infrastructure rather than a broad developer utility. Its adoption is visible through packaging in Unix-like distribution channels and through the long life of the CDS service model: astronomers can script catalog lookups instead of using only browser forms or interactive VizieR sessions.

How it is used

Users build the tarball with configure and make, then run tools such as vizquery, find_cats, find2mass, finducac, findsdss, findwise, simbib, and simref to retrieve catalog data, cross-match lists of positions, or look up bibliographic references. The CDS docs distinguish HTTP access for vizquery from the dedicated client protocol used by find_cats on port 1660, with proxy and fallback-server environment variables documented for institutional networks.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, cdsclient is a small example of classic scientific Unix software: no public forge is central to its identity, the authoritative source is an institutional tarball and documentation site, and the value is reproducible command-line access to large research data services.

Timeline

• 2003: Documentation lists vizquery as a generic VizieR query client.
• 2008: Documentation lists find_cats as a large-survey query client.
• 2009: cdsclient documentation page carries Version 30-Dec-2009.
• 2016: CDS software directory lists cdsclient 3.81 and 3.83 tarballs.
• 2017: CDS software directory lists cdsclient 3.84.
• 2024: CDS software directory lists cdsclient 4.07 and the current cdsclient.tar.gz dated 2024-10-22.

Related projects

• VizieR is the CDS catalog service queried by vizquery.
• SIMBAD, Sesame, CDS Archive, and the individual survey catalogs queried by find2mass, finducac, findsdss, and findwise are adjacent parts of the same astronomical-data workflow.

Sources

• https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/doc/cdsclient.html
• https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/pub/sw/