BaBar Computing Environment
This document serves to specify a computer configuration (mainly software)
which would allow the BaBar Software Releases to be installed and built.
Any deficiencies or errors should be reported to the author.
Note that although a standard environment is defined here, there is
no requirement that the software be installed exactly as specified. Several
alternative installation options can easily be made to work and local overrides
to the standard configuration are easily incorporated into BaBar Software
Releases. In particular, the
BaBar reference platforms for supported platforms may not conform strictly
to this environment, However , the reference platform configuration
will be such that any binaries made thereon will run without modification
on any platform conforming to the BaBar environment.
A list of configurations that have been verified for Monte Carlo production
are available here.
Basic Requirements
-
A UNIX workstation
which is supported by BaBar (NOTE: this list of supported platforms
changes with time) with the operating system installed according to manufacturers
instructions and with a compatible set of system libraries installed in
the standard places.
-
Basic UNIX shells, including csh and sh installed as standard.
-
A text editor.
-
Connection to the Internet and access to SLAC.
-
A SLAC UNIX account.
-
A SLAC AFS account.
Installed Software
All of the the Software
needed by BaBar computing should be installed. Each package should
be installed in the default locations specified by the package installation
documentation. For example,
PACKAGE LOCATION
bison /usr/local/bin
cernlib /cern
cvs /usr/local/bin
gcc /usr/local/...
gdiff /usr/local/bin
gfind /usr/local/bin
gmake /usr/local/bin
gtar /usr/local/bin
patch /usr/local/bin
perl /usr/bin/perl
Tcl /usr/local/...
Note that the gnu software should be installed with the prefix g (gmake,
gfind) to distinguish it from the native commands (make, find). The above
list is NOT complete. Refer to the required
software page for a complete list.
Any modifications to these default installations which may be required
are detailed on the required software page.
File Systems
You should create a BaBar specific directory e.g. /groups/babar. this should
contain a dist subdirectory which in turn should contain releases and packages
directories. To summarise
babar/ ---- dist/ ----- releases/
----- packages/
Environment variables
The following environment variables should be defined (and exported):
Variable Definition
BFROOT Points to BaBar directory referred to in previous section
BFDISTr Points to Main release tree at SLAC, currently
<slac username>@morgan.slac.stanford.edu:/afs/slac.stanford.edu/g/babar/dist
CVSROOT Points to CVS repository at SLAC, currently
/afs/slac.stanford.edu/g/babar/repo
CERN Points to root of local cernlib installation
RWBASE Points to the root directory of the local installation of the
Rogue wave tools.h++ software
Implementation Notes
It is possible to install each required software package appropriately
by following the instructions on the Tools
and Utilities Web Page together with the installation instructions
for each package.
The ASIS system at CERN
is an alternative source of most of the required software. While CERN continues
to support the platforms of interest to BaBar the ASIS server offers an
alternative source of installation and maintenance of these packages.
The ASIS people have developed a method which allows the selection of
specific (and multiple) versions of packages. You can also request not
to get a package. Using this method it is also possible to install other
programs in /usr/local. If there is a conflict the ASISUpdate (the perl
script which does the updating) will let you know, but not overwrite anything
it didn't put there.
This script uses a local configuration file to tell it what programs
you want and which you don't. Programs can also be accessed via links to
AFS (the Default). The others (marked LocalCopy) are put on to a local
disk. Another directory structure is used for /usr/local which only hold
links to either AFS or /asis.local or any other programs added outside
the scope of ASIS.
Neil Geddes
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