taktuk - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

TakTuk - a tool for large scale remote execution deployment

SYNOPSIS

taktuk [-behinsvzMP] [-c connector] [-d limit] [-f filename] [-g duration] [-l login] [-m
hostname [-[ args ... -]]] [-o stream=template] [-t timeout] [-u limit] [-w size] [-B
parameter=expression] [-C separators] [-E character] [-F filename] [-G hostname [-[ args
... -]]] [-L hostname] [-I interpreter] [-O separators] [-R stream=filename] [-S files]
[-T command] [-V path ] [-W scheme] [commands ... ]

DESCRIPTION

TakTuk is a tool for broadcasting the remote execution of one ore more commands to a set
of one or more distant machines. TakTuk combines local parallelization (using concurrent
deployment processes) and work distribution (using an adaptive work-stealing algorithm) to
achieve both scalability and efficiency.

TakTuk is especially suited to interactive tasks involving several distant machines and
parallel remote executions. This is the case of clusters administration and parallel
program debugging.

TakTuk also provides a basic communication layer to programs it executes. This
communication layer uses the communication infrastructure set up by TakTuk during its
deployment. It is available both for the Perl and the C langages and is described in
TakTuk(3) and taktukcomm(3) respectively.

OPTIONS

Caution, in TakTuk options are parsed in the order given on the command line. This means
that TakTuk is not POSIX compliant regarding options order. This is important as some of
the options change the behavior of following ones (and only these ones - e.g. -l applies
to following -m options). The defaults settings of TakTuk can be obtained by using the
"--print-defaults" option. The following options are given by category in alphabetical
order.

DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS

-b
--begin-group
begins a new deployment group. A deployment group acts both as a context for most
options (options set within a group have no effect outside the group) and as an
isolation for deployment tasks scheduling (deployment tasks within a group cannot be
stolen by nodes deployed in other groups).

-c connector
--connector connector
defines the connector command used to contact the following remote machines.

-d limit
--dynamic limit
turns dynamic mode (work stealing) on or off for the deployment of all the following
remote machines specifications. If "limit" is positive or null, TakTuk uses the
dynamic mode with its value as a maximal arity (0 = no maximal arity). A negative
value for "limit" turns dynamic mode off. Warning, currently it is a bad idea to use
several -d options with positive values on the same command line.

-e
--end-group
ends a deployment group.

-f filename
--machines-file filename
"filename" is the name of a file that contains remote machines names (equivalent to
several "-m" opions). In each line of this file, the first word is considered as a
machine name and the remaining as comments.

-l login
--login login
sets the login name for the following hosts. This assumes that the connector command
accepts "-l" option (this is the case for ssh, the default).

-m hostname
--machine hostname
"hostname" is the name of a remote machine on which TakTuk has to be deployed.
"hostname" might contain list of values specified inside brackets and exclusion lists
(see "HOSTNAMES SPECIFICATION"). In such case, the depolyment will be performed on all
the matching hosts. This option can be followed by any number of arguments enclosed
between "-[" and "-]" which will be transmitted as arguments of the remote TakTuk that
will execute on all the target hosts.

-s
--self-propagate
propagates the TakTuk executable through the following connectors and thus eliminates
the need for a TakTuk installation on remote machines.

-z
--dont-self-propagate
cancels a preceding -s option.

-F filename
--args-file filename
"filename" is the name of a file that contains additional options for TakTuk. The
parsing of the file is done when encountering this option.

-G hostname
--gateway hostname
same as -m hostname, except that the deployed node(s) are considered as forward-only
nodes: they will not be numbered and will not be targeted by subsequent diffusion
commands. As an exception, execution of TakTuk commands on those nodes is still
possible by giving them as deployment arguments of the -G option.

-I command
--perl-interpreter command
"command" is the name of the command to use as a Perl interpreter when auto
propagating or when using the "taktuk_perl" command.

-L hostname
--localhost hostname
changes the name of localhost as viewed by TakTuk.

-S files
--send-files files
gives to TakTuk a list of files to be sent upon successfull remote connection. Use
with caution as it will slow down deployment (the files are transfered before the end
of the deployment). The intended use is NOT to transfer application data files (rather
use the "put" command to transfer such files). This option should be used to transfer
files that are necessary to perform further connections from the remote node. "files"
is a comma separated list of pairs "local_file:remote_file". Regarding the transfer
itself, it behaves as the "put" command.

-T command
--taktuk-command command
"command" is the name of the TakTuk command (default is $0, the name used to launch
TakTuk). This is the command used once connected to initiate the remote TakTuk engine.
Note that the effect of this switch is void when using the "-s" option.

-V list
--path-value list
set the PATH environment variable to the given list (as usual, a colon separated
directories list) on remote hosts to which TakTuk connects. This is performed very
early and is taken into account even for "taktuk" or "perl" invocations at connection
time.

COMMAND LINE PARSING OPTIONS

-C separators set
--command-separator separators set
replaces the default set of characters that separates successive TakTuk commands.

