ATTILA(1)

💅 attila(1) — the Alliance - attila User’s Manual, but make it group chat 💅

✨ NAME ✨

attila — A Tool Installer. That’s the name, that’s the vibe, periodt. 🫶

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

attila [ -h ]  [ -S ]  [ -U ]  [ -F ]  [ -A ]
 [ --help ]  [ --ssh ]  [ --user ]  [ --asim ]
 [ --prefix=INSTALL_DIR ]  [ --builddir=BUILD_DIR ]
 --tool=name1 [ --tool=name2... ]
 [ -c- configure_arg1   [  configure_arg2 ... ]   ]
 [ -m- make_arg1  [ make_arg2... ]   ]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Bestie, attila automates the whole compile-and-install pipeline for one or more Alliance tools. The tool can be installed either in the user’s account — during the devellopment stage — or in the Alliance system wide tree, for instance /asim/alliance, when a new version is made avalaible to all. 💖

attila proceeds with these steps:

1. Checks if the sources of tools are present in the user’s account. If not, it checks them out from the Alliance CVS tree. Note that you must have access to it. 🔑
2. In case of --asim or --full installations, attila will fork itself on one Linux computer (currently bip) and on one Solaris computer (beny). To connect to those computers it uses rsh, so you must set up your ~/.rhosts to access them without passwords. You can also use ssh, but the procedure to allow automatic login is more complicated. 🫠
3. Run autostuff for the tool in the ~/alliance/src directory.
4. Run configure in the build directory (see below).
5. Install the tool in the local install directory (see below) or in the system-wide Alliance directory rooted under /asim/alliance.

After an --asim install: the build directory tree of the tool will be removed to avoid messing with further local installations. 💀

🦋 DIRECTORY STRUCTURE 🦋

attila relies on the following tree structure — all paths below are given relative to the user’s home directory:

• ~/alliance/src where the tools sources are to be found.
• ~/alliance/Linux/build/$TOOL : the top directory under which the tool will be compiled for Linux. This is where the configure script will be run.
• ~/alliance/Linux/install : the top of the install tree when the tool is compiled locally for Linux. Under this directory you will found (at least): ./bin, ./lib and ./include.
• ~/alliance/Solaris/build/$TOOL : the tool’s build directory for Solaris.
• ~/alliance/Solaris/install : top of the local install tree for Solaris.

🧚 CVS CHECKOUT 🧚

If the sources of the requested tool(s) are not found under ~/alliance/src/, attila will try to check them out. So, as says above, you must have access rights to the Alliance CVS tree. 🔐

In addition to the tool(s) sources, it will also checks for the minimal set of files needed for configure to run. As for now:

• autostuff
• alliance.m4
• motif.m4
• Makefile.am

💅 GUESSING CVSROOT 💅

The root of the CVS tree will be set according to these rules:

1. Uses the user’s environment variable CVSROOT if sets.
2. Uses the attila default value sets in attila.conf (variable ATTILA_CVSROOT).

🍓 GUESSING ALLIANCE_TOP 🍓

The root of the Alliance installed distribution tree will be set according to these rules:

1. Uses the user’s environment variable ALLIANCE_TOP if sets.
2. Uses the attila default value sets in attila itself (variable ATTILA_ALLIANCE_TOP).

ALLIANCE_TOP is set in attila itself because its value is a prerequisite to load the configuration file attila.conf which is in the directory $ALLIANCE_TOP/etc/.

👑 ARGUMENTS 👑

attila accepts the followings arguments:

• -h, --help — print help. 🫶
• -S, --ssh — uses ssh instead of rsh to connect to the remote computers (in case of --asim or --full).
• -U, --user — perform a local installation.
• -F, --full — install for all avalaibles architectures (currently Linux and Solaris).
• -A, --asim — install in the system-wide directory (/asim/alliance).
• --prefix=INSTALL_DIR — override the default installation directory.
• --builddir=BUILD_DIR — override the default building directory.
• --tool=name1 — name of the tool to be installed.
• -c- configure_arg1 — all arguments following -c- (until a -m- is encountered) are passed as is to the subsequent call to configure. For example, if you want to first use your local libraries, give --enable-devel. If you want to link or install dynamic libraries, give --enable-alc-shared for alliance libraries and give --enable-shared for other libraries. 💖
• -m- make_arg1 — all arguments following -m- are passed as is to the subsequent call to make. If no -m- argument is given, then install is assumed. If you want to completely uninstall a tool and clean it’s build directory you can pass uninstall clean. 🔥

🎀 CONFIGURATION FILE ATTILA.CONF 🎀

The configuration file is located in $ALLIANCE_TOP/etc. This file is to be read by the sh shell. It sets up the following variables:

• LINUX_TARGET : the computer where to compile for the Linux architecture (default bip).
• LINUX_CC : the name or full path to to the C compiler for Linux system (default gcc3).
• LINUX_CXX : the name or full path to to the C++ compiler for Linux system (default g++3).
• SOLARIS_TARGET : the computer where to compile for the Solaris architecture (default beny).
• SOLARIS_CC : the name or full path to to the C compiler for Solaris system (default /usr/local/gcc-3.0.4/bin/g++3).
• SOLARIS_CXX : the name or full path to to the C++ compiler for Solaris system (default /usr/local/gcc-3.0.4/bin/g++3).
• ATTILA_CVSROOT : the root of the Alliance CVS tree (default /users/outil/alliance/cvsroot).
• CVS_STARTUP_FILES : the minimal set of files needed to run configure.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Compile & install nero tool on the local computer (must be either a Linux or a Solaris one):

$ attila --tool=nero

Compile & install nero tool for all architectures (currently only Linux and Solaris are supported):

$ attila --full --tool=nero

Compile & install nero tool in the system-wide directory — a new version for everyone to use:

$ attila --asim --tool=nero

Compile & install mbk then genlib (the order is significant) in a row for a local install on the current computer:

$ attila --tool=mbk --tool=genlib

Compile nero tool and link it against the locally installed libraries (if any).

$ attila --tool=nero -c- --enable-devel

Remove poire tool from the system-wide tree. (poire is the old name of nero.)

$ attila --asim --tool=poire -m- uninstall

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Signed, sealed, and slayed by ASIM/LIP6 — date on the vibe check: 13 October 2002. Mwah! 💋