We have al_trigger_alarm(), but no matching al_clear_alarm(), and I need it to
clear my alarm once the alarm condition no longer exists. Any objections if I
add this function? K.O.

> We have al_trigger_alarm(), but no matching al_clear_alarm(), and I need it to
> clear my alarm once the alarm condition no longer exists. Any objections if I
> add this function? K.O.

The idea is that once an alarm got triggered, it stays until the user
acknowledged, even if the alarm condition has been disappeared. Through mhttpd,
the user can press the "Reset" button, which then executes al_reset_alarm().
However, it is possible to call al_reset_alarm() directly from user code to
achieve the same thing.

> > We have al_trigger_alarm(), but no matching al_clear_alarm(), and I need it to
> > clear my alarm once the alarm condition no longer exists. Any objections if I
> > add this function? K.O.
> 
> call al_reset_alarm()

Thanks. I must be quite blind as I did not see al_reset_alarm() in midas.h. I se eit
now. Thanks.

K.O.

I had two free afternoon and took the opportunity to write a new API for the MSCB 
system. I'm not sure if anybody else actually uses MSCB (MIDAS slow control bus), 
but anyhow. 

The new API is contained in a single header file mscbxx.h, and it's extremely 
simple to use. Here is some example code:

#include "mscbxx.h"

...
   // connect to node 10 at submaster mscb123
   midas::mscb m("mscb123", 10);

   // print node info and all variables
   std::cout << m << std::endl;

   // refresh all variables (read from MSCB device)
   m.read_range();
   
   // access individual variables
   float f = m[5];   // index access
   f = m["In0"];     // name access

   // write value to MSCB device
   m["In0"] = 1.234;
...


Any feedback is welcome.

Stefan

> Here is some example code:
> 
> #include "mscbxx.h"
>    f = m["In0"];     // name access
>    m["In0"] = 1.234;
> Any feedback is welcome.

Where is the example of error handling?

K.O.

> Where is the example of error handling?

#include "mscbxx.h"
#include "mexcept.h"

...
   try {
   
      // connect to node 10 at submaster mscb123
      midas::mscb m("mscb123", 10);

      // print a variable
      std::cout << m["Input0"] << std::endl;
   
   } catch (mexception e) {
      std::cout << e << std::endl; // simply print exception
   }
...

Context: out of the box  MIDAS (using cmake) on OSX Mojave. 

Running with mongoose/opensslm installation following instruction here:
https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Quickstart_Linux

mhttpd crashing when midas webpage opened with Safari (12.1.2). Usually when opening the "chat" tab but sometimes also with the "message" tab.
mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** error for object 0x7f8669501ef0: pointer being freed was not allocated
mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug

No crash if using firefox (70.0.1 (64-bit))

> Context: out of the box  MIDAS (using cmake) on OSX Mojave. 
> 
> Running with mongoose/opensslm installation following instruction here:
> https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Quickstart_Linux
> 
> mhttpd crashing when midas webpage opened with Safari (12.1.2). Usually when opening the "chat" tab but sometimes also with the "message" tab.
> mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** error for object 0x7f8669501ef0: pointer being freed was not allocated
> mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
> 
> No crash if using firefox (70.0.1 (64-bit))

I think we also have reports of mhttpd crash on macos with safari from the Dragon experiment,
but cannot reproduce the problem.

If you can reproduce this, can you capture the crash stack trace?

One way to do this is to enable core dumps in odb "/expt/enable core dumps" set to "y", restart mhttpd,
wait for the crash. I think macos writes core dumps into /cores/... Or you can run mhttpd inside lldb
and wait for the crash. the lldb command to show the stack trace is "bt", but you may need
to switch to different threads to see which one actually crashed. I forget what the command
for that is.

BTW, the mhttpd networking code has not changed in a long time, but an update
of mongoose web server library is overdue (to fix a memory leak, at least).

K.O.

It is reproducible alright.
Here are the core dump and the backtrace (I think  the former is more informative).