-E character
--escape-character character
defines an escape character that can be used to protect any following character from
TakTuk interpretation. This protection applies nearly to the whole TakTuk command
line.

-O separators set
--option-separator separators set
replaces the default set of characters that separates successive words when reading
options and commands from a file (using the "-F" switch).

I/O OPTIONS

-o stream=template
--output-template stream=template
sets an output template specification for one of output streams designed by the given
name. When giving only a stream name (without template) this disables the stream.
Available streams include :

"connector" (errors from the connector command)
this stream contains in $line information outputed to stderr by a connector
command. Relevant fields include $host, $peer and others listed below.

"error", "output" (error and output of remotely executed commands)
these streams contain in $line information outputed by executed command to stdout
or stderr (respectively). Relevant fields include $host, $command, $pid and others
listed below.

"info" (general information such as help summary or version)
this stream contains in $line information outputed by taktuk in response to
commands such as "help" or "version".

"message" (messages from running processes)
each output of this stream contains in $line a message sent with target "output"
(through TakTuk out-of-band communications facilities) by some processus started
using TakTuk commands. Relevant fields for this stream include $from and $to and
others listed below.

"state" (internal state of TakTuk instance)
this stream contains in $line the state change code matching some TakTuk events.
Codes are the following:

0 - TakTuk is ready
1 - TakTuk is numbered
2 - TakTuk terminated
3 - connection failed
4 - connection initialized
5 - connection lost
6 - command started
7 - command failed
8 - command terminated
9 - numbering update failed
10 - pipe input started
11 - pipe input failed
12 - pipe input terminated
13 - file reception started
14 - file reception failed
15 - file reception terminated
16 - file send failed
17 - Invalid target
18 - No target
19 - Message delivered
20 - Invalid destination
21 - Destination not available anymore
22 - Wait complete
23 - Wait reduce complete

The function event_msg($) can be used in the template to translate this code into
a string that describes the event. Relevant fields include $host, $position,
$rank, $count and others listed below.

"status" (commands exit status)
this stream contains in $line the return code of executed commands. Relevant
fields include $host, $pid and others listed below.

"taktuk" (internal messages, warnings and errors)
this stream contains in $line error, warning and debug messages outputed by TakTuk
itself. Relevant fields include $line_number, $package and others listed below.

a template is a Perl expression that should evaluate to the string eventually
displayed. Within a specification, some variables might be used depending on the
concerned stream:

$command (not for "taktuk" nor "info")
the command line execution that generated output.

$count
the total number of TakTuk instances.

$eol
an empty string or a newline depending on what character ended command output.

$filename ("taktuk" only)
the file in which a TakTuk diagnostic function has been called.

$from ("message" only)
the logical number of the TakTuk instance from which the message has been sent.

$host
the name of the host executing the current TakTuk instance

$init_date ("connector" and "state" only)
the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 at which the remote TakTuk instance
completed its initialization (including ssh connection time and self propagation
if any).

$level ("taktuk" only)
the level of the diagnostic function called.

$level_name ("taktuk" only)
the name associated with the level of the diagnostic function called.

$line
the raw data outputed by a command or passed to a diagnostic function, any
trailing newline removed (see $eol).

$line_number ("taktuk" only)
the line number at which a TakTuk diagnostic function has been called.

$package ("taktuk" only)
the package in which a TakTuk diagnostic function has been called.

$peer ("connector" and "state" only)
the remote machine for which a connector command outputed information.

$peer_position ("connector" and "state" only)
position on the command line of the remote host. This position is expressed as a
path in the hierarchy of hosts expressed on the command line (dot separated
position number at each level of imbrication).

$peers_given ("state" only)
a space separated list of remote nodes that has been given to the remote peer for
deployment (whatever their deployment state). Each remote node is specified as a
colon separated couple made of its hostname and its position on the command line.
This variable has only a meaningful value when the event outputed to the stream
"state" is a connection loss (event number 5).

$pid (not for "taktuk" nor "info")
the pid of the command line executed (that produced output).

$position
position on the command line of the current host. This position is expressed as a
path in the hierarchy of hosts expressed on the command line (dot separated
position number at each level of imbrication).

$rank
the logical number of TakTuk instance in which output is collected.

$reply_date ("connector" and "state" only)
the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 at which the connector command replied to
the local TakTuk instance (note that this does not include the initialization
exange occuring before the remote TakTuk is considered as functional).

$start_date ("output", "error", "connector" and "status")
the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 at which the command started (taken just
after the call to fork()).

$init_date ("connector" and "state" only)
the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 at which the remote TakTuk completed its
initilization.

$stop_date ("connector" and "status" only)
the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 at which the command terminated (after the
closing of its stdout).

$to ("message" only)
the logical number (or set of such numbers) of the TakTuk instance to which the
message has been sent.

$type
the name of the output stream (connector, error, output, ...).

