- package adapted to new HOMER version

[u/mrichter/AliRoot.git] / HLT / README

Package: ALICE HLT

This package implements the ALICE High Level Trigger analysis framework.
All contributions are under the terms of the 
GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software 
Foundation. Also see files AUTHORS and THANKS.

This packages is maintained by Matthias.Richter@ift.uib.no
Comments, bug reports, suggestions welcome! 

TOC
===
1. Overview
2. Requirements
3. Setting up a version retrieved from CVS
4. Modifying a distributed package
5. Installation
6. Documentation
7. Further information
8. Reporting bugs/Asking for support
9. Committing to the AliRoot CVS

1. Overview
===========
This package provides a compilation of shared libraries of the ALICE
HLT project and is intended for stand-alone compilation, i.e. not as part 
of the AliRoot compilation. 

- BASE: The base library (libHLTbase.so) provides the common interface for HLT 
processing components, the binding into the ALICE offline project AliRoot
and a pure C interface to the HLT on-line framework (Publisher/Subscriber
framework)

- SampleLib: The sample library contains examples for component 
implementation and a tutorial.

- TPCLib: The HLT code for the TPC
- TPCLib/OnlineDisplay: HLT visualization code for the TPC

Currently, the the package is not included to the standard AliRoot
compilation, but will be part of it.

The old stand-alone build system is still available. Check the README
file in the doc folder.

2. Requirements
===============
The package needs both ROOT and AliRoot. Both must be set up in the
usual way (ROOTSYS, ALICE_ROOT, library locations evtl. specified in
LD_LIBRARY_PATH, ...). Actually, the BASE and SampleLib modules are
not dependend on AliRoot. The TPCLib does.

To set up a version retrieved from CVS, autoconf 2.57, automake 1.6
,and libtool 1.4 or higher versions are required. Thats the versions
which come with the Scientific Linux CERN 3. The same applies if
you want to change the Makefiles.

If your GNU build tools are too old, ask the maintainers for a distributed
package.  

3. Setting up a version retrieved from CVS
==========================================
Skip this section if you have started from the tar ball.

A version checked out from CVS requires a few steps to set up the Makefiles.
Go to the directory and run
autoreconf -i -f

Then continue with the package configuration described in the 'Installation'
section.

4. Modifying a distributed package
==================================
If you are going the modify a distributed package you might need to re-make 
the GNU build system by running
 autoreconf -f -i

Please notify the authors about bug fixes/corrections/extensions you made if
you consider them worth to be merged into the project.

Then continue with the package configuration described in the 'Installation'
section.

5. Installation
===============
NOTE: The Makefiles which are in repository are part of the old build system.
Now, the Makefile.am templates are valid.

Package build relies on the GNU triplet configure, make and make install.
In order to keep the development directory clean, it is recommended to
use a separate build directory. 

  mkdir build
  cd build
  ../configure
  make
  make install

You should redirect the output of the make into a file.
The default install directories are set to the current directory ($PWD).

To override the default prefix use
--prefix=<dir>           

Some important options:
--enable-logging  # Enable/Disable logging (default enabled)
--enable-sample   # Compile the sample library
--enable-tpc      # Compile the TPC library

Note: You can have several build directories with different configure options,
but using the same source code. 

If you need further information on the GNU build system, execute from the 
top directory:
./configure --help | less


6. Documentation
================
Documentation is generated from the source code at compile time if 
doxygen is installed on the machine. From the build directory, open
doc/html/index.html with a web browser.

7. Further information
======================
A wiki with detailed information is set up at
http://www.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/wiki/HLT

8. Reporting bugs/Asking for support
====================================
Please include the following information into your request:
- config.log from your build directory
- output of the make process. Note: Redirect BOTH the stdout and stderr
  channel to a log file. Redirection depends on the shell you are using:
    bash: make 2>&1 | tee make.log 
    csh: make |& tee make.log
  The 'tee' command just duplicates the output.
- history of the commands you are using for compilation
  history > history.log

9. Committing to the AliRoot CVS
================================
For development of HLT analysis code check out a HEAD version from the 
repository and implement your code. For committing do:
1. cvs update
2. correct merging conflicts
3. compile and test your code again
4. send the whole HLT module except the build sub-directories to
   Matthias.Richter@ift.uib.no
5. you will get a notification when the code is committed, right after that you
   must either do another cvs update or check out the complete module again in
   order to have the right CVS information