# XEphem — pre-built binaries for commercial Unix systems

Archived 2026-08-03. XEphem (Elwood Charles Downey, Clear Sky Institute) was officially
distributed as **source only** (shareware CD until 2021, then MIT on github.com/XEphem).
Everything below is a third-party binary build recovered from period OS software archives,
live original servers, or Wayback Machine original-byte (`if_`) captures.
Fresh checksums in `SHA256SUMS`.

## irix/ — SGI IRIX (MIPS)

| File | XEphem | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `fw_xephem-3.4.tardist` | 3.4 | IRIX 6.2+, SGI Freeware | wayback `freeware.sgi.com/fw-6.2/Dist/` @20020227201603 |
| `fw_xephem-3.5.2.tardist` | 3.5.2 | IRIX 6.5, SGI Freeware | wayback `freeware.sgi.com/Dist/` @20020818173541 |
| `fw_inst_cd4/` | 3.5.2 | IRIX 6.5, loose inst image (SGI Freeware 2003 CD 4 layout: spec/.idb/.man/.src/.sw) | wayback `freeware.sgi.com/cd-4/dist/` @2003 |
| `neko_xephem-3.6.4.tardist` | 3.6.4 | IRIX 6.5 mips4, nekoware current | wayback `nekochan.net/nekoware/current/` @20151125040027 |
| `neko_xephem-3.7.4.tardist` | 3.7.4 | IRIX 6.5 mips4, nekoware obsolete/archive | wayback @20151128064950 |
| `neko_xephem-3.7.5.tardist` | 3.7.5 | IRIX 6.5 mips4, nekoware beta — **newest IRIX build known** | wayback @20151124235300 |

All tardists `tar tf`-verified. No IRIX 3.7.6/3.7.7 was ever built.

## hpux/ — HP-UX (PA-RISC)

| File | XEphem | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `xephem-3.4-hppa_32-11.00.depot.gz` | 3.4 | HP-UX 11.00 32-bit, SD-UX depot, installs /opt/xephem | live `hpux.connect.org.uk/ftp/hpux/X11/Viewers/xephem-3.4/` (built 2000-12-07) |
| `xephem-2.6-sd-9.03.upd` | 2.6 | HP-UX 9.03 s700, `update(1m)` format, shared PA-RISC 1.1 build (Feb 1996) | wayback `hpux.ee.ualberta.ca` mirror @19970803 |
| `xephem-2.6-sa-9.03.upd` | 2.6 | HP-UX 9.03 s700, archive-linked PA-RISC 1.0 build | wayback `hpux.ee.ualberta.ca` mirror @19970803 |

Note: the `.upd` files were stored transfer-decoded by the 1997 crawler — they are the
intact uncompressed update-format tar (original links said `.upd.gz`).

## solaris/ — Sun Solaris (SPARC + x86)

| File | XEphem | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `xephem-3.6.1,REV=2004.09.24-SunOS5.8-sparc-CSW.pkg.gz` | 3.6.1 | Solaris 8+ SPARC, SVR4 datastream (CSWxephem) | live `mirror.opencsw.org/opencsw/allpkgs/` |
| `xephem-3.6.1,REV=2004.09.24-SunOS5.8-i386-CSW.pkg.gz` | 3.6.1 | Solaris 8+ x86 | live `mirror.opencsw.org/opencsw/allpkgs/` |

OpenCSW 3.6.1 is the **only** prebuilt Solaris XEphem ever publicly distributed:
sunfreeware never packaged it (Motif dep; full CDX sweep negative), ibiblio none,
Downey's CD offered Solaris/SPARC binaries but no copy has surfaced.

## sco/ — SCO UnixWare & OpenServer

| File | XEphem | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `xephem-3.2.3.pkg` | 3.2.3 | UnixWare 7, SVR4 datastream, VENDOR=SCO, Skunkware | **live** `ftp2.sco.com/skunkware/uw7/Packages/` (mtime 2001-06-02) |
| `skunkware95-osr5-xephem-2.4b/` | 2.4b | OpenServer 5 (3.2v5.0), genuine OSR5 i386 ELF binary + docs/help, Skunkware 95 CD tree | live `ftp://ftp2.sco.com/pub/Skunk2/CD-ROM/` |

ftp2.sco.com is still alive (2026) — both pulled from the original server. The 2.4b set is
incomplete on the mirror: `app-defaults/XEphem`, `ephem.db`, `ephem.plt`, `xephem.6` were
deleted server-side and never wayback'd; a Skunkware 95 CD ISO would complete it.
No xephem ever existed as OSR5/OSR6 VOLS or for UnixWare 2.

