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`aipshosts`

AIPS++ hosts database.

The aipshosts database is an ASCII file containing a list of AIPS++ hosts at a site (or possibly at a set of sites within an institution). It is used by the aipsinit (p) scripts in defining the $AIPSPATH environment variable.

aipshosts provides a means of specifying an architecture and site for a set of AIPS++ hosts. Its existence was prompted by the fact that there is no generic way to determine a machine's architecture. However, in addition to machine architectures, the architecture may differentiate between operating system versions or compilers where there is a choice of these at a particular site. Hosts from several sites within an institution may be included within one aipshosts file thereby making it possible to copy an AIPS++ installation verbatim from the central site to a remote site.

aipshosts is initially constructed by the configure (p) script when AIPS++ is first installed. Thereafter it can be maintained manually by adding, deleting or modifying entries as required.

Each host has a one-line entry in the aipshosts file, the format of which is as follows:

1.

The host name. A catch-all value ``DEFAULT'' applies to any host which does not have a specific entry. If the default is ``NONE'' then the aipsinit scripts will not setup AIPSPATH for any host not explicitly listed in aipshosts.

2.

The host architecture. This specifies a subdirectory of $AIPSROOT, referred to as $AIPSARCH (§1.2), in which the AIPS++ system for the machine resides. In particular, the bin and doc subdirectories of $AIPSARCH are encoded into the PATH and MANPATH environment variables by aipsinit (p

The host ``architecture'' is a string of the form <base>[_<ext>]. The base part of the name describes the binary format of a machine and reflects the combination of machine architecture and operating system. Because some AIPS++ scripts may need to switch on architecture type, the base part of the architecture name has been standardized. Currently recognized values are:

   alpha      ...DEC/Alpha, OSF/1
   hpux       ...Hewlett-Packard, HPUX
   ibmrs      ...IBM RS6000, AIX
   sgi        ...Silicon Graphics, IRIX
   sun4       ...SUNsparc, SunOS 4.x
   sun4sol    ...SUNsparc, Solaris 2.x

An optional extension to the architecture type can be used to select between alternative systems of the same binary format, for example as may have been generated by different compilers, or different compiler options. Apart from not containing an ``_'' or ``:'', the extension may be freely chosen. However, in order to provide template makedefs (p) and aipsrc (p) files when AIPS++ is installed, configure (p)) recognizes a number of standard combinations. Specifically

The compiler supplied with the operating system (whether bundled or unbundled) is denoted by ntv.
The GNU compiler (g++) is denoted by gnu.

Where it's desired to maintain several systems using different compiler options within the one AIPS++ installation (for example, different levels of optimization) this may be denoted by On, where n is an optional digit. This should be placed after any compiler specification, separated by a "-", for example, sun4sol_gnu-O2. (Note that AIPS++ already supports separate debug and optimized compilations within each system.)

Any architecture extension defined in aipshosts serves only as the default for a particular machine. aipsinit (p) provides a mechanism which allows it to be redefined on demand.

3.

The site name. This specifies a subdirectory of the $AIPSARCH directory (§1.2) containing the site-specific configuration files aipsrc (p

)) and makedefs (p

). The site name is chosen when AIPS++ is first installed and thereafter must be used consistently for all hosts at a site.

4.

A comment which may usefully describe the machine and has no other purpose.

Comments within the aipshosts file are denoted by a # in column 1, and blank lines are ignored.

Note that when hosts are added to the system the host-specific system area may be created beneath $AIPSSITE (§1.2) to hold host-specific databases (see aipsrc (p)). Likewise, when a host is removed its system area should be deleted.

Examples

The following might be a fragment of an aipshosts file covering all of ATNF.

   # AIPS++ host database

   DEFAULT   sun4sol_ntv   epping
   cetus     sun4sol_ntv   epping          Sun Ultra 1, AIPS++ server Room 85
   raptor    sgi_gnu       epping          Silicon Graphics, computer room.
   corvus    sun4sol_gnu   culgoora        Sun 4/65 SPARC 1+, control room.
   yeti      alpha_gnu     parkes          AlphaServer 1000 4/266

Files

$AIPSROOT/aipshosts: ...database of AIPS++ hosts.

`aipshosts`

Synopsis

Description

Examples

Files

See also