$user_scalar
a scalar, global to the package, initially initialized to undef, that the user is
free to use for any purpose.

at the end of the day, the specification is evaluated for each line of the concerned
stream and the result printed on the root node. Note that the newline has to be added
explicitly as "\n" in the template if needed.

WARNING: take care of your specification, if the Perl syntax is not correct lots of
awfull compilation error messages will be displayed and TakTuk execution will fail.

-R stream=filename
--output-redirect stream=filename
redirect a given stream output to a given file (located at the root node). Notice
that the given filename comply with Perl open syntax: for instance, one might redirect
to a file descriptor X using the name ">&=X". See "-o" option for more details about
streams output.

PERFORMANCE TUNING OPTIONS

-B parameter=expression
--worksteal-behavior parameter=expression
caution: this feature should be considered as experimental and could be removed from
future releases. Tunes finely the behavior of the work-stealing algorithm by setting
some its parameters to Perl expressions. These Perl expressions can use the variables
$last_given and $available which are respectively equal to the number of tasks given
to a stealer last time it stole and to the total number of remaining deployment tasks.
Available parameters are :

initial
the number of tasks given to a remote TakTuk instance the first time it send a
steal request to the local host.

growth
the number of tasks given to a remote TakTuk instance each time it performs a
steal to the local host after the first time.

limit
an upper bound to the value resulting from the evaluation of "growth".

-g duration
--time-granularity duration
sets to "duration" (in seconds) the maximal interval between timeouts checks (usually
checks are made more often: at each message received a timeouts check is made).

-n
--no-numbering
disables TakTuk logical numbering and the variables "TAKTUK_COUNT" and "TAKTUK_RANK"
are not defined in executed commands. This has the advantage of removing the global
synchronization occuring at the end of the deployment and making the deployment more
efficient.

WARNING: use this option only before any remote node specification ("-m" or "-f")
otherwise you might get serious synchronization issues in TakTuk. Using TakTuk point-
to-point communication along with this option will fail and produce TakTuk warnings.

-t timeout
--timeout timeout
sets the timeout (in seconds) for following connectors (0 = no timeout). Notice that
this option override the timeout of the connector command ("ssh" for instance). When
the delay expires, the connector command is simply killed.

-u limit
--cache-limit limit
limits a number of memory bytes TakTuk might use as an internal write buffer. For most
users, setting such a limit is a bad idea : in some rare situations it might result in
a deadlock in TakTuk (caused by parallel blocking writes between an application and
TakTuk itself). Setting this option to a negative value disables the limit (default).

Nevertheless, if you use TakTuk to transfer large files, because of I/O bandwith
disparities in various parts of a system, TakTuk memory use might grow too large and
performance can be severely degraded when the system starts swapping. In such
situations, limiting the size of the internal cache will keep TakTuk in main memory
and preserve the performance.

-w size
--window size
sets initial window to the given size (= pipeline width).

-W scheme
--window-adaptation scheme
sets the windows adaptation scheme to number (default is 0, 0: no adaptation, 1:
implementation in progress).

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

-M
--my
makes the next option local (not inherited). This means that the next option is set
only for the local host and not propagated to children TakTuk instances. Has no
effect if the next option is already a local one.

-h
--help
prints a short description of TakTuk on the screen.

-i
--interactive
forces TakTuk interactive mode even after some batch commands given on the command
line.

-v
--version
prints the TakTuk version.

-P
--print-defaults
prints the defaults settings used by TakTuk (environment variables taken into
account).

INTERNAL OPTIONS

These option are not useful for most users. They are used either internally by TakTuk
itself or for development purposes.

-p packagename
--print-package packagename
prints the content of package "packagename" extracted from the taktuk code in
execution.

-r
--not-root
current TakTuk instance is not the root node. This is an internal switch used by
spawned TakTuk instances. This is usually not useful for most users.

-D scope=level
--debug scope=level
sets debugging level (1..4) for "scope". The "scope" might be a TakTuk package name or
"default" and the lowest the level the more verbose the output.

COMMANDS

After the options parsing, TakTuk expects some commands either on the remaining of the
command line (batch mode) or on the standard input (interactive mode). These commands are
actions to be performed by TakTuk using the logical network infrastructure set up during
the deployment. By default, commands might be separated by ; or newlines. For all the
commands, any non ambiguous prefix can be used instead of their full name. In interactive
mode, TakTuk has support for "readline" (history, command line editing) if installed on
your system.

When TakTuk commands accept arguments, they should be enclosed into matching delimiters
(indicated by * below). In other words, * might be replaced either by any non alphanumeric
character or by a pair of matching braces, brackets or parenthesis. These delimiters must
be separated from their content (using the options separator). If the argument contains a
closing delimiter preceded by a separator, then it is probably a good idea to escape it
(see -E option) or to protect the whole arguments string if given on the command line.

