IOC engineer

Ask ARGUS (and any assistant connected to the hub’s MCP server) knows the drivers and templates of the INFN IOC image, infn-epics-ioc. It can explain them, write a beamline IOC entry with you and check that entry before you deploy it. It never deploys anything: what it writes is for you to review and commit.

Configure a device of a known type

1. Ask, for example, “how do I add a Pfeiffer TPG 366 gauge controller at 192.168.1.20 to SPARC?”.
2. The assistant searches the catalogue and opens the template (here pfeiffer-tpg) and an example entry.
3. It proposes the IOC entry for deploy/values.yaml (template, devtype, iocprefix, devices, …) and renders it the way the IOC pod will. Check that the render shows no errors. Each error is something ibek would stop on at pod start.
4. Add the entry under epicsConfiguration.iocs, commit it, and sync the IOC’s application in ArgoCD.

Check an entry you wrote

Paste the IOC’s block, the whole name: {template: …} mapping, and ask “will this start?”. The answer lists:

• errors: an entity type that is unknown or not compiled into the image, a missing or wrong parameter, or a reference to an object that does not exist;
• rendered_empty: the keys the template expected and did not find;
• warnings, such as a devtype that matches none of the template’s branches.

Check a whole beamline

Ask “will every ELI IOC still start?” before a new IOC image or a template change. The assistant renders every enabled, templated IOC of the beamline as deployed, with its iocDefaults merged in. It lists the IOCs that would fail and why. It also lists every value the chart’s merge ignores: a false, 0 or empty value in an entry never replaces a default from iocDefaults. Ask about one IOC (“show me vgcon01 as deployed”) to see its entry, its defaults and the values the pod receives.

The beamlines it knows are the ones its catalogue was built with. Ask “which beamlines do you know?” to see them.

Ibekize a driver that already has an IOC

If the driver already has an EPICS repository with an example st.cmd, give its address: “ibekize https://github.com/infn-epics/my-driver”. The assistant reads the repository and writes these drafts:

• install.yml, from its Makefiles;
• the support definition, with a controller made from the st.cmd port set-up and one entity per db template with its macros;
• a template and a fixture.

The drafts are rendered against each other. The answer lists which values came from where, which parameters have no example, and which st.cmd lines were copied as written. Review those, then ask for the two pull requests.

Write a module for hardware with no EPICS support

For a device nobody has written EPICS support for, describe it: “write a module for the ACME power supply: TCP port 4001, MEAS:CURR? returns the current, CURR <value> sets it, OUTP 0|1 switches the output; an auto-on sequence switches the output on, then ramps to 10 A”. The assistant asks for whatever is missing, such as replies, terminators and limits. It never invents a command. Then it writes the whole module, in the same layout as ppt-modulator:

• configure/ and the Makefiles;
• the driver, of one of two kinds:
  • an asyn port driver in C++, which polls the readbacks and sends setpoints when they are written;
  • a StreamDevice protocol, one per command;
• one SNL state program per sequence, with step, wait, retry, timeout and abort;
• the db templates, with a <name>_RB record for each value the device reports and a <name>_SP record for each value you set;
• st.cmd, and st-sim.cmd for running against a simulator of the device that answers the same commands;
• the ibek files: install.yml, the support definition, the template and a fixture.

The ibek files are rendered against each other, as every draft is. The C++ and SNL are not compiled by ARGUS.

Before connecting to hardware:

1. Create the repository; ARGUS cannot.
2. Run make in the devcontainer.
3. Start the simulator, then the IOC with st-sim.cmd, and try every record and sequence.
4. Check every command against the device’s manual.

Then ask for the two pull requests: the ibek files and the template.

Support new hardware

Ask for a new driver (“draft the ibek support for the XYZ controller, repository xyz-ioc, StreamDevice”). You get these drafts:

• <folder>.install.yml and <folder>.ibek.support.yaml for ibek-support-infn;
• a template and a test fixture for ibek-templates;
• the line to add to the Dockerfile.

The drafts are rendered against each other. Adapt the parameters to the driver’s db template macros, then:

1. Run the ibek-support-infn tests.
2. Bump the submodules in infn-epics-ioc.
3. Tag a release.

Open a pull request

When the files are right, ask “open a pull request with them”. The answer shows the pull request as a proposed change, with its repository, title and files. Nothing leaves ARGUS until you apply it.

1. Check the files and the checks listed under the proposal.
2. Select it and choose Apply. You need the approve permission in the workspace. ARGUS opens a draft pull request that lists the checks and names you as the person who confirmed it.
3. Follow the link to the pull request. The repository’s reviewers review it and merge it; ARGUS never merges.

A new driver is two pull requests: the support module on ibek-support-infn, then the template and its fixture on ibek-templates. If the option is not offered, an administrator has not installed the GitHub credential (docs/ioc-engineer.md).

INFN EPICS ecosystem

The INFN EPICS site introduces EPIK8S and links the shared IOC image, support modules, charts and operator interfaces. Use it to find the source repository before drafting or changing a beamline IOC entry.

When an IOC does not start

Give the assistant the IOC’s entry and the error from the pod log. “Template directory … not found” (exit 7) means the image is older than the template. “Unknown entity type” means the driver is not in the image’s build list.

What it knows, and from when

The catalogue is read from a commit of infn-epics-ioc and its submodules. Ask “which version of the IOC catalogue do you have?” to see that commit. An image tagged later can hold drivers or templates that the catalogue does not know yet.