Command Line Options and Configuration Files

Each program requires zero or more options. These options may be supplied on the command line or placed in one or more configuration files.

For example, to invoke AcuRun for problem channel and input file channel.inp, you can either issue the command:
acuRun -pb channel -inp channel.inp
or place the following lines in the configuration file Acusim.cnf:
problem= channel
input_file= channel.inp
and issue the command
acuRun

If both command line argument and configuration options are provided, the former takes precedence.

Each option has a (long) descriptive and a (short) abbreviated name. Both names are equivalent. For example,
acuRun -pb channel
is equivalent to
acuRun -problem channel
Similarly, in Acusim.cnf:
problem= channel
is equivalent to
pb= channel

The descriptive name is meant to be used in the configuration files, while the abbreviated name is meant for the command line argument.

The environment variable ACUSIM_CNF_FILES can be used to specify multiple configuration files. This variable accepts colon-separated (:) lists of files. For example if ACUSIM_CNF_FILES is set as:
setenv ACUSIM_CNF_FILES ./Acusim.cnf:~/Acusim.cnf:/ACUSIM/Acusim.cnf
the files Acusim.cnf are searched in the local, home, and finally the installed /ACUSIM directories for each option. Missing files are ignored. If the environment variable is not set, it is assumed to have the following value:
./Acusim.cnf:~/Acusim.cnf

Empty lines and lines starting with a hash (#) are ignored in configuration files. All unrecognized options are also ignored. Each recognized line consists of one option and its value; they are separated by an "=" and any (or no) amount of white space (tabs and blanks).

To get the list of executable options along with their current values, issue the command with the -h (or -help) option. This causes the executable to print a usage message and exit. For example,
acuRun -inp channel.inp -h
prints a message such as the following and exits:
acuRun:
acuRun: Usage:
acuRun:
acuRun: acuRun [options]
acuRun:
acuRun: Options:
acuRun:
acuRun: -h print usage and exit
acuRun: help= TRUE [command-line]
acuRun: -pb <str> problem name
acuRun: problem= channel [./Acusim.cnf]
acuRun: -inp <str> input file name (_auto, use <problem>.inp)
acuRun: input_file= channel.inp [command-line]
...
acuRun: -v <int> verbose level
acuRun: verbose= 1 [default]
acuRun:
acuRun: Configuration Files:
acuRun:
acuRun: ./Acusim.cnf:~/Acusim.cnf:/ACUSIM/Acusim.cnf
acuRun:
acuRun: Release: 1.7
acuRun:
Many options are shared by more than one executable. For example,
verbose= 1
is interpreted by all programs. To assign an option to a single executable, add the name of the executable plus a period "." to the beginning of the option's name. For example,
verbose= 1
acuRun.verbose= 0

The verbose value of 1 is used by all programs except AcuRun, which uses the value of 0.

An option may be assigned to a single computer architecture by adding its name plus a period (.) to the beginning of the option's name. For example,
verbose= 1
HP.verbose= 2
The executable and architecture names may be combined in either order:
HP.acuRun.verbose= 0
acuRun.SUN.verbose= 1

Each option has one of five types.

String (str)

This is a user-given string value. On the command line, this option must be followed by a value. For example:
acuRun -problem channel
The equivalent option in the Acusim.cnf file is
problem= channel
Note that the (upper/lower) case of the option is preserved. If a string contains white spaces, it must be enclosed in a pair of double-quotes. For example,
acuTrans -osis "wall surface"
The double-quotes may be omitted in Acusim.cnf:
surface_integral_output_sets= wall surface

Enumerated (enum)

This is a set of values available for a given option. On the command line, this option must be followed by a value. For example,
acuTrans -to table
or equivalently the Acusim.cnf option
translate_to= table

causes AcuTrans to translate its output data to table format.

Boolean (bool)

This turns on or off a given option. To turn on an option, simply issue the command with the option as the argument. For example:
acuRun -echo
To turn off an option, issue the command with a no_ appended to the option. For example:
acuRun -no_echo
In the configuration file, assign 1, t, true, yes or on, in upper or lower case, to specify on; or assign 0, f, false, no or off, in upper or lower case, to specify off. For example the following configuration options are equivalent to the above command line options:
echo_input= yes
and
echo_input= FALSE

Integer (int)

This is an integer value option. On the command line, this option must be followed by a value. For example:
acuRun -np 4
or equivalently in the configuration file,
num_processors= 4

Real (real)

This is a floating point value option. On the command line, this option must be followed by a value. For example:
acuSurf -angle 89.9
or equivalently in the configuration file,
max_angle= 89.9