Taktuk understands the following commands:

[ set specification ] command
Sends the execution of command to all the peers belonging to the given set. For more
details about the set specification, see section "SET AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION".

broadcast command
Broadcasts the execution of command on all the remote peers (not including the node
initiating the broadcast).

downcast command
Spreads the execution of command on all the children of the node initiating the
downcast (not including itself).

exec parameters * command line *
Executes the "command line" on the local machine. Inputs/outputs of the execution are
multiplexed and fowarded to the TakTuk root. This command accepts optional parameters
that enable the attachment of callbacks triggered by timeouts to the execution of the
command. See section "EXEC PARAMETERS" for more details.

get * src * * dest *
Copies (a) remote source(s) (present on the remote node(s)) to a destination on the
node executing this command. The type of source and destination is quite similar to
those accepted by the "cp -r" command (that is file or directories). This command also
performs some kind of magic with its parameters: shell environment variables present
in the source or destination names are replaced by their respective value on the
remote and local nodes. In addition, the variables $host, $rank and $position of the
remote node (which are the same as in -o option) can also be used in both names.

help
Prints a very concise TakTuk help.

input [ target target ] * data *
input [ target target ] data * data *
Sends the given data as input to commands in execution on the local machine as
specified by the given target. If no target is given, the data is sent to all
commands. For more details about targets, see "SET AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION"

input [ target target ] close
Closes the inputs descriptor of executing commands on the local machine as specified
by the given target. If no target is given, the inputs of all commands are closed.

input [ target target ] file * filename *
Sends the content of a file (which must be local to the node executing the input file)
as input to commands in execution on the local machine as specified by the given
target. If no target is given, the data is sent to all commands.

WARNING: this command is not atomic. If you manage somehow to initiate a input file
command from two different TakTuk instances, data will probably be interleaved. In
this case you should synchronize the two instances. This is not required when
spreading files only from the root node.

input [ target target ] line * data *
Sends the given data with an additional newline as input to commands in execution on
the local machine as specified by the given target. If no target is given, the data is
sent to all commands.

input [ target target ] pipe * filename *
Treat the parameter as a file (which must be local to the node executing the input
pipe) which behavior is the same as a pipe: data can arrive continuously. TakTuk add
it as one of its input channels and send data as input to commands when available. If
given, the target specifies to which command the data are to be sent, otherwise it is
sent to all commands.

kill [ target target ] <signal>
Sends the given signal to local commands processes groups. If no signal is given,
sends a TERM signal (signal 15). If given, the target specifies to which command the
signal is to be sent, otherwise it is sent to all commands. For more details about
targets, see "SET AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION"

message [ target target ] * data *
message [ target target ] data * data *
Sends the given data as a message to commands in execution on the local machine as
specified by the given target (see TakTuk(3) and taktukcomm(3) for more details about
messages). If no target is given, the data is sent to the first command peforming a
receive and not already targeted by another message. For more details about targets,
see "SET AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION"

message [ target target ] file * filename *
Sends the content of a file (which must be local to the node executing the message
file) as a message to commands in execution on the local machine as specified by the
given target (see TakTuk(3) and taktukcomm(3) for more details about messages). If no
target is given, the data is sent to the first command peforming a receive and not
already targeted by another message.

WARNING: this command is not atomic. If you manage somehow to initiate a message file
command from two different TakTuk instances, data will probably be interleaved. In
this case you should synchronize the two instances. This is not required when
spreading files only from the root node.

message [ target target ] line * data *
Sends the given data with an additional newline as a message to commands in execution
on the local machine as specified by the given target (see TakTuk(3) and taktukcomm(3)
for more details about messages). If no target is given, the data is sent to the first
command peforming a receive and not already targeted by another message.

message [ target target ] pipe * data *
Treat the parameter as a filename (which must be local to the node executing the input
pipe) which behavior is the same as a pipe: data can arrive continuously. TakTuk add
it as one of its input channels and send data as a message to commands when available
(see TakTuk(3) and taktukcomm(3) for more details about messages). If given, the
target specifies to which command the data are to be sent, otherwise it is sent to the
first command peforming a receive and not already targeted by another message.

network
network state
Prints the current TakTuk deployment tree. Numbers in parenthesis match the peer rank
in the logical TakTuk numbering and the peer ready state. If the deployment is not
complete, the printed tree will display "connecting ..." leaves.

network cancel
Cancels all ongoing connections. Consequently, this causes immediate starting of the
possible numbering of TakTuk instances and the execution of TakTuk commands.

network renumber
Completely recomputes the logical numbering of TakTuk instances. This is especially
useful when adding new nodes to the deployed network after initial numbering.

network update
Updates the logical numbering of TakTuk instances without changing already existing
numbers. Does not always succeed as TakTuk uses a depth first scheme for numbering.
Sends an event 9 in the stream 'state' for each node of the tree that cannot be
updated while keeping TakTuk numbering scheme. This is especially useful when adding
new nodes to the deployed network after initial numbering.

option name * value *
option * line *
Either changes a single option which name is given (first form) or parses an
additional options line (second form) on the node(s) executing this command. See
TakTuk options for more details, name can be either short or long in the first form.

