lam-helpfile - LAM help message file


DESCRIPTION

       The lam-helpfile provides detailed error messages and sug­
       gestions for help on how to fix common problems.  In  many
       places  in  LAM,  when  an error occurs, this help file is
       consulted to display a detailed message of what the  error
       was  and,  when  possible,  suggestions  on how to fix the
       problem.  It consists of much of the information from  the
       LAM  FAQ  (particularly in dealing with getting LAM up and
       running)

       At present, the following LAM tools use this help file (it
       is  expected that more will use it in future releases.  If
       you have suggestions for  locations  where  more  detailed
       error messages would be helpful, please let us know):

       hboot
       lamboot
       lamexec
       lamhalt
       lamnodes
       mpicc (hcc)
       mpiCC (hcp)
       mpif77 (hf77)
       mpirun
       recon
       tkill
       tping
       wipe


STRUCTURE AND SYNTAX

       The help file is multiple blocks of help text separated by
       single line delimiters.  The delimiter lines  are  of  the
       format:

       -*-programname:topicname-*-

       Where  programname  is the general name of the program (or
       group of programs) that this help message applies to,  and
       topicname  is the specific topic that this message applies
       two.

       The special keyword ALL can be used for  either  the  pro­
       gramname or the topicname in some cases; this is usually a
       "wildcard" value where   little  specific  information  is
       available.

       Within  the  block of the message, lines that begin with a
       "#" are treated as comments; they are not printed out.

       Three special escape sequences can be used within the help
       message:

              ments that the help message is invoked  with.   The
              "%N"  string  is replaced with the value of the Nth
              argument from the argument list.  The arguments are
              passed  from the LAM binaries themselves; they can­
              not be edited.  The comments  in  the  default  LAM
              help  file  explain how many arguments each message
              is invoked with, and what each argument is.

       %perror
              Shows the result of the Unix perror(3) function.

       %terror
              Shows the result  of  the  LAM  terror()  function,
              which is essentially a wrapper around the Unix per­
              ror(3) function.


LOCATION OF HELP FILE

       The exact location of the help file is configurable.  This
       allows system administrators and/or users to customize the
       help file for their particular environment.

       When LAM attempts to print an error message from the  help
       file,  it  looks  for the help file in the following loca­
       tions (in order):

       $LAMHELPFILE
       $HOME/lam-helpfile
       $HOME/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
       $HOME/etc/lam-helpfile
       $HOME/etc/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
       $LAMHELPDIR/lam-helpfile
       $LAMHELPDIR/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
       $LAMHOME/etc/lam-helpfile
       $LAMHOME/etc/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
       $TROLLIUSHOME/etc/lam-helpfile
       $TROLLIUSHOME/etc/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
       $SYSCONFDIR/lam-helpfile
       $SYSCONFDIR/lam-6.5.4-helpfile

       Note the two variables $LAMHELPFILE and $LAMHELPDIR; these
       variables  can  be set according to platform, for example,
       to  provide  operating  system-specific  information,   or
       information  specific  to  particular  groups of machines,
       etc.

       $SYSCONFIDIR is typically $prefix/etc,  where  $prefix  is
       the location to where LAM was installed; it was the option
       supplied  to  ./configure   when   LAM   was   built   (or
       /usr/local/lam-6.5.4, by default).  However, note that the
       value of $SYSCONFDIR can be overridden when LAM is config­
       ured with the --sysconfdir switch.

       The  following is an example customization of the help for
       the hboot and lamboot programs, when the user  supplies  a
       host file name that is not found.

       -*-boot:open-hostfile-*-
       %1 could not open the hostfile "%2" for the following reason:

                   %perror
       Things to check:

                   - ensure that the file exists
                     try "ls -l %2"
                   - ensure that you have read permissions on the file
                     try "cat %2"

       You may not need to specify a host file at all; the system
       administrators have defined the all of Beowulf cluster host names in
       the LAM default host name list.  If you wish to use all of the Beowulf
       nodes, simply execute:

                   %1 -v

       If you have any problems with LAM, please send mail to:

                   lam-admin@your.domain.com


FILES

       $LAMHOME/etc/lam-6.5.4-helpfile
           default LAM help file


SEE ALSO

       hboot(1), lamboot(1), lamexec(1), lamhalt(1), lamnodes(1),
       mpicc(1),  mpiCC(1),   mpif77(1),   mpirun(1),   recon(1),
       tkill(1), tping(1), wipe(1), perror(3)


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