## dec/ — DEC (bonus: OpenVMS)

| File | XEphem | Target | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `XEPHEM_VAX.EXE` | 2.8 | OpenVMS VAX, DECwindows/Motif executable (Patrick Moreau, CENA, Dec 1995) | wayback `openvms.digital.com/freeware/XEPHEM28/` @2000 |
| `XEPHEM28_FREEWARE_README.TXT`, `XEPHEM28_AAA_VMS.NOTES` | — | provenance docs | same |

**Digital Unix / Tru64 / OSF/1 / Ultrix: no prebuilt XEphem ever existed publicly.**
Domain-wide CDX over `*.dec.com`/`*.digital.com`, the Digital UNIX Freeware CDs (4.0),
Tru64 OSS Collections (5.1/5.1A/5.1B), Internet Express, ftp.compaq.com dump, and the
Ultrix/OSF freeware CDs are all negative. Downey's own CD (order page, 2000) sold
binaries only for Linux/Intel, Linux/Alpha, FreeBSD/Intel, Solaris/SPARC.

## aix/ — IBM AIX (RS/6000, from UCLA aixpdslib)

Recovered from local partial aixpdslib mirrors at `/Volumes/osarchive/os/aix/`
(lzip-recompressed from the original `.tar.Z`; no online copy of these bytes survives).

| File | XEphem | Target | Origin path |
|---|---|---|---|
| `xephem.2.7.1-aix3.2.tar.lz` | 2.7.1 | AIX 3.2, `/usr/local/bin/xephem` XCOFF exec (Jan 1996) + man page | `os/aix/3.2/3.2.5/aixpds/` |
| `xephem.3.4-aix4.1.tar.lz` | 3.4 | AIX 4.1: Motif 1.2 (`libXm.a`/`shr4.o`-era), non-threaded, unstripped XCOFF, built 2001-07-16 | `os/aix/4.1/aixpds/` |
| `xephem.3.4-aix4.3.tar.lz` | 3.4 | AIX 4.3 (possibly the 5.1 branch): threaded — `libc_r.a`, `libpthreads.a` `shr_xpg5.o`, Motif 2.1 `shr_32.o`; IBM C Set++ 4.1; built 2001-07-16 | `os/aix/Software/misc/` |

Both 3.4 tarballs carry the full `/usr/local/xephem` data tree (catalogs, auxil, fits).
aixpdslib inventory (page capture `web.archive.org/web/20070812094219/http://aixpdslib.seas.ucla.edu/packages/xephem.html`)
also listed: 3.4 for AIX **4.2** and **5.1**, and 2.7.1 for AIX 4.1/4.2/4.3 — **still lost**.
Nothing online has them: UCLA host dead; Wayback never crawled the FTP bytes; the full
computer-refuge.org (classiccmp) mirror is offline — its 2015 wayback captures of the exact
file URLs are all 1.3 KB JS cookie-wall stubs, 2007 captures are dir listings only; GSI keeps
HTML pages only; Bull/perzl/funet/kev009/icm/gwdg never carried it.
**Recovery leads:** computer-refuge.org / classiccmp.org admins (disk held full mirror ≥2015);
UCLA SEAS IT; local `os/aix` mirrors cover only the 3.2 + 4.1 branches.

## Other known-lost / un-mined

- HP-UX 10.20 depots `xephem-3.2.2-sd-10.20.depot.gz` and `xephem-3.4-sd-10.20.depot.gz`
  — listed on archived Porting Centre pages, bytes never captured (CGI redirect downloads).
- SGI Freeware `fw_xephem-3.2.2` / `3.2.3` tardists — likely inside archive.org ISOs
  `SGIFreeware2001May`, `sgi-freeware-2.0`, `sgi-freeware-1999-*` (not mined; single
  large ISOs). SGI Hot Mix CDs unverified for 2.x-era xephem.
- unixpackages.com (paywalled sunfreeware successor) shows no xephem in public lists.