WARNING: new nodes added to TakTuk network using this command are not numbered.
Further use of network renumbering or update is necessary to get TakTuk logical
numbering.

put * src * * dest *
Copies a local source (present on the node executing this command) to a destination on
all the remote nodes given as prefix of the command. The type of source and
destination is quite similar to those accepted by the "cp -r" command (that is file or
directories). This command also performs some kind of magic with its parameters: shell
environment variables present in the source or destination names are replaced by their
respective value on the local and remote nodes. In addition, the variables $host,
$rank and $position of the local node (which are the same as in -o option) can also be
used in both names.

synchronize command
Forces the given command to wait for the completion of deployment, nodes numbering and
previous commands before executing. This is useful for global commands like
"broadcast" which does not wait for nodes numbering. In contrary, multicast commands
(those that use a set specification as a prefix) wait for the nodes numbering and the
completion of previous commands. If in doubt, always use "synchronize" before a
"broadcast", "downcast" or "wait reduce".

taktuk_perl * arguments *
Forks a perl interpreter on the local node just as if the command "exec perl
arguments" has been used. The difference is that this interpreter is previously
fetched with the "taktuk" package that contains point-to-point communication routines
("TakTuk::send" and "TakTuk::recv", see taktukcomm(3)). WARNING: due to the
limitations of the parser that analyses the arguments of this command, you have to
give arguments (even if empty) and to use '--' if you give any option to the perl
interpreter (and even if you give it only options).

version
prints TakTuk version.

quit
Quit the TakTuk engine and shut down the logical communication network established
during the deployment.

wait target target
Waits (suspends the execution of following commands) in the local TakTuk instance for
the completion of some local process depending on the given target. This target might
be any target specification except "output". For more details about targets, see "SET
AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION".

wait reduce target target
Can only be used in the root node. Waits (suspends the execution of following
commands) for the completion of some processes in all the deployed TakTuk instances
depending on the given target. This target might be any target specification except
"output". Notice that, contrary to simple "wait" commands, this command is
synchronized the same way as "broadcast". Thus, it should be explicitly synchronized
if mixed with non broadcasted commands (otherwise it will be executed before them).

EXEC PARAMETERS

The TakTuk command "exec" accepts optional parameters. These parameters are used to
specify a target id for the command, or to attach actions triggered by timeouts to
commands execution. An "exec" command accepts any number of parameters. These parameters
are interpreted from left to right using the following syntax:

target value
Attach the (numerical) value as the target id of the executed command. This target id
will be used by any subsequent command that make use of targets (such as "input",
"message", "kill" or "wait").

Caution: this value overwrite any target id that could have been automatically
assigned by TakTuk. Therefore, it is not recommended to mix the use of explicitly
assigned target ids with the use of automatically assigned target ids.

timeout value
Creates a new timeout specification. At the end of the duration expressed by the given
value, it will trigger its attached callbacks. If it has no attached callback, it will
send a TERM signal to the command. If the command execution terminates before the end
of the timeout duration, the timeout is canceled.

kill value
Attach a callback to the last defined timeout. This callback send a signal, which
number is the given value, to the timeouted command.

action command
Attach a callback to the last defined timeout. This callback executes the given TakTuk
command. If it executes some other command, it can use the environment variable
"TAKTUK_PID" that contains the pid of the timeouted command. The given TakTuk command
can be any valid TakTuk command (without command separator).

Notice that each timeout can have any number of attached callbacks. They will be processed
in the order they are given as parameters.

ENVIRONMENT

Variables that change TakTuk default behavior
Some of TakTuk defaults settings can be changed on some host using environment
variables. These settings are propagated as are other options. They are overridden by
propagated settings and command line options.

To change some default setting use the variable TAKTUK_NAME where NAME is the name of
the according long option in upper case and with dashes replaced by underscores. For
option taking complex value (such as "--debug") just add an underscore and the field
you want to change in upper case at the end of the name. Using "taktuk
--print-defaults" will give you examples of names used to change default settings.
Note that defining in the environment a default setting not used by TakTuk has no
effect.

You can also change some TakTuk default settings locally without propagating the
change in the deployment tree. To do this, use the variable TAKTUK_MY_NAME where name
is defined as above. As before, these local settings are overridden by propagated
settings and command line options.

Variables set by TakTuk in remotely executed commands
Taktuk sets the following environment variables for all the commands it executes :

TAKTUK_CONTROL_READ, TAKTUK_CONTROL_WRITE
File descriptors, used internally by TakTuk.

TAKTUK_COUNT
The total number of successfully deployed TakTuk instances

TAKTUK_HOSTNAME
Local node hostname as given to TakTuk (on the command line)

TAKTUK_PIDS
List of pids (separated by spaces) of commands executed by the local TakTuk
instance.

TAKTUK_TARGET
Target number of the currently executing process (see "SET AND TARGETS
SPECIFICATION" for more details).

TAKTUK_POSITION
Host position on the command line.

