Common HEP UNIX Environment - Goals
The goal of this project is to provide a common user environment for UNIX
users and solutions, recommendations, advices, in order to integrate:
- a common user environment at line mode level (shell)
in particular in the login, interactive and batch environments for
supporting the 6 main shells (sh, csh, ksh,
bash, tcsh, zsh)
- a common user environment at graphical level
in particular the X11 environment
For each target, the requirements are:
to users it should mainly offer
- A decent default
- Easy ways for user customisation
- Standardized look and feel
- Standardized setting of variables
- Guarantied functionality
to system administrators it should offer
- Easy ways to install
- Easy ways to customise to their own needs and in particular:
- Optimise resource usage and
- Implement policies (security, etc.)
- Tailorable to needs of individuals and groups
- Easy ways to offer defaults and mandatory settings
- Easy way to take into account the sociological differences between
system administrators at HEP, Site, System, Custer, Group managers
and end-user level.
- Minimum number of files to handle
- Transparent scripts
- A model which can Evolve
- A migration paradigm
to both users and system administrators
- homogeneous environment on all HEP UNIX platforms.
It should work on at least the following UNIX platforms:
AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, SunOs, Solaris2, OSF/1, ULTRIX
and more in the future
- consistant settings accross HEP sites
- flexibility to local needs
- possibility for some users to skip HEPiX if necessary (root, all
accounts with a uid less than 100, all users listed in a rejection
file, see wrappers).
- political acceptance of the solution
- relevant documentation
Moreover it should aim New users, new experiments, new machines
and be flexible enough to address by side effect all the old users
who will be affected.
Arnaud Taddei, 27-Jun-1996