TotalView Online Help : Chapter 1 Root Window : File Menu Commands : File > Preferences : Launch Strings Page
Launch Strings Page
You can set the launch strings for the following:
"Single Debug Server Launch"
"Visualizer Launch"
"Source Code Editor"
Single Debug Server Launch
You can modify the TotalView Debugger Server (tvdsvr) auto launch feature by changing the structure of the command that TotalView uses to start this server on a remote host. By default, TotalView uses the command ssh -x (rsh on Sun SPARC).
 
NOTE >> You can start MPI jobs in two ways. You can directly invoke TotalView upon your program (which is identical to entering arguments into the File > Debug New Program dialog, or other types of debugging sessions available from the File menu) or by directly or indirectly involving a starter program such as poe or mpirun. TotalView uses this feature when it is directly invoked on a starter program. This is discussed in the TotalView Users Guide.
 
Figure 26 – Launch Strings Page (single debug server feature)
Here is a a brief summary of the automatic feature:
Enable single debug server launch
When selected, TotalView automatically starts a server process when you ask it to debug a process on a remote host.
For more information, see the TV::server_launch_enabled variable.
 
NOTE >> Even if you enable bulk server launch, you should also enable this optional. TotalView uses this launch string when you start it upon a file and you name a host within the File > Debug New Program dialog box or use the -remote command line option. Only disable single server launch when it can’t work.
Command
The command TotalView uses when it starts the remote server. You must include the -callback and -set_pw arguments.
For more information, see the TV::server_launch_string variable.
Timeout
Time in seconds that TotalView will wait before giving up trying to establish a connection.
For more information, see the TV::server_launch_timeout variable.
Defaults
Changes the values defined within this area to their default values. This action overrides changes you have made using this preference, or to values set using options or X resources.
The expansion strings and options that you can use in the launch command string are:
%B
Expands to the bin directory where tvdsvr is installed.
%C
Expands to the default name of the command used to start a remote process. If defined, the value of the environment variable TVDSVRLAUNCHCMD is used. Otherwise, the default name is ssh -x (rsh on Sun SPARC).
%K
(Red Storm and BlueGene architectures) If TotalView must use an alternative name for tvdsvr, specify its name here. For example, on BlueGene, the server name is tvdsvr_bg1. On Red Storm, it is tvdsvr_rs.
%N
Is replaced by the number of servers that TotalView will launch. This is only used in a bulk server launch command.
%R
Expands to the hostname of the remote machine as specified in the File > Debug New Program dialog box.
-n
Tells the remote shell to read standard input from /dev/null.
-working_directory %D
Expands to the full path of the current working directory in which TotalView is running. The default command string tells tvdsvr to first try to cd to this directory. This directory name may be inappropriate if the target system’s file system is not organized the same way as the host’s file system.
-callback
Tells the server to call back to TotalView. This must be followed by the hostname and TCP/IP port number to call back to.
%L
Expands to the hostname and TCP/IP port number on which TotalView is listening for connections from tvdsvr.
%H
Expands to the hostname on which TotalView is running.
%S
Expands to the TCP/IP port number on which TotalView is listening for connections from tvdsvr.
-set_pw
Sets a 64-bit password for security. TotalView must supply this password when tvdsvr establishes the connection with it.
%P
Expands to the password that TotalView automatically generated.
%V
Expands to the TotalView verbosity setting. This launches the TotalView Debugger Server with the same verbosity level as TotalView.
%F
Contains the “tracer configuration flags” that need to be sent to tvdsvr processes. These are system-specific startup options that the tvdsvr process needs.
%t1 and %t2
Is replaced by files that TotalView creates containing information it generates. This is only available in a bulk launch.
These temporary files have the following structure:
(1) An optional header line containing initialization commands required by your system.
(2) One line for each host being connected to, containing host-specific information.
(3) An optional trailer line containing information needed by your system to terminate the temporary file.
The File > Preferences Bulk Server Page allows you to define templates for the contents of temporary files. These files may use these replacement characters. The %N, %t1, and %t2 replacement characters can only be used within header and trailer lines of temporary files. All other characters can be used in header or trailer lines or within a host line defining the command that initiates a single-process server launch. In header or trailer lines, they behave as defined for a bulk launch within the host line. Otherwise, they behave as defined for a single-server launch
Visualizer Launch
The launch string defined within this area indicates how TotalView will launch a visualizer.
Figure 27 – Launch Strings Page (visualizer launch feature)
Commands within this area are:
Enable Visualizer launch
When checked, TotalView will automatically attempt to start a visualizer process when it encounters a visualization command. If this is not checked, TotalView will not launch a visualizer even if you select the Tools > Visualize command or have used a $visualize intrinsic.
For more information, see the TV::visualizer_launch_enabled variable.
Command
The command TotalView uses when it starts a visualizer. If you are using your own visualizer, you would enter its startup command here.
For more information, see the TV::visualizer_launch_string variable.
Maximum array rank
Sets the maximum rank. Edit this value if you plan to save the data exported from TotalView or display it in a different visualizer.
The maximum value you can enter is 16 and the default value is 2.
For more information, see the TV::visualizer_max_rank variable.
Defaults
Changes the values defined within this area to their default values. This action overrides changes you have made using this preference, or values set using command-line options.
Source Code Editor
The source code editor launch string area allows you to specify the command string TotalView will use to start an editor when you use the Process Window’s File > Edit Source command. TotalView expands this string into a command that is executed by the sh shell.
Figure 28 – Launch Strings Page (source code editor feature)
Items recognized in the launch command string are:
%E
Expands to the value of the EDITOR environment variable, or to vi if EDITOR if not set.
%N
Expands to the line number in the Process Window’s Source Pane.
%S
Expands to the file name of the source file displayed in the Process Window’s Source Pane.
%F
Expands to the font name with which you started TotalView.
Default
Changes the values defined within this area to their default values. This action overrides changes you have made using this preference, or values set using options or X Resources.
The default editor launch string is xterm -e %E +%N %S.
For more information, see the TV::editor_launch_string variable. For information on other Preference pages, see:
"Options Page"
"Action Points Page"
"Bulk Launch Page"
"Dynamic Libraries Page"
"Parallel Page"
"Display Page"
"Formatting Page"
"Pointer Dive Page"