TAKTUK_RANK
The logical rank of the local instance.

TAKTUK_FATHER
The logical rank of the taktuk instance that spawned this one.

TAKTUK_CHILD_MIN
The logical rank of the lowest numbered descendent from the current taktuk
instance (-1 if the local TakTuk instance has no children).

TAKTUK_CHILD_MAX
The logical rank of the highest numbered descendent from the current taktuk
instance (-1 if the local TakTuk instance has no children).

HOSTNAMES SPECIFICATION

Hostnames given to TakTuk might be simple machine name or complex hosts lists
specifications. In its general form, an hostname is made of an host set and an optional
exclusion set separated by a slash. Each of those sets is a comma separated list of host
templates. Each of these templates is made of constant part (characters outside brackets)
and optional range parts (characters inside brackets). Each range part is a comma
separated list of intervals or single values. Each interval is made of two single values
separated by a dash. This is true for all hostnames given to TakTuk (both with -m or -f
options).

In other words, the following expressions are valid host specifications:
node1
node[19]
node[1-3]
node[1-3],otherhost/node2
node[1-3,5]part[a-b]/node[3-5]parta,node1partb

they respectively expand to:
node1
node19
node1 node2 node3
node1 node3 otherhost
node1parta node2parta node2partb node3partb node5partb

Notice that these list of values are not regular expressions ("node[19]" is "node19" and
not "node1, node2, ...., node9"). Intervals are implemented using the perl magical auto
increment feature, thus you can use alphanumeric values as interval bounds (see perl
documentation, operator ++ for limitations of this auto increment).

SET AND TARGETS SPECIFICATION

The TakTuk command line and the "TakTuk::send" routine accept a set specification as
destination host(s). A set specification is made of interval specifications separated by
slashes. An interval specification is either made of a single number, two numbers
separated by a dash or a single number followed by a plus symbol (this last case match the
interval that goes from the number to the highest numbered TakTuk destination). Of course
the two numbers specifying an interval must be given in increasing order.

The remote peers included in a set specification are all the peer which logical number
belong to at least one interval of the set. Here are some exemples of set specifications :

1
the peer numbered 1

2-7
the peers numbered 2,3,4,5,6 and 7

2-4/1/10
the peers numbered 1,2,3,4 an 10

3+
the peers from 3 to the highest numbered

5+/1
the peers from 5 to the highest numbered and the peer 1

The target number is a number assigned by TakTuk to all processes it executes
(successfully started or not using "exec" or "taktuk_perl" commands). By default, this
number starts from 0 and goes to the total number of processes that have been executed
since TakTuk launch minus one. Target processes of a "TakTuk::send" or a TakTuk command
can be expressed with the same syntax as in the case of sets.

Furthermore, TakTuk understands several special targets. The special target "all" targets
all processes: this means that the command is applied to all executing local processes
(message or input data are duplicated and sent to all of them), this is the default for
the "input" and "kill" commands. The special target "any" targets the first eligible
process. In the case of a message this is the first process that issues a "TakTuk::recv"
and that is not already the target of another message, this is the default for the
"message" command. Finally, the special target "output" targets the output stream
"message" rather than a process.

EXAMPLES

The following examples illustrate the basic use of TakTuk on a few machines and the use of
developer options. Notice that TakTuk is designed to scale to much more peers than the
number involved in these examples.

Basic usage
simple deployment
the simplest way to use TakTuk is to make it selfpropagate with option "-s". In this
case, the basic remote execution of "hostname" on the host "toto.nowhere.com" can be
written :

taktuk -s -m toto.nowhere.com broadcast exec [ hostname ]

In this example, "-s" asks TakTuk to propagate its own code on remote hosts. It can be
removed by installing the "taktuk" executable on "toto.nowhere.com". By the following
we will assume that TakTuk is installed on all the remote hosts.

The "-m toto.nowhere.com" describe the set of remote hosts to be contacted by TakTuk
and "broadcast exec [ hostname ]" is a command that will be executed by the TakTuk
interpreter.

This example can be written in many other ways. In interactive mode, the same
execution might become:

taktuk -m toto.nowhere.com

here TakTuk is blocked waiting for commands from stdin. Thus, we just have to type:

broadcast exec { hostname }
Ctrl-D

here you can notice that parameters to the "exec" TakTuk command (as all commands
parameters) can be enclosed in any reasonable pair of delimiters. We might also write
the list of hosts involved in the command in a file "machine" that contains:

toto.nowhere.com

and the TakTuk command becomes:

taktuk -f machine broadcast exec - hostname -

We could also use another file "options" that contains:

-f machine

and use it as the options line given to TakTuk:

taktuk -F options broadcast exec \( hostname \)

Finally, everything could be stored in a last file "command_line" that contains:

