==================================================
Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure
Integrated Observatory Network (ION)
ioncore-python - Capability Container and Core Modules
==================================================
 
April 2010 - September 2010 (C) UCSD Regents

This project provides a service framework with auxilliary functions for running
architecturally complete versions of all the services of the OOI release 1
system with their full architectural dependencies in Python.
Functionally it provides a data distribution network based on pub-sub messaging
as well as instrument integration, with underlying infrastructure services
(security, persistence) and provisioning.

The "core" part of LCAarch provides base classes and a framework for spawnable,
message communicating processes, for services with defined names, for
bootstrapping the system, for managing logging and configuration etc. This
is an early implementation of the OOI Python Capability Container.

For more information, please see:
http://www.oceanobservatories.org/spaces/display/syseng/CIAD+COI+SV+Python+Capability+Container

Dependencies
============

ioncore-python is compatible with Python 2.5 and higher, but not Python 3.x
This project has several dependencies on libraries and packages. Most of these
dependencies are resolved automatically using the provided setup script.

Step 1: Virtual env
    Create a Python virtual environment using virtualenv. This ensures that all
    libraries and dependencies are installed separately from the Python
    system libraries
::
    mkvirtualenv --no-site-packages --python=/usr/bin/python2.5 --distribute ioncore-python
    workon ioncore-python

    Note: When troubleshooting issues (since easy_install is easy but has its own problems)
    , start all over again with a new virtualenv, such as:
    mkvirtualenv --no-site-packages --python=/usr/bin/python2.5 --distribute ioncore-python2
    You can remove old virtualenvs using `rmvirtualenv <env_name>`.

Step 2: Core libraries (you can skip this step)
    Install some core libraries first. Sometimes the automatic installer
    produces errors, if these libraries are not present beforehand.
::
    easy_install -U twisted

Step 3: Run the setup script
::
    ant install    # This is equivalent to python setup.py install

This should download and install all the dependencies and will run for a while.
Check the trace output that there are no substantial errors. You are now ready
to run.

Current dependencies include:
    twisted, carrot, txamqp, msgpack-python, httplib2, simplejson, Telephus
    gviz_api.py, nimboss, txrabbitmq, M2Crypto-patched, ionproto and protobuf

NOTE: As the project evolves and new code is added, dependencies might change.
Run the setup script once in a while and when you get errors

*M2Crypto note: requires autoconf, automake, and g++ packages be installed prior.


Usage
=====

(all subsequent steps assume you are in the ioncore-python/ root dir)

Start empty Python Capability Container shell with:
::
    scripts/start-cc -h amoeba.ucsd.edu
    scripts/start-cc   # to run with localhost
    # Alternatively the direct call to twistd developer
    twistd -n cc -h amoeba.ucsd.edu
    # To set a sysname, i.e. a "cluster name" for all containers in a cluster
    twistd -n cc -h amoeba.ucsd.edu -a sysname=mycluster

(to end a capability container shell, press Ctrl-D Ctrl-C)

Start system by executing within the CC shell:
><>
    from ion.core import bootstrap
    bootstrap.start()

Alternatively (better) from UNIX shell executing a script:
::
    scripts/start-cc -h amoeba.ucsd.edu res/scripts/bootstrap.py
    scripts/start-cc -h amoeba.ucsd.edu res/scripts/newcc.py


Testing
=======

Run trial test cases (recursively)
::
    trial ion
    trial ion.core
    trial ion.services.coi.test.test_resource_registry

A good learning example is the HelloService
::
    trial ion.play.test.test_hello

Or in the CC shell:
><>
    from ion.play import hello_service
    spawn(hello_service)
    send(1, {'op':'hello','content':'Hello you there!'})

    from ion.play.hello_service import HelloServiceClient
    hc = HelloServiceClient()
    hc.hello()


Build and Packaging using Ant
=============================

LCAarch provides ANT support (see http://ant.apache.org/).
To check that ant is installed properly, run
::  ant

To clean your working directories, run
::  ant clean

To install all Python dependencies, run
::  ant install

To compile all code to see if there are Python compile errors anywhere:
::  ant compile


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Change log:
===========

2011-1-28:
- Switched to binary sha1 keys in all objects.
- Added @ITV decorator to skip itv tests when running 'trial ion'

2011-1-26:
- Moved scripts in bin/ dir to scripts/ dir.

