Index: trunk/psphot/src/psphotBasicDeblend.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psphot/src/psphotBasicDeblend.c	(revision 28013)
+++ trunk/psphot/src/psphotBasicDeblend.c	(revision 29936)
@@ -4,8 +4,5 @@
 bool psphotBasicDeblend (pmConfig *config, const pmFPAview *view, const char *filerule)
 {
-    bool status = true;
-
-    int num = psMetadataLookupS32 (&status, config->arguments, "PSPHOT.INPUT.NUM");
-    psAssert (status, "programming error: must define PSPHOT.INPUT.NUM");
+    int num = psphotFileruleCount(config, filerule);
 
     // loop over the available readouts