-f machine broadcast exec = hostname =

and the following command achieve the same result:

taktuk -F command_line

All of these variants have the same effect: they execute "hostname" on
"toto.nowhere.com" and the output of the program is forwarded to the localhost. In
this case:

toto.nowhere.com: hostname: somepid: output > toto.nowhere.com

parameters braces
notice that braces for command parameters must be separated from their content. Thus,
they can contain other braces as long as no single closing brace is part of the
content:

taktuk -m localhost broadcast exec [ 'if [ $RANDOM -gt 10000 ];then echo greater;else echo lower;fi' ]

In this example, quotes are necessary to prevent the shell from interpreting the "$"
and ";" characters and to prevent the closing brace for "if" toe be considered as
closing the "exec" command. In this case the variable will be interpolated only on
remote hosts. This same example can also be expressed using shortcuts and intercative
mode:

taktuk -m localhost -E%

then type:

b e [ if [ $RANDOM -gt 10000 %];then echo greater;else echo lower;fi ]
Ctrl-D

Notice the closing bracket used in the test that should not be interpreted as the
closing bracket for "exec" arguments. In such case, a simpler solution is probably to
use another kind of braces

taktuk -m localhost

and then:
b e { if [ $RANDOM -gt 10000 ];then echo greater;else echo lower;fi }
Ctrl-D

Usually, if you want to be safe, you can quote all commands parameters. Nevertheless,
notice that parameters should not be quoted in interactive mode as input lines are not
interpreted by the shell.

exec parameters
commands executed by TakTuk can be timeouted using "exec" parameters. For instance if
you want to execute some command and send it a TERM signal after two seconds, just
type:

taktuk -m localhost broadcast exec timeout 2 [ sleep 10 ]

the callback executed when a timeout occurs can also be something else than a TERM
signal. This can be another signal (KILL for instance):

taktuk -m localhost broadcast exec timeout 2 kill 9 [ sleep 10 ]

or any valid TakTuk command:

taktuk -m localhost broadcast exec timeout 2 action broadcast exec [ echo hello ] [ sleep 10 ]

or even several timeouts and several callbacks:

taktuk -m localhost b e t 2 a e [ echo hello ] k 30 t 10 k 9 [ sleep 5 ]

in this last example, the command "sleep 5" is executed by TakTuk. After 2 seconds,
the first timeout will be triggered, it will execute the command "echo hello" and send
a USR1 signal to the first command ("sleep 5"). The second timeout is set to 10
seconds. Thus, it will never occur as the "sleep 5" command will be terminated before
its expiration.

topology
Usually, TakTuk deploys itself using a relatively flat tree because its default window
size is quite large (10 simultaneous ongoing connections). Using a smaller window
size will result in a deeper tree although it also depends on the local load of the
deployment nodes. You can use the TakTuk "network state" command to print the tree
constructed by TakTuk.

Notice that it is usually a bad idea to use a too large window as it results in too
much local load and bad distribution of work (something like 10 is often sufficient).

You can also force TakTuk to use more specific topologies. For instance, to execute
"echo $$" using a flat-tree as deployment topology, just disable work-stealing in
TakTuk:

taktuk -d -1 -m host1 -m host2 -m host3 broadcast exec [ 'echo $$' ]

and to use a chain-like topology, either encode the topology in arguments structure:

taktuk -m host1 -[ -m host2 -[ -m host3 -] -] broadcast exec [ 'echo $$' ]

or limits the arity of the dynamic tree to 1:

taktuk -d 1 -m host1 -m host2 -m host3 broadcast exec [ 'echo $$' ]

Finally, the default will use a dynamicly constructed topology:

taktuk -d 0 -m host1 -m host2 -m host3 broadcast exec [ 'echo $$' ]

lightweight grid deployment
On a lightweight grid, because of locality issues (ldap cache, network topology, ...)
it seems interesting to separate the deployment of each subcluster. To do this, it is
possible to enclose the nodes of each cluster into a separate deployment group:

taktuk -b -m node1.cluster1 -m node2.cluster1 -m node3.cluster1 -m node4.cluster1 -e -b -m node1.cluster2 -m node2.cluster2 -m node3.cluster2 -m node4.cluster2 -e broadcast exec [ hostname ]

This command has the effect of deploying TakTuk on two clusters (cluster 1 and 2) made
of four nodes (node 1 to 4), preventing deployed nodes from one cluster to be used to
deploy nodes from the other cluster. Finally, once the deployment is complete, it
executes the command "hostname" on all these nodes.

executing a distinct command on each host
each distinct host can be given its own command using arguments:

./taktuk -m host1 -[ exec [ hostname ] -] -m host2 -[ exec [ id ] -] -m host3 -[ exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK; ls' ] -] quit

but this could also be given using set specification (in this case logical number are
used for hosts):

./taktuk -m host1 -m host3 -m host8 1 exec [ hostname ], 2 exec [ id ], 3 exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK; ls' ]

or in interactive mode:

./taktuk -m host1 -m host3 -m host8
1 exec [ hostname ]
2 exec [ id ]
3 exec [ echo $TAKTUK_RANK; ls ]
Ctrl-D