> > Context: out of the box  MIDAS (using cmake) on OSX Mojave. 
> > 
> > Running with mongoose/opensslm installation following instruction here:
> > https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Quickstart_Linux
> > 
> > mhttpd crashing when midas webpage opened with Safari (12.1.2). Usually when opening the "chat" tab but sometimes also with the "message" tab.
> > mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** error for object 0x7f8669501ef0: pointer being freed was not allocated
> > mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
> > 
> > No crash if using firefox (70.0.1 (64-bit))
> 
> I think we also have reports of mhttpd crash on macos with safari from the Dragon experiment,
> but cannot reproduce the problem.
> 
> If you can reproduce this, can you capture the crash stack trace?
> 
> One way to do this is to enable core dumps in odb "/expt/enable core dumps" set to "y", restart mhttpd,
> wait for the crash. I think macos writes core dumps into /cores/... Or you can run mhttpd inside lldb
> and wait for the crash. the lldb command to show the stack trace is "bt", but you may need
> to switch to different threads to see which one actually crashed. I forget what the command
> for that is.
> 
> BTW, the mhttpd networking code has not changed in a long time, but an update
> of mongoose web server library is overdue (to fix a memory leak, at least).
> 
> K.O.

> It is reproducible alright.

Thanks. At first blush, a guess, read_passwords() is not thread-safe and is called from multiple threads, not protected by semaphore. Crash report shows 2 active threads 
(one made it is far as processing the mjson rpc, the other one crashed in read_passwords()).

K.O.


> Here are the core dump and the backtrace (I think  the former is more informative).
> 
> 
> 
> > > Context: out of the box  MIDAS (using cmake) on OSX Mojave. 
> > > 
> > > Running with mongoose/opensslm installation following instruction here:
> > > https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Quickstart_Linux
> > > 
> > > mhttpd crashing when midas webpage opened with Safari (12.1.2). Usually when opening the "chat" tab but sometimes also with the "message" tab.
> > > mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** error for object 0x7f8669501ef0: pointer being freed was not allocated
> > > mhttpd(11109,0x70000827a000) malloc: *** set a breakpoint in malloc_error_break to debug
> > > 
> > > No crash if using firefox (70.0.1 (64-bit))
> > 
> > I think we also have reports of mhttpd crash on macos with safari from the Dragon experiment,
> > but cannot reproduce the problem.
> > 
> > If you can reproduce this, can you capture the crash stack trace?
> > 
> > One way to do this is to enable core dumps in odb "/expt/enable core dumps" set to "y", restart mhttpd,
> > wait for the crash. I think macos writes core dumps into /cores/... Or you can run mhttpd inside lldb
> > and wait for the crash. the lldb command to show the stack trace is "bt", but you may need
> > to switch to different threads to see which one actually crashed. I forget what the command
> > for that is.
> > 
> > BTW, the mhttpd networking code has not changed in a long time, but an update
> > of mongoose web server library is overdue (to fix a memory leak, at least).
> > 
> > K.O.

Problem:
If cm_set_transition_sequence() is used for changing the sequence number, the 
command odbedit> start/stop/resume/pause -v report the propre sequence but the
action on the client side is actually not performed!

Fix:
Local transition table updated in midas.c (1.226)

Note:
The transition number under /system/clients/<pid>/transition...
is used internally. Changing it won't have any effect on the client action
if sequence number is not registered.

midas\mscb\embedded
  \include                <- place for framework include file mscbemb.h
  \lib                    <- precompiled TCP/IP library for SCS-260 submaster
  \src                    <- framework sources mscbmain.c and mscbutil.c
  \<project1>             <- separate folder for project1
      config.h            <- config file for project1
  \<project2>             <- separate folder for project2
      config.h            <- config file for project2
  ...
  \experiment
     \<experiment1>
     \<experiment2>

• The framework files mscbmain.c mscbutil.c and mscbemb.h have moved and therefore they have to be re-added to the projects in the Keil MicroVision Development Environment.
  
• The name of the device should not be defined under compiler settings (Project Options/C51/Preprocessor Symbols), but put directly into the config.h file associated with the project.
  
• The include paths in the compile have to be changed and point to \midas\mscb\embedded\include
  
• The file config.h has to be copied from a similar project and adjusted to fit the new project.
  

A new slow control mini-framework has been developed for MIDAS and been successfully tested in the Mu3e experiment. It 
might be suited for other experiments as well.

Background

Since the late 90’s we have the three-tier bases slow control framework in MIDAS with class drivers, device drivers and bus 
drivers. While it was used successfully since many years, it is complicated to understand and limited in its flexibility. If we 
have a HV device with a demand value, a measured voltage and a current it’s fine, but if we want to control more things like 
trip voltage, temperature and status readout etc. it soon hits its limits. With the development of the new odbxx API 
(https://daq00.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Odbxx) there is now an opportunity to make everything much simpler.

Design principles

Instead of a three-tier system, the new “mdev” framework (“m”idas “dev”ices) uses a simple base class which is attached to 
a certain MIDAS equipment. It implements five simple functions:

- odb_setup() to setup /Equipment/<name>/Settings and /Equipment/<name>/Variables to its desired structure

- init() to initialize the slow control device

- exit() to close the connection to the device

- loop() which is called periodically to read the device

- read_event() which returns a MIDAS event going to the data stream

A device driver inherits from this base class and implements the functions. A simple example can be found in 

  midas/drivers/mdev/mdev_mscb.[h,cxx]

for the MSCB field bus system used at TRIUMF and PSI. It basically boils down to two calls:

Init:
   m_variables.connect(“/Equipment/<name>/Variables”);
   m_variables[“Output”].watch(midas::odb &o) {
      m_mscb[“HV”] = o[0]; // transfer value from ODB to MSCB device
   }

Reading a value in the loop function:
   m_variables[“Input”][0] = m_mscb[“HVMeas”];

The member variable m_variables is a midas::odb variable attached to the “Input” and “Output” variables in the ODB. The 
watch() functions executes the lambda function whenever the “Output” in the ODB changes. It then simply transfers the new 
value to the device. The reading of measured values just work in the other direction from the device to the ODB.

If you look at the mdev_mscb.cxx code, you see of course some more things like connecting to the MSCB device with proper 
error handling, looping over several devices and variables, setting up the “Setting” directory in the ODB to define labels for 
all variables. In addition we have a mirror for output variables, so that new values are only sent to the device if they differ 
from the previous variable (needed to reduce some communication traffic). 

The midas/drivers/mdev directory contains also an example frontend in the mfe.cxx framework, but this is no a requirement. 
The mdev framework can also be used in the tmfe framework and others as well. Please note how compact the frontend 
code now looks.

User interface

Since the beginning, MIDAS allows access to the the slow control devices through the “equipment” page (on the main status 
page, click on one equipment). A few more options can control now the behavior of this page, allowing quite some flexibility 
without having to write a dedicated custom page (which of course can still be done). Attached is an example from Mu3e where 
the details of the equipment display are controlled through some options in the setting subdirectory as described in 
https://daq00.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php//Equipment_ODB_tree (especially the “grid display”, “Editable” and “Format” 
flags).

Conclusions

The new “mdev” framework offers a compact and effective way to communicate from MIDAS to slow control devices. Since 
all interface code is now not “hidden” any more in system class and device drivers, the user has much higher flexibility in 
controlling different devices. If a device has a new parameter, the user can add a single line of code to connect this 
parameter to an ODB entry.

The framework is very simple and misses some features of the old system. Ramping of HV voltages and current trips are not 
available in the framework (like with the old HV class driver), but modern devices usually implement this in hardware which 
is much better. The new framework is not multi-threaded, but modern devices are these day much faster than in the ‘90s. 
Since the ODB is thread save, nothing prevents us from putting a device readout into its own thread in the frontend.

We will use the new system for all devices in Mu3e, with probably some new features being added soon, so stay tuned.

/Stefan

A new sequencer command "ODBLOOKUP" has been implemented, which does a lookup of a string in a string 
array in the ODB given by a path and returns its index as a number. If we have for example an array

/Examples/Names
   [0] Hello
   [1] Test
   [2] Other

and do a
 
ODBLOOKUP "/Examples/Names", "Test", index

we get a index equal 1.


/Stefan

> A new sequencer command "ODBLOOKUP" has been implemented, which does a lookup of a string in a string 
> array in the ODB given by a path and returns its index as a number. If we have for example an array
> 
> /Examples/Names
>    [0] Hello
>    [1] Test
>    [2] Other
> 
> and do a
>  
> ODBLOOKUP "/Examples/Names", "Test", index
> 
> we get a index equal 1.
> 

"value not found" sets "index" to ?
"odb key not found" sets "index" to ?
link to documentation?

K.O.

> "value not found" sets "index" to ?

It sets it actually to "not found". Since all variables are stings in the sequencer, you can then do a test like

ODBLOOKUP ..., index
if ($index == "not found")
  ...


> "odb key not found" sets "index" to ?

If the odb key is not found, the sequencer aborts.

> link to documentation?

The documentation is where it always has been: 

https://daq00.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Sequencer#Sequencer_Commands

/Stefan

We have started a new elog for discussions of the ROOTANA MIDAS analyzer package
[1], which is used at TRIUMF and elsewhere for quick displays of MIDAS data. 
The forum is available here

https://midas.triumf.ca/elog/Rootana

I would note that we have recently finished implementing a system in rootana for
easy web displays of MIDAS data, using ROOT's THttpServer to post histograms. 
Details on this new scheme are here

https://midas.triumf.ca/elog/Rootana/1

and

https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/Rootana_javascript_displays

Please sign up for the forum if you are interested in getting ROOTANA-related
discussions.

Thomas

[1] https://midas.triumf.ca/MidasWiki/index.php/ROOTANA

> We have started a new elog for discussions of the ROOTANA MIDAS analyzer package

Posting there is almost like talking to oneself - barely anybody is subscribed, not even me.

Hence this reminder.

If you use ROOTANA, click the "config" link, then click the "rootana" checkbutton, then "save".

K.O.

A new pipe compression has been implemented in mlogger thanks to Fedor Ignatov from BINP 
Novosibirsk. The way it works that the logger write into a pipe instead directly into a file. The pipe can 
then be connected to any compression program without the need to copile against any additional C 
library.

To use is, enter as the filename for example

|bzip2>run%05d.mid     (note the pipe '|' in front of the bzip2)

This way the data stream is run through the bzip2 program, which is known to have better compression 
ratio than gzip. Furthermore, the parallel version of bzip2 can be used, which spreads over all available 
CPU cures and speeds up compression almost linearly with the number of cores. This parallel version 
called pbzip2 can be found here:

http://compression.ca/pbzip2/

It can be easily compiled and installed. Using this method in the MEG experiment at PSI, we can compress 
our waveform data to 37% or it's original size (49% with gzip), and on 8 cores we get a compression rate 
of about 40 MBytes/sec (23 MBytes with gzip on a single core).

The disadvantage of that method is that one cannot see the compression ratio online, but this is not a big 
deal I guess. The new version has been committed as rev. 5324. 

/Stefan

• Remove following line:
  

  #define DRIVER(_i) ...

  
  
• Find all lines containing
  

  DRIVER(i)(CMD_xxx, info->dd_info[i], ...)

  
  and replace them with
  

  device_driver(info->driver[i], CMD_xxx, ...)

  
  note that info->dd_info[i] is not passed any more. Instead, you pass info->driver[i]. Pleae note that the arguments passed after CMD_xxx are not checked by the compiler, since they are a variable argument list. Any error there will not produce a compiler warning, but will just crash the front-end.
  
  
• Find the line with
  

  status = pequipment->driver[i].dd(CMD_INIT, hKey, &pequipment->driver[i].dd_info,
                                          pequipment->driver[i].channels,
                                          pequipment->driver[i].flags,
                                          pequipment->driver[i].bd);

  
  and replace it with
  

  status = device_driver(&pequipment->driver[i], CMD_INIT, hKey);

  
  
• Find the line with
  

  pequipment->driver[i].dd(CMD_EXIT, pequipment->driver[i].dd_info);

  
  and replace it with
  

  device_driver(&pequipment->driver[i], CMD_EXIT);

  
  
• Find following lines
  

  hv_info->driver[i] = pequipment->driver[index].dd;
  hv_info->dd_info[i] = pequipment->driver[index].dd_info;
  hv_info->channel_offset[i] = offset;
  hv_info->flags[i] = pequipment->driver[index].flags;

  
  and replace them with
  

  hv_info->driver[i] = &pequipment->driver[index];
  hv_info->channel_offset[i] = offset;

INT cd_xxx(INT cmd, EQUIPMENT * pequipment)
{
   INT i, status;

   switch (cmd) {
   case CMD_INIT:
      ...

   case CMD_STOP:
      for (i = 0; pequipment->driver[i].dd != NULL &&
                  pequipment->driver[i].flags & DF_MULTITHREAD ; i++)
         status = device_driver(&pequipment->driver[i], CMD_STOP);
      break;

   case CMD_IDLE:
      ...

   return status;
}

DEVICE_DRIVER multi_driver[] = {
   {"Input", nulldev, 2, null, DF_INPUT | DF_MULTITHREAD},
   {"Output", nulldev, 2, null, DF_OUTPUT | DF_MULTITHREAD},
   {""}
};