>So, for example, say I'm writing graphics application "A", can I add a preference to "use x-grid if available"? If the app, via Rendezvous, finds x-grid, it uses it, otherwise no harm done?
With the current version of Xgrid, it is not quite straightforward to make your app xgrid-aware, expect by wrapping the command-line interface of Xgrid:
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/05/11/xgrid_pt1.html
With Xgrid 1.0, such things might become possible
At 9:43 -0700 6/29/04, Ernest Prabhakar wrote:
>Just to summarize the public announcements at WWDC:
>
>* The "GM" version, Xgrid 1.0, will be part of Tiger and Tiger Server (due first half of 2005)
>* We are describing a new Cocoa-based API at WWDC, but it is still under NDA
>* We are exploring the possibility of a Tech Preview 3 later this summer
>
In all cases, you need to decide how to dispatch the work, by defining jobs. Each job is executed independenlty of each other and the results come back to you. The job consist of an executable (command-line only) and some parameters (files, arguments,...), so really just like typing a command in the shell. When the results come back, you take care of assembling them together, maybe sending another job if needed.
Bottom line : a job = a shell command (once you understand that, everything gets clearer).
Conlusion: because GUI!=shell command, you can't use third-party GUI apps with Xgrid... well, not quite true... In fact, if the app is Applescipt-able (with the most recent versions of Applescript, you can also script the GUI elements of any app, I think, or is it only Cocoa app?).
So, to run xgrid jobs on GUI apps that you did not make yourself (like FCT;-), you have to make some special configurations on the agents to allow access to the window server (look for previous discussions in this mailing list, I think that was about using Maya). Then, a job can be defined in a shell script (following the rule that a job is a shell command ) and to wrap some apple scripts inside that shell script that can tell the GUI app on the agent to run some tasks (provided there is a way to define a task in the GUI app this way). You can exchange data using Xgrid or by building your own data server (might work better if you have a lot of data).
Maybe the best solution is to hope and wait for xgrid-aware app or for some new xgrid APIs... In the meantime, and to get a taste of xgrid power, you could add your machines to existing clusters (I know one, see my signature! ;-)
--
Charles PARNOT
email@hidden
Help science go fast forward:
http://cmgm.stanford.edu/~cparnot/xgrid-stanford/
Room B157 in Beckman Center
279, Campus Drive
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305 (USA)
Tel +1 650 725 7754
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