GlastRelease User Guide:  Introduction

GlastRelease is our new top-level package that determines the current versions of all GLAST Science Analysis Software, including the Monte Carlo simulation, Gleam.  It is meant as one-stop shopping - providing users with the most up to date released versions of the software.

There have been a few changes in organization as we moved to GlastRelease, most notably in how we structure the interface packages to our external libraries.  Here is a page that documents the changes between GlastRelease and our previous checkout package Gleam:
http://www-glast.slac.stanford.edu/software/core/documentation/doc/glastrelease.htm

What's New? 
(stolen from the page: http://www-glast.slac.stanford.edu/software/gaudi/upgrade_v11.htm)

• IExternal; We have created a new "container" package, IExternal, to contain the interface packages. It currently contains all the external packages needed by Gaudi 11, and our interface to Gaudi itself. Since it is a container, the CMTPATH needs only to point to the folder containing the package, so if it is in the same folder as CMT itself, nothing has to be done to expose its packages, which must be used with the requirements file statement
      use ROOT * IExternal
  for example.  The contained packages are also under IExternal in cvs, and so are new copies of some, like ROOT. One checks out the lot with the cmt command,
        cmt co -R IExternal  
  but note that IExternal cannot already exist.
   
• Gaudi v11r4 This is now external, but organized as CMT packages as before. We put them under $GLAST_EXT/gaudi/v11r4. The binaries are in the usual place for CMT packages, $CMTCONFIG folders in each package. This is explicit in the interface package GaudiInterface.
  
  It is built with the same external policy and external interface packages as the rest of Glast software. The CMT path must then have the following components to build it:    $CMTCONFIG/gaudi/v11r4 of course, and the folder IExternal itself. The latter gives the Gaudi requirements files direct access to the interface packages. (An alternate strategy would be to change the Gaudi requirements files to correspond to Glast policy.)
  
  Since users should not have to build it, it is available pre-built for Win32 and Win32Debug, in the glast windows zip area, and in the SLAC ftp area
   
• GaudiInterface  This is a new package contained by IExternal, with the minimal interface to access all of the separate binaries and includes in Gaudi. For now, it is pretty simple, with includes to GaudiKernel, and binaries for GaudiSvc, GaudiTools, GaudiAlg,  GaudiAud, and RootCnvSvc. Glast packages using Gaudi facilities need only the statement
      use GaudiInterface * IExternal
  

This is our second attempt at such a User's Guide - it will undoubtedly be deficient in some areas.  Please feel free to offer suggestions to the Documentation Task Force.

H. Kelly Last Modified:  2004-08-04 15:42:08 -0700