Release Validation - official requests

The ReleaseValidation (RelVal) tool chain is used to validate the QC, AOD or Analysis output. Such validations are in the end comparisons of corresponding output that, for instance, come from using 2 different software versions, 2 different machine architectures, 2 different configurations etc.

For its documentation see here.

While everyone can run that, there are also official RelVal runs managed by the DPD and QC groups. They are steered to validate software changes or to test new features.

Official RelVal

Contacts (technical)

  • Benedikt Volkel (benedikt.volkel@cern.ch),
  • Zhenjun Xiong (zhenjun.xiong@cern.ch).

Contacts (run)

  • Zhenjun Xiong (zhenjun.xiong@cern.ch).

Detector QC experts

The detector experts can be reached via dedicated e-groups alice-dpg-async-qc-<det>. To reach all experts at the same time, there is also alice-dpg-async-qc-det.

RelVal

At least one pair of QC files as well as one pair of AO2Ds must be compared.

In addition to the comparison, the results should be accompanied by a brief README.

The easiest at the moment is to pack an archive, upload it to CERNBox and share it with experts (see also below).

JIRA

All official RelVal runs will be discussed in a dedicated JIRA ticket. The preparation of the ticket, running the RelVal as well as the follow-up is the responsibility of the RelVal experts. The JIRA ticket shall have the components:

  • O2DPG,
  • Reconstruction,
  • QC,
  • Analysis.

The following steps need to be taken care of by the RelVal experts.

  1. Run the validation.
  2. A first overview shall be provided by the experts, such as
    • apparent anomalies,
    • detectors with only BAD or NON_COMPARABLE flags,
    • etc.
  3. Provide a link to the results; easiest at the moment is to pack an archive, upload it to CERNBox and link it in the ticket.
  4. Add the alice-dpg-async-qc-det to the watch list.
  5. Start the discussion with the detector groups.
    • Ping specific detector groups if they are not responsive.

!!! example "JIRA template"

A template for the initial description of the ticket:

RelVal output on **LINK TO CERNBOX**.
A README with what was compared is contained in the archive.

**Compared QC files**

1. dev: `<path/to/alien/QC.root>`,
1. apass4: `<path/to/alien/QC.root>`

**Compared AODs**

1. dev: `<path/to/alien/AO2D.root>`,
1. apass4: `<path/to/alien/AO2D.root>`

**SW tags and descriptions**

- dev: O2PDPSuite::daily-20240329-0100-1 (and specific versions of most important packages):
    - VO_ALICE@O2::daily-20240329-0100-1
    - VO_ALICE@O2DPG::daily-20240329-0100-1
    - VO_ALICE@O2Physics::daily-20240329-0100-1
    - VO_ALICE@QualityControl::daily-20240329-0100-1
- apass4: O2PDPSuite::async-async-20240229.2a-slc7-alidist-O2PDPSuite-daily-20231208-0100-1, jq::v1.6-3  (and specific versions of most important packages):
    - VO_ALICE@O2::async-20240229.2a-1
    - VO_ALICE@O2DPG::async-20240229.2-1
    - VO_ALICE@O2Physics::async-20240207.1-10
    - VO_ALICE@QualityControl::v1.126.5-10

To find the versions of specific software for each tag, please go to https://alimonitor.cern.ch/packages/ and search for the tag. There is also a link to "Full dependencies" which will show all versions of all software packages.

**Detector list**

Boxes to be ticked by detector experts if there are no issues.

- [ ] ITS
- [ ] MFT
- [ ] TPC
- [ ] TOF
- [ ] FT0
- [ ] MID
- [ ] EMC
- [ ] PHS
- [ ] CPV
- [ ] FDD
- [ ] HMP
- [ ] FV0
- [ ] TRD
- [ ] MCH
- [ ] GLO