Nevertheless keep in mind that in general these logical numbers do not match the
position of hosts on the command line.

script diffusion
spreading and executing a perl script named "essai.pl" on three hosts, knowing that
"taktuk" and "essai.pl" are only present on the root node is straightforward with
TakTuk:

taktuk -s -m host1 -m host2 -m host3
broadcast exec [ perl -- - ]
broadcast input file [ essai.pl ]
broadcast input close
Ctrl-D

files diffusion and collection
since version 3.4, files transfer is supported directly by TakTuk. Notice that this
transfer uses the TakTuk network (usually a tree composed of ssh connections by
default). This network is not efficient for the tranfer of large files (both
topologically and from a protocol point of view), so keep this in mind when using this
feature.

copying a file named "message.txt" to the "/tmp" directory of each remote host is thus
as easy as:

taktuk -s -m host1 -m host2 -m host3
broadcast put [ message.txt ] [ /tmp ]
Ctrl-D

but the older method still works (and does almost the same as the previous command):

taktuk -s -m host1 -m host2 -m host3
broadcast exec [ cat - >/tmp/message.txt ]
broadcast input file [ message.txt ]
broadcast input close
Ctrl-D

although it requires to be more careful about shell interpretation when typing
everything directly on the command line:

taktuk -s -m host1 -m host2 -m host3 broadcast exec [ 'cat - >/tmp/message.txt' ]\;broadcast input file [ message.txt ]

notice in this latter command that the "input close" is not necessary as TakTuk closes
inputs of all spawned commands when quitting.

the "get" command also makes possible things that were previously very difficult in
TakTuk, files collecting. The following command gets the file "/tmp/message.txt" from
each remote host and copies it locally to "message-number.txt" where "number" is the
logical rank of the source node:

taktuk -s -m host1 -m host2 -m host3
broadcast get [ /tmp/message.txt ] [ message-$rank.txt ]
Ctrl-D

finally, it seems important to mention that "put/get" commands can copy directories
and keep files permissions unchanged.

communication
TakTuk can also be used to establish a point-to-point communication. Assume the file
"communication.pl" contains the following Perl script:

my $rank = TakTuk::get('rank');
my $count = TakTuk::get('count');
if ($rank == 1)
{
print "I'm process 1\n";
if ($count > 1)
{
TakTuk::send(to=>2, body=>"Hello world");
}
}
elsif ($rank == 2)
{
print "I'm process 2\n";
my ($from, $message) = TakTuk::recv();
print "Process $to received $message from $from\n";
}

then the execution of the following command:

taktuk -m localhost -m localhost broadcast taktuk_perl [ - ]\;broadcast input file [ communication.pl ]

would produce an output similar to:

Astaroth.local: taktuk_perl: 3523: output > I'm process 2
Astaroth.local: taktuk_perl: 3523: output > Process 2 received Hello world from 1
Astaroth.local: taktuk_perl: 3523: status > 0
Astaroth.local: taktuk_perl: 3524: output > I'm process 1
Astaroth.local: taktuk_perl: 3524: status > 0

if the file "communication.pl" was placed in the login directory of the user, this
could have also been executed by the more simple:

taktuk -m localhost -m localhost broadcast taktuk_perl [ communication.pl ]

output templates and redirections
TakTuk is also capable of making each site echo its rank without command status
information:

taktuk -o status -m host1 -m host2 broadcast exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK' ]

or removing the prompt before each line of output from commands:

taktuk -o output='"$line\n"' -m host1 -m host2 broadcast exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK' ]

or even changing the prompt to make it display only the stream type:

taktuk -o default='"$type > $line\n"' -m host1 -m host2 broadcast exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK' ]

and it also possible to redirect the status to file descriptor 2 only for the second
host:

taktuk -m host1 -R status=2 -m host2 broadcast exec [ 'echo $TAKTUK_RANK' ]

and so on...

Developer usage
debugging TakTuk
debugging in TakTuk is made using "debug", "warning" and "error" functions of the
package "diagnostic". These routines, depending on the debugging level of the package
in which they are called, produce an output that is propagated up to the root node and
printed on screen.

By default the debugging level of packages is set to 2 (everything is printed out
except "debug" messages). It might be changed for each package using the -D option.
For instance the following code executes "true" on "toto.nowhere.com" and prints out
every bit of internal messaging:

taktuk -D default=1 -m toto.nowhere.com broadcast exec [ true ]

but one could have executed the same command keeping only messages from the
"scheduler" package:

taktuk -D scheduler=1 -m toto.nowhere.com broadcast exec [ true ]

or ensuring an execution exempted of any warning or error messages:

taktuk -D default=4 -m toto.nowhere.com broadcast exec [ true ]

internal messages server
the internal message server used in TakTuk for the management of logical network
construction, commands execution and I/O forwarding can be exposed using the -r
option:

taktuk -r

Notice that in this mode the behavior of TakTuk can seem very cryptic. This is not
intended for ordinary users.

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