2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
<body bgcolor=ffffff>
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
<h2>Compute model: workunits</h2>
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
|
A <b>workunit</b> describes a computation to be performed.
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
Workunits are maintained in the <b>workunit</b> table in the BOINC DB.
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
The attributes of a workunit include:
|
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
<li> Its application.
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
<li> Its name (unique across all workunits in the project).
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
<li> An XML document describing its input files and other parameters
|
|
|
|
|
(see below).
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
<li> The estimated resource requirements of the work unit
|
|
|
|
|
(computation, memory, disk space, network traffic).
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
<li> Counts of how many times this workunit should be dispatched,
|
|
|
|
|
how many times it has been dispatched, how many results have
|
|
|
|
|
been returned, and how many failures have occurred.
|
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
|
The inputs of a workunit are described by an XML document of the form
|
|
|
|
|
<pre>
|
|
|
|
|
[ <file_info>...</file_info> ]
|
|
|
|
|
[ ... ]
|
|
|
|
|
<workunit>
|
|
|
|
|
<name>foobar</name>
|
|
|
|
|
<app_name>blah</app_name>
|
|
|
|
|
[ <command_line>-flags xyz</command_line> ]
|
|
|
|
|
[ <env_vars>name=val&name=val</env_vars> ]
|
|
|
|
|
[ <file_ref>...</file_ref> ]
|
|
|
|
|
[ ... ]
|
|
|
|
|
<workunit>
|
|
|
|
|
</pre>
|
|
|
|
|
The components are:
|
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<li> The <b><name></b> element is the name of the workunit.
|
|
|
|
|
<li> The <b><app_name></b> element is the name of the application.
|
|
|
|
|
<li> The <b><command_line></b> element, if present,
|
|
|
|
|
is the command-line arguments to be passed to the main program.
|
|
|
|
|
<li> The <b><env_vars></b> element, if present,
|
|
|
|
|
is a list of environment variables to be passed to the main program.
|
|
|
|
|
<li> Each <b><file_ref></b> element describes a
|
|
|
|
|
<a href=files.html>reference</a> to an input file,
|
|
|
|
|
each of which is described by a <b><file_info></b> element.
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
|
A workunit is associated with an application,
|
|
|
|
|
not with a particular version or set of versions.
|
|
|
|
|
If the format of your input data changes in a way that
|
|
|
|
|
is incompatible with older versions,
|
|
|
|
|
you must create a new application.
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
This can often be avoided by using XML data format.
|
2002-04-30 22:22:54 +00:00
|
|
|
<p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
2002-05-17 22:33:57 +00:00
|
|
|
The <a href=tools.html>create_work</a> utility program
|
|
|
|
|
provides a simplified interface for creating workunits.
|
