Automatic Generation of Configuration Files for a
Distributed Control System
J. Cuperus and A. Gagnaire
PS/CO Group, CERN, Switzerland
The CERN PS accelerator complex is composed of 9 interlinked
accelerators for production and acceleration of various kinds of particles. The
hardware is controlled through CAMAC, VME, and G64 modules, which in turn are
controlled by more than 100 microprocessors in VME crates. To produce startup
files for all these microprocessors, with the correct drivers, programs and
parameters in each of them, is quite a challenge. The problem is solved by
generating the startup files automatically from the description of the control
system in a relational database. The generation process detects inconsistencies
and incomplete information. Included in the startup files are data which are
formally comments, but can be interpreted for run-time checking of interface
modules and program activity.