For brevity, examples are only shown for the Bourne
shell, and for BL_PDFViewer on linux-x86_64.
ORGANIZATION OF TASKS
The shell sets BioLegato
Environment Variables (BLvariables) by calling
setblenv.profile-platform.source.
blsetenv.source sets BLvariables based on the value of
$BIRCH_PLATFORM. This file is created by
BLHelper.py.write_script(), either during installation or
update, or when called from birchadmin.
setblenv.profile-platform.source
was generated by BLHelper.py, using the local values for
BLvariables which are stored in
$BIRCH/local/admin/BL.properties.platform. There is a set of BLvariables
in a series of files called BL.properties.platform. This
file is read and written by ReadBLChoices() and WriteBLChoices().
The
BL.properties.<platform> files were generated by
BLHelper.py, using possible choices for BLvariables stored
in
$BIRCH/admin/BLHelper/BL<viewer_type>_<platform>.list
files.
Each
BL<viewer_type>_<platform>.list file contains
a list of commands to run for each application, one command per
line. These are stored in the .list files as a name/value pair,
where the name is the label used in the BioLegato menu, and the
value is the command run by BioLegato. The commands may contain
command line arguments. The list is evaluated beginning on line
1. BLHelper.py checks to see whether the program exists and is
executable. The first program to meet these criteria is chosen
as the helper application. Thus, you can set a preferred first,
second, third etc. choice of helper application by how the
applications are ordered in each file.
BLHelper.py can
be run from birchadmin to automate setting of BLvariables. Any time
BLHelper.py is run, it generates the HelperApps.blmenu file
for birchadmin. That way, an up-to-date list of choices for
each BLvariable will be written to the .blmenu file. The
HelperApps choice in birchadmin lets the user choose
During installation and updating,
BLHelper.py generates the birchadmin-->HelperApps menus,
and the setblenv.profile.platform.source.
WORKFLOWS
New install
read Choices from BL_var_platform.list file
foreach BLvariable
select best choice for the platform
write:
BLproperties.platform
setblenv.shell.platform.source
HelperApps.blmenu
Update of an existing system
read BLvariables from BL.properties.platform file
read Choices from BL_var_platform.list file
foreach BLvariable
if the program from BL.properties.platform isn't found
