Workunits and results are described by template files, with placeholders for their input and output files.

Workunit template files

A WU template file has the form

",htmlspecialchars("

    0
    [ ... ]

[ ... ]

    
        0
        NAME
    
    [ ... ]
    [ -flags xyz ]
    [ name=val&name=val ]

"), "

The components are: "; list_start(); list_item(htmlspecialchars(", "), "Each pair describes an input file"); list_item(htmlspecialchars(""), "The command-line arguments to be passed to the main program."); list_item(htmlspecialchars(""), "A list of environment variables in the form name=value&name=value&name=value."); list_end(); echo" When a workunit is created, the template file is processed as follows:

Within a <file_info> element, <number>x</number> identifies the order of the file. It is replaced with elements giving the filename, download URL, MD5 checksum, and size. file.
Within a <file_ref> element, <file_number>x</file_number> is replaced with the filename.

Result template files

A result template file has the form

", htmlspecialchars("

    
    
    
    32768
    


    
        
        result.sah
    

"), "

The result file template is macro-substituted as follows:

<OUTFILE_n> is replaced with a string of the form 'wuname_resultnum_n' where wuname is the workunit name and resultnum is the ordinal number of the result (0, 1, ...).
<UPLOAD_URL> is replaced with the upload URL.

Command-line interface

The utility program is

create_work
    -appname name                      // application name
    -wu_name name                      // workunit name
    -wu_template filename              // WU template filename
    -result_template filename          // result template filename
    [ -db_name x ]                     // database name
    [ -db_passwd x ]                   // database password
    [ -db_host x ]                     // database host
    [ -db_user x ]                     // database user name
    [ -upload_url x ]                  // URL for output file upload
    [ -download_url x ]                // base URL for input file download
    [ -download_dir x ]                // where to move input files
    [ -rsc_fpops_est x ]
    [ -rsc_fpops_bound x ]
    [ -rsc_memory_bound x ]
    [ -rsc_disk_bound x ]
    [ -keyfile x ]                     // path of upload private key
    [ -delay_bound x ]
    [ -min_quorum x ]
    [ -target_nresults x ]
    [ -max_error_results x ]
    [ -max_total_results x ]
    [ -max_success_results x ]
    infile_1 ... infile_m           // input files

The workunit parameters are documented here. Defaults for many of the optional arguments are taken from the config.xml file, if it's in the current directory.

C++ function interface

The C++ library (backend_lib.C,h) provides the functions:

int read_key_file(char* path, R_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY& key);

int create_work(
    WORKUNIT&,
    char* wu_template,                  // contents, not path
    char* result_template_filename,     // path
    int redundancy,
    char* infile_dir,                   // where input files are
    char** infiles,                     // array of input file names
    int ninfiles
    R_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY& key,             // upload authentication key
    char* upload_url,
    char* download_url
);

read_key_file() reads a private key from a file. Use this to read the file upload authentication key.

create_work() creates a workunit and one or more results. The arguments are similar to those of the utility program; some of the information is passed in the WORKUNIT structure, namely the following fields:

name
appid
batch
rsc_fpops
rsc_iops
rsc_memory
rsc_disk
delay_bound

All other fields should be zeroed. "; page_tail(); ?>