Loading MFDATA environment

1. General

After MFDATA installation, all files are located in /opt/metwork-mfdata-{BRANