Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/indexCatalogs.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/indexCatalogs.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/indexCatalogs.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -10,4 +10,6 @@
   int i;
   off_t j;
+
+  if (!Ncatalog) return TRUE;
 
   // find the max value of catID
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -115,4 +115,9 @@
 Catalog *load_catalogs_parallel (SkyList *sky, int *Ncatalog) {
 
+  char uniquer[12];
+  int TIME = time(NULL);
+  int PID = getpid();
+  snprintf (uniquer, 12, "%05d.%05d", PID, TIME % 100000);
+
   // load the list of hosts
   HostTable *table = HostTableLoad (CATDIR, sky->hosts);
@@ -131,5 +136,5 @@
 
     ALLOCATE (table->hosts[i].results, char, 1024);
-    snprintf (table->hosts[i].results, 1024, "%s/relastro.catalog.subset.dat", table->hosts[i].pathname);
+    snprintf (table->hosts[i].results, 1024, "%s/relastro.catalog.%s.dat", table->hosts[i].pathname, uniquer);
 
     // options / arguments that can affect relastro_client -load:
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/relastro_parallel_images.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/relastro_parallel_images.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/relastro_parallel_images.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -48,9 +48,4 @@
   MARKTIME("-- load catalog data: %f sec\n", dtime);
   
-  if (Ncatalog == 0) {
-    fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: no valid data for relastro, exiting\n");
-    exit (2);
-  }
-
   // generate tables go from catID,objID -> catSeq,objSeq
   indexCatalogs (catalog, Ncatalog);
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_images_pos.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_images_pos.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_images_pos.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -53,5 +53,5 @@
   for (i = 0; i < regionHosts->Nhosts; i++) {
     if (regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID == REGION_HOST_ID) continue;
-    if ((REGION_HOST_ID > -1) && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
+    if (REGION_HOST_ID && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
 
     char *syncfile = make_filename (CATDIR, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostname, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID, "imagepos.sync");
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_mean_pos.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_mean_pos.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relastro/src/share_mean_pos.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -67,5 +67,5 @@
   for (i = 0; i < regionHosts->Nhosts; i++) {
     if (regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID == REGION_HOST_ID) continue;
-    if ((REGION_HOST_ID > -1) && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
+    if (REGION_HOST_ID && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
 
     char *syncfile = make_filename (CATDIR, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostname, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID, "meanpos.sync");
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/help.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/help.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/help.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
 
 void relphot_usage (void) {
-  fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: USAGE: relphot (photcode[s]) -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcode[s]) -catalog (name)\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -averages -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -apply-offsets -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -parallel-regions -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -parallel-images (ImageTable) -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: USAGE: relphot (photcodes) -images\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -averages\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -apply-offsets\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcodes) -parallel-regions -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcodes) -parallel-images (ImageTable) -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "  regions:    -region RA RA DEC DEC)\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    -catalog (name)\n");
   fprintf (stderr, "  use -h for more usage information\n");
   exit (2);
@@ -21,10 +22,11 @@
 
 show_help:
-  fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: USAGE: relphot (photcode[s]) -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcode[s]) -catalog (name)\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -averages -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -apply-offsets -region RA RA DEC DEC\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -parallel-regions ()\n");
-  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -parallel-images ()\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "ERROR: USAGE: relphot (photcodes) -images\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -averages\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot -apply-offsets\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcodes) -parallel-regions -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    relphot (photcodes) -parallel-images (ImageTable) -region-hosts (RegionFile)\n\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "  regions:    -region RA RA DEC DEC)\n");
+  fprintf (stderr, "       or:    -catalog (name)\n");
   fprintf (stderr, "  options: \n");
   fprintf (stderr, "  -time (start) (stop)\n");
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/load_catalogs.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/load_catalogs.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@
 
   fprintf (stderr, "using "OFF_T_FMT" of "OFF_T_FMT" stars ("OFF_T_FMT" of "OFF_T_FMT" measurements)\n", Nstar, Nstar_total, Nmeas, Nmeas_total);
-  if (!hostID && (Nstar < 1)) Shutdown ("%s", "ERROR: no stars match the minimum requirements; exiting \n");
+  if (!hostID && !REGION_HOST_ID && (Nstar < 1)) Shutdown ("%s", "ERROR: no stars match the minimum requirements; exiting \n");
   // in regular relphot, we shutdown here; in relphot_client, we generate and return an empty table (for consistency)
-   
 
   // XXX consider only returning the populated catalogs
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_image_mags.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_image_mags.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_image_mags.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -53,5 +53,5 @@
   for (i = 0; i < regionHosts->Nhosts; i++) {
     if (regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID == REGION_HOST_ID) continue;
-    if ((REGION_HOST_ID > -1) && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
+    if (REGION_HOST_ID && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
 
     char *syncfile = make_filename (CATDIR, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostname, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID, "imagemags.sync");
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_mean_mags.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_mean_mags.c	(revision 36577)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140206/Ohana/src/relphot/src/share_mean_mags.c	(revision 36578)
@@ -77,5 +77,5 @@
     // if (not_neighbor(host[i])) continue;
     if (regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID == REGION_HOST_ID) continue;
-    if ((REGION_HOST_ID > -1) && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
+    if (REGION_HOST_ID && !regionHosts->hosts[i].isNeighbor) continue;
 
     char *syncfile = make_filename (CATDIR, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostname, regionHosts->hosts[i].hostID, "meanmags.sync");