ra_dec_from_string() error with pulsars with no arcsecond value

[NickSwainston]

I was trying to use prepfold on pulsar J0317+13 using the following commands:
psrcat -e J0317+13 > J0317+13.eph
prepfold -timing J0317+13.eph <etc>
and I get this error
Error: can not convert '+13:29' to RA or DEC in ra_dec_from_string()
: Success

This is a problem for two reasons. The first is that it should be able to parse this (and perhaps give a reasonable estimate for the arcsecond like 30) as this is the value from the latest psrcat version as shown on the website. The second is that it returns a 0 error code when in my mind it fails.

The function is in src/misc_utils on line 694 and I'll let someone more experienced in C to make the function more robust.

Cheers,
Nick

[alebot]

I have the same problem for pulsar J2002+30 when using a .par file form the ATNF catalogue

Error:  can not convert '+30:35' to RA or DEC in ra_dec_from_string()

And 10+ more pulsars for which this happens.

[scottransom]

I'm not convinced this is a bug worth fixing as I would say that this is an error in the parfile and not in the decoding. The ATNF ephemerides are not guaranteed to be valid Tempo/Tempo2 parfiles. That being said, I'd be happy to accept a pull request if you want to fix the routine!