Installation

Users of the NCI cloud computing environment (CWSLab Virtual Desktop) can start using the CWSL Vistrails plugin by using a pre-installed and configured version (see for the impatient). However it is recommended that you create your own copy of this repository (see from source).

###For the impatient

1. Connect to the CWSLab Virtual Desktop (instructions can be found here) and open a terminal window (shell command prompt). Setup a vistrails user package directory

    mkdir -p ${HOME}/.vistrails/userpackages
   

2. Add the cwsl-mas plugin to your user packages directory.

    ln -s /g/data/r87/public/apps/cwsl-mas/master/cwsl ${HOME}/.vistrails/userpackages
   

3. Setup the module environment. This will require you restart your Virtual Desktop Session (logout/login)

    echo module use /g/data/r87/public/modulefiles >> ${HOME}/.bashrc
   

4. Launch Vistrails from the Applications->Science menu or run the command 'vistrails' from the shell.

5. Enable the cwsl package. Select Edit->Preferences from the Vistrails menu. Select the Module Packages and enable the cwsl package.

6. Follow the tutorial or load a sample workflow from the cwsl-workflows.

From source (recommended)

Why from source? Traceability and reproducibility are an important part of scientific data analysis. While Vistrails automatically maintains a detailed history information about the steps followed in the course of an exploratory task, an important part of traceability/reproducibility requires that your code and data are accessible. By creating your own copy of this repository we hope to encourage better software development practices in the Climate Community as well as the sharing are re-use of analysis scripts, software and workflows.

1. First go to https://github.com/ and create an account if you do not already have one.

2. Create a 'Fork' of each repository by selecting each repository (cwsl-mas, cwsl-ctools, and cwsl-workflows) and then the 'Fork' button on the top right hand side, or simply follow the links below:

• https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-mas/fork
• https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-ctools/fork
• https://github.com/CWSL/cwsl-workflows/fork

3. Connect to the CWSLab Virtual Desktop, create an ssh key and link it to your GitHub account (following these instructions). This will allow you to push and pull code to and from GitHub securely.

4. Create a directory on your CWS Virtual Desktop where you will keep a copy of the forked repositories:

    mkdir -p ${HOME}/src
   

5. Change to this new directory, then checkout the repositories with git clone (replace with your registered git username):

    cd ~/src
    git clone [email protected]:<username>/cwsl-mas.git
    git clone [email protected]:<username>/cwsl-ctools.git
    git clone [email protected]:<username>/cwsl-workflows.git
   

6. Setup a vistrails user package directory

    mkdir -p ${HOME}/.vistrails/userpackages
   

7. Add the cwsl-mas plugin to your user packages directory.

    ln -s ${HOME}/src/cwsl-mas/cwsl ${HOME}/.vistrails/userpackages
   

8. Setup the module environment. This will require you restart your Virtual Desktop Session (logout/login)

    echo module use /g/data/r87/public/modulefiles >> ${HOME}/.bashrc
   

9. Launch Vistrails from the Applications menu or run the command 'vistrails' from the shell.

10. Enable the cwsl package. Select Edit->Preferences from the Vistrails menu. Select the Module Packages and enable the cwsl package.

11. Configure the cwsl package. Select Packages->Climate and Weather Science Laboratory->Configure from the Vistrails menu. See Configuration Options.