Running BaBar Software on Local Computers

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Explanation:I recently started using the BaBar software on the local computers and could find no information on the web about how to get going. These notes are intended to be a useful starting point for anyone attempting to follow in my footsteps. I will endeavour to update this page as I learn more about what a "typical setup" involves, and which bits were user-specific.

Feedback welcome: jenny@hep.man.ac.uk

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Getting started

Note: These notes assume that the user has a SLAC account set up already. See here for instructions about setting up a SLAC Unix account.

Manchester only (will vary for different institutes): Need to ssh into sun1 - can only run on the suns.

 ssh sun1 -l 

Need the environment set up - do this by adding the following lines to .profile:

if [-r /home/bfactory/babar_profile]; then
. /home/bfactory/babar_profile

The PCs run with bash shells - these have a few differences to t-shells, which are used at SLAC and in Oxford, among other places. A few of these differences are:

tsch command/file	equivalent bash command/file
source	.
setenv	export
.cshrc	.bashrc
.login	.profile

On my setup, currently ssh-ing into the sun doesn't source the .profile file, so need to do this as soon as you log in with

source .profile

This will set up the environment variables such the repository ($CVSROOT) so that you will access the Rutherford Lab mirror site for jobs like addpkg.

Before you can start checking out packages, or even setting up a test release, you need to get a "token" at RAL. You can do this by typing

klog ral_username@rl.ac.uk

You can check code out much more quickly from RAL than from SLAC. The repository $CVSROOT should have been set by the local system to be the RAL site. To check that it is set correctly, type

echo $CVSROOT

If it's not set to /afs/rl.ac.uk/bfactory/repo, type

export CVSROOT="/afs/rl.ac.uk/bfactory/repo"

from the Unix prompt.

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If you don't yet have an account at RAL, the first thing you should do if wanting to run BaBar software on local machines is to get an account at RAL. In the meantime, however, you can use the SLAC repository. These assumes that you already have a SLAC account and have signed the objectivity agreement.

To get an account at RAL: e.g. ask Tim Ayde at RAL (see presentation on getting a RAL account here).

Once you get your new accounts and passwords, the password on the Atlas Central AFS server can be changed by logging into, e.g. csfsun, and typing kpasswd. The CSF password is changed by logging into csfsun and typing passwd.

To use the SLAC repository for checking out packages:
After running source .profile, you need to change the environment variable $CVSROOT which is set at when you run .profile. Do this with

export CVSROOT="/afs/slac.stanford.edu/g/babar/repo"

Then klog into SLAC to get a token there. If your username at SLAC is the same as your username on the local machine, use kslac, else you will need

klog @slac.stanford.edu

Now you can install a test release and get working!

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Much of the information about setting up new releases is easy to find in the BaBar Offline Workbook.

Next step (for example):

newrel -t current 
cd 

You can now also add new packages. For example, the workdir package should be accessible and runable now, by typing (from inside your test release called <projectname>):

addpkg workdir
cd workdir
gmake setup

Note: It is suggested in User's Guide to Software Release Tools by John Bartlet (which is obsolete now), and on a few other web pages, to have a go at running bbrun and bbsim. Don't - these programmes should not be run as standalone.

Note: It might also be necessary to run gmake in the release directory to set up appropriate files. To see if this is needed, check that the above setup has created files in a directory called /database/usersdb/<username>/<releasenum>/. If not, then you'll need to run gmake to complete the setup.

Note:When you do addpkg workdir, a number of directories will be created, namely /databases/usersbin/<username>. When I was first adding the package workdir I got a lot of error messages saying it couldn't create this directory, or any subdirectories. I tried to do it with mkdir, but this also failed. Seems I didn't have the required permissions - need a local sysadmin to fix this up.

Everything should work ok now <clinging to wood>

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What to do each time on login

cd 
srtpath      (don't need to do , , as it picks out optimal ones for you)
setboot      (if you are using Objectivity)

Also need to remember to start each session with

• If you have a RAL account

  ssh sun1                        (ssh into which ever local computer runs the BaBar software)
  source .profile
  klog @rl.ac.uk
  cd 
  srtpath
  setboot
  

• If you don't have a RAL account

  ssh sun1
  source .profile
  klog @slac.stanford.edu
  cd 
  srtpath
  setboot
  
  export CVSROOT="/afs/slac.stanford.edu/g/babar/repo"
  

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Related pages

Workbook for Offline BaBar Users BaBar Collaboration Home Page (UK Mirror) Getting a New SLAC Account for Running BaBar Software BABAR SLAC Unix (and NT) Account Info BaBar Software at RAL

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Last modified: Mon 30 Oct 2000

Jenny Williams

Email: jenny@hep.ox.ac.uk

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Last modified Fri 24 October 2003 . View page history

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