Release note for pipeline 02000050/20021220.132037 The previous production pipeline (04000010/20020508.121539, prod2) used SAS 5.3.2, that is xmmsas_20020507_1701. The new pipeline started operations on 20/12/02. It uses SAS 5.4, that is xmmsas_20021218_1802 (but see below). The pipeline is prod version 02000050/20021220.132037. The task ppssumm-2.3.7 will not run under SAS 5.4 for reasons which are not yet understood, thus ppssumm-2.3.7 from SAS 5.3.4 (xmmsas_20021111_1801) has been used in its place. Summary: -------- This pipeline uses SAS 5.4, and is able to process data from after the late 2002 MOS & RGS cooling. EPIC PN bad pixel detection is now sensitive to very hard bad pixels. PN event lists have a better structure for CCD columns with odd offset values. The PN response kernel and CTI correction for low energies have been updated. EPIC source detection now includes enhancements resulting from the 1st XMM catalogue developement work. These include larger background spline map source cutouts (scut was 0.01, now 0.001), a tighter inter-EPIC source merge radius (systerr was 4, now 2.5), position rectification using USNO A-2 (based on an input systematic error of 1.5" and a minimum total error of 0.2", both 1 sigma radii) with a keyword POSCORROK=Y/N indicating the quality of the rectification solution (RA/DEC_CORR=RA/DEC and sources are assumed to have a 1.5" 1 sigma radius systematic error for catalogue correlation if POSCORROK=N, otherwise a systematic error of 0.5" is used). In addition, source lists from images for which there was no low background interval are now excluded from the source merging process, images in bands 1-5 no longer have out of FOV events (this prevents inclusion of twice the background where MOS CCDs overlap), and the exposure maps reflect the event flag and column offset selections. The boxdetect Galactic coordinates are now correct, and the ML detections have improved positions near CCD edges, a reduced tendency to large negative count rates at very low fluxes, correct errors at low flux, and now include more information in the source lists. The OM source detection makes use of a much improved algorithm, and now has improved detection and photometry. Mosaiced OM images now average over small image gaps. There are 2 new RGS product types: a FITS timeseries which aims to reflect the particle background rate using the CCD nearest the beam (*RGS*FBKTSR*), and a total (source plus background) FITS spectrum (*SBSPEC*) to allow the background to be better dealt with (eg in xspec). The RGS spectral plots have fixes for wavelength scale and mean value errors. The observation summary html product now shows the proposed duration and the actual duration of the observation. Image plots are made by a substantially enhanced routine, and contain more information. The 4-character exposure identifier and the attitude file type used are now recorded. As usual, there have been many bug fixes and improvements made to increase the efficiency of the software. In this pipeline, for the first time, products are made which are not delivered to the SOC. These are experimental, and require large scale evaluation. The products are: EPIC simultaneous all-exposure source detection lists, OM USNO A-2 position rectified source lists.