2011-1-24:
- Removed IRODS as backend storage configureation option

2011-1-21:
- ION is now using google protocol buffer objects in the resource object model
- Bumped version number to 0.4.0 consistent with the setup.py file. 


2010-10-28:
- Set RPC default timeout to 15 secs (see ion.config).
  Use a different secs value in in rpc_send(..., ..., timeout=5)

2010-10-05:
- REFACTORING OF BASE CLASSES CONTINUED
- Changed ion.core.base_process.BaseProcess to ion.core.process.process.Process
- Changed ion.services.base_service.BaseService to
  ion.core.process.service_process.ServiceProcess
- Modified all dependent classes

2010-10-04:
- MASSIVE REFACTORING IN BASE CLASSES
- Refactored the former magnet code into more object oriented style.
- Requires Carrot 0.10.11. Carrot before does not handle all deferred
  operations correctly.
- Refactored the Receiver use. There are now subclasses for Receivers that
  manage and declare the specific types of AMQP resources, such as worker and
  fanout. No more declare_messaging necessary.
- Refactoried the capability container classes.
- Added a FSM based StateObject. Many manager/controller level objects now make
  use of states. States and operations INIT -> initialize() -> READY ->
  activate() -> ACTIVE -> terminate() -> TERMINATED (and more, with errors)
- BaseProcess (and subclasses), Receiver, ProcessDesc, Container etc are all
  BasicLifecyleObjects.
- BaseProcess now waits to activate the receiver until in ACTIVE state. Before,
  code can do RPC, but not receive messages on the process id
- Massively enhanced the capability container API. Delegated the actual
  implementation to manager classes: proc, exchange, app manager
- Refactored the way processes are spawned. Refactored ProcessDesc to use the
  new container API. Processes are by default immediately initialized and
  activated. The op_init message has been eliminated.
- Renamed ProtocolFactory to ProcessFactory; changed in each process module
- Message headers now contain status code for every message. 'OK is the default
  and 'ERROR' is set on error
- BaseProcess.rpc_send now raises a ReceivedError in case the RPC comes back
  with status='ERROR'
- Changed reply_ok and reply_err: a dict content value will not be modified
- Fixed imports and tests throughout the code base
- Added OTP style apps and app files as primary way to start up processes
  in the container. See res/apps/*.app files and ion.core.pack

2010-09-20:
- Added start scripts in bin/
- Use ant install to install Python dependencies (calls python setup.py install)
- Removed dependency on magnet. Included all relevant magnet code in ion.core
  packages cc and messaging.
  Start with: twistd -n cc
- Included all CEI services and base classes in code base

2010-08-29:
- Changed all logging instances for loggers to log, to avoid name clashes.

2010-08-14:
- BaseProcess: added backend receiver, used for sending out any messages
  from self.send and self.rpc_send. This keeps the message queue for the process
  frontend separate from the process backend, e.g. for RPC during a message
  processing.
- Changed BaseProcess logging to make message send and receive easier to spot.

2010-08-06:
- BaseProcess.spawn() now calls init() automatically. No need to call init()
  on a process anymore manually. For testing only. Note: The correct way to
  spawn a process is through a parent process with spawn_child()
- Modified and fixed the BaseProcess states, when receiving messages
- MAJOR update to BaseProcess message dispatching and subsequent error handling.
  On error, reply_err messages are sent back, if reply-to header set.

2010-08-03:
- Added ant build.xml file to LCAarch root dir. Start with ant.
  Supports ant clean, which removes all *.pyc from ion path.

2010-07-23:
- Refactored the Registry Services to inherit from a common base class. This
  will allow easier implementation of the many registries in the OOICI. The
  Resource Registry and Service Registry now have basic registration of resource
  descriptions and services.
- The Ion message is now encoded usig the MsgPack library to allow for binary
  transport of message content. The JSON library was mangleing string content.
  This is a temporary fix for a wider problem with the encoding structure which
  needs to be addressed in construction.

2010-06-07:
- Redefined logging import to set as module level logger. Each module has now
  a different logger that can be configured separately. Don't configure
  manually though.
- Added possibility to modify logging levels by module/package, with support
  for package hierarchy. See res/logging/loglevels.cfg for standard entries.
  Do not modify. Add file res/logging/loglevelslocal.cfg for local override.
  Default logging level for all ion code: WARNING

2010-06-02:
- BaseProcess self members renamed to conform to PEP8
- Added process shutdown to BaseProcess
- Added container UNIX shell argument -a processes=<path to filename> used
  by newcc.py script, with a list of processes to startup in standard format

2010-05-25:
- Made Cassandra backend parameterizable with keyspace/colfamily and added
  SuperColumn support.
- Modified the IStore interface to support a create_store factory method. This
  method can yield and return a deferred. Modified and fixed IStore impls.
  Changed delete to remove to be more compliant with standard collections.

2010-05-22:
- Added timeout to BaseProcess.rpc_send. Use with kwarg timeout=<secs>
- CC-Agent detects missing known containers and removes them from the list
- Enhanced CC-Agent operations and CC shell helpers
- Added sequence numbers for messages
- Added glue functions BaseProcess.reply_ok and reply_err and changes some
  RPC style service operations.

2010-05-20:
- The system now looks for a local config file ionlocal.config and if exists,
  overrides entries in ion.config.
- Test cases use the config file to determine the broker host to use. If local
  config override exists, a different broker (e.g. localhost) can be given.
- Added BaseProcessClient and changed BaseServiceClient and all clients and
  all test cases (again).
- Added container shell helpers under 'cc', such as cc.spawn('hello')

2010-05-16:
- Removed support for BaseProcess.send_message and reply_message. Always use
  send, reply and rpc_send now.
- Any BaseProcess instance can now spawn_child() other processes.
- Removed RpcClient class, because every process can do rpc_send()
- Service processes now also listen to their service name's queue. The service
  name is determined from the service declaration. Two processes will listen
  to the same queue and take messages round robin from the queue.
- Startup arguments evaluated, for instance to start with system name set:
  twistd -n magnet -a sysname=mysys
  twistd -n magnet -a "{'sysname':'mysys'}"
- Added capability container agent process. Start with:
  twistd -n magnet res/scripts/newcc.py
  Agents announce themselves to others in the same system and can spawn procs.
- Name scope 'local' for messaging names means now really local to one container.
  Use scope 'system' for names unique for each bootstrapped system. Do not use
  global names, because they will clash.
- Less verbose trace output for process init messages and changes to other
  trace output as well.
- Changed BaseServiceClient and tests. Initializer arguments different.
- Using master branch of magnet now

2010-05-10:
- Based on entries in config files, service process modules are sought and
  loaded in order to collect the service process declarations. This enables
  a registration of services with versions and dependencies on startup

2010-05-06:
- Refactored the BaseProcess class.
  - You can now do RPC directly from the process, via self.rpc_send without
    the need for an RpcClient. Works even with other messages coming in at the
    same time (using the conv-id)
  - Added aliases: self.send, self.reply (use these now)
  - Process instance can be spawned via self.spawn()
- Provided an easier to use BaseServiceClient, which uses a default service
  name lookup. Accepts BaseProcess instance as argument to use for sending/
  receiving service calls.

.