RST Version Two

See also:

• RSTImprovePit
• rstrc man page

Rationale

The design of RST required the data of a test suite to be linked directly to the type of output file that was generated from it. This led to an extra command-line parameter ( m above) which can be unnecessary; also, the positioning of this parameter makes the meaning and order of the parameters inconsistent with commands like printOut, mailOut, etc.

The goal of this update, currently planned to be in place for Spring 2010, is to remove the need for this extra parameter entirely, and harmonize the order and meaning of the parameters in all of the RST utilities.

Activation

To avoid violating the command-line expectations of any courses using RST that aren't directly supported by ISG, this must be activated explicitly. This is done by adding one line to /u/csXXX/.rstrc:

rst_version=2

(This is 1 by default)

Description of Change

Commandline Difference Illustration

Old style, with required specifics:

rst 5 p 0 'a*'

New style, with optional specifics:

rst -t p -s 'a*' 5 0

New style, with default output generation and running on all students:

rst 5 0

Comprehensive Summary

Traditionally, the type parameter for RST was one of {p|m|c}. The default has become pft, which generates one of each output file type without the extra files a c run would copy.

Old interfaces

rst      <assign> {(p|f|t)*|c} <suite> '<students>' [<identifier>]
rsta     <assign> {(p|f|t)*|c} <suite> ['<students>'] [<identifier>]
distrst  <assign> {(p|f|t)*|c} <suite> <students> <identifier> [logdir]
mailOut  <assign> <suite> <identifier>
printOut <assign> <suite> <identifier> <piles> <where> [-L]

New interface

All commands:

<assign> <suite> <identifier> <piles> <where>

Options:

• -t {(p|f|t|m)*|c}
• -s '<student_glob>'
• -o <output_location>
• -d 'variable=value'

• marmocreate uses only the assignment required argument.
• rst, rsta, and distrst require two or three arguments.
• mailOut still requires three.
• printOut still requires five; is the sixth actually in use!? (when does rst generate a landscape postscript file?)

NOTE: Unfortunately, the -o option has not been implemented. In particular, this impacts the functionality of distrst as with version 2 semantics it is no longer possible to specify an output file.