![[OPUS]](gif/opus.gif)
Frequently Asked Questions
- ASCII:
- American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- API:
- Applications Programmers Interface. See OAPI.
- CD-ROM:
- Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
- DADS:
- Data Archive and Distribution System
- dataset:
- a term used to describe related data files; all the files
associated with a single entity (an observation, an archive request, a
GIF image) processing through the pipeline are referred to as the
dataset
- event (or trigger):
- a state of the pipeline that triggers a process to "wake up" and
do work; a process can be triggered by a "file event", an "OSF event",
or a "time event"; the triggers that wake up a process are defined in
the process resource file
- external poller:
- stand-alone executables or scripts that are executed through the
XPOLL pipeline process
- FITS:
- Flexible Image Transport System
- FUSE:
- Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
- GIF:
- Graphic Interchange Format
- GUI:
- Graphical User Interface
- HST:
- Hubble Space Telescope
- hyperdynamic defreezer:
- a twin process to holdup found in the parallel
universe; necessary because the nominal ambient temperature in the
parallel universe is absolute zero
- IRAF:
- Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
- IDL:
- Interactive Data Language
- internal poller:
- pipeline processes that use the OAPI to communicate with the
OPUS blackboard
- lock files
- The file-based implementation of the
OPUS blackboard
architecture uses lock files to ensure that if multiple processes simultaneously
try to modify an OSF
or a PSF,
only one of the processes succeeds. These files
are dynamically created in the lock/ subdirectory of the
OPUS_HOME_DIR and
OPUS_OBSERVATIONS_DIR
blackboard directories.
- MB:
- MegaByte
- NFS:
- Network File System
- NRAO:
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory
- observation:
- a dataset processing through the pipeline
- OMG:
- Observation ManaGer
- OSF:
- Observation Status File
- observation status file:
- a file that is posted to the OPUS blackboard that shows the
current processing state of an observation in the pipeline
- OPUS:
- Operations Pipeline Unified System
- OPUS Application Programming Interface (OAPI):
- An interface to the C++ objects that implement the OPUS system.
- OPUS_DEFINITIONS_DIR:
- an environment variable that points to a directory containing
path files,
pipeline definition files,
process resource files,
and the opus_login.csh
file; the user defines the location of this directory at
installation/configuration time; the environment variable
OPUS_DEFINITIONS_DIR
"stretches"
through the user's local directory to the configured OPUS directory
- OPUS_HOME_DIR:
- An environment variable that points to a directory where
process log files, and
process status files
are created and maintained by the OPUS software.
- OPUS_OBSERVATIONS_DIR:
- An environment variable that points to a directory where
Observation Status Files (OSF)
are created an maintained by the OPUS software.
- path:
- a set of directories for pipeline input and output data or, in the sense
of path file, a specific set of parameters for an OPUS pipeline
- pipeline:
- a group of processes chained together in which the output of one
process is used as input for one or more other processes downstream
- PID:
- Process IDentification
- PMG:
- Process ManaGer
- pipeline stage file:
- a file that defines the processing steps that are displayed on the
OMG; it also controls the STATUS
field of the Observation Status
Files
- process log file:
- a file that is created for every pipeline process doing
message reporting and located in
OPUS_HOME_DIR; used
for logging status and error messages
- process resource file:
- a file that defines process-specific attributes and disk
management requirements for a pipeline task
- PSF:
- Process Status File; also called a "PSTAT"
- process status file:
- a file that is posted to the OPUS blackboard that shows the
current state of a process in the pipeline
- STAGE_FILE:
- a file that defines the processing steps that are displayed on the
OMG; it also controls the STATUS
field of the Observation Status
Files
- STScI:
- Space Telescope ScIence Institute
- task:
- another name for a process
- XPOLL:
- eXternal POLLer