Problem

How can I switch from one ACS release to another?

Solution

You can switch the ACS release by using the acsChangeEnv script. Here is an example on how to change the version from ACS 2.1 to ACS-3.0:

    > acsChangeEnv ALMASW_RELEASE=ACS-3.0

The script will open a new xterm with the new environment already changed and ready to be used. On the other side, the environment from which acsChangeEnv was launched will not change until the next log out - log in.

How do I switch between different versions of ACS?

As described above, when you install a new official version of ACS, the installation procedure allows you to keep in parallel also an already installed previous release

This can be useful in a transition phase, while porting from the older to the newest version.

The simplest way to switch between different versions of ACS is to load the appropriate

  • .acs/.bash_profile.acs file

This is normally done at login time from the user's $HOME/.bash_profile

Here some nbotes:

  • The standard .bash_profile.acs file for each release can be found in $ACSROOT/config/.acs/.bash_profile.acs
  • The .bash_profile.acs is generally backward compatible for patches of the same release (major and minor number), but no backward compatibility is warrantied across releases, therefore:
    • Always use for each releases the latest profile file.
  • You can put multiple profile files in the .acs directory and select between them from the main $HOME/.bash_profile . For example you can use a switch like the following:
      if [ "$myHOST" = "te22" -o "$myHOST" = "te1" ]
      then
         echo "Sourcing ACS 4.1 .acs/.bash_profile.acs"
         source $HOME/.acs/.bash_profile.acs.4.1
      elif [ "$myHOST" = "teXX-some3.1" ]
      then
         echo "Sourcing ACS 3.1 .acs/.bash_profile.acs"
         source $HOME/.acs/.bash_profile.acs.3.1
      elif [ "$myHOST" = "te98" ]
      then
         echo "Sourcing ACS 4.0 .acs/.bash_profile.acs.te98"
         source $HOME/.acs/.bash_profile.acs.te98
      else
         echo "Sourcing default .acs/.bash_profile.acs (4.0)"
         source $HOME/.acs/.bash_profile.acs
      fi
  • You can change the patch version of ACS installation used by a profile by setting the environment variables:
    • ACSROOT
    • ACSDATA
  • Look at the documentation on top of $ACSROOT/config/.acs/.bash_profile.acs for more details and beware of the usage of the -r command line option described there.