Index: trunk/psphot/src/psphotFitSourcesLinear.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/psphot/src/psphotFitSourcesLinear.c	(revision 40035)
+++ trunk/psphot/src/psphotFitSourcesLinear.c	(revision 41444)
@@ -203,4 +203,15 @@
     // XXX do not apply covarFactor for the moment...
     // covarFactor = 1.0;
+
+    bool use_covarfactor = psMetadataLookupBool(&status, recipe, "LINEAR_FIT_COVAR_FACTOR");
+    if (!status) {
+        use_covarfactor = true;
+    }
+
+    if (!use_covarfactor) {
+        covarFactor = 1.0;
+        psLogMsg ("psphot.ensemble", PS_LOG_MINUTIA, "Manually reset covariance factor: %f\n", covarFactor);
+
+    }
 
     int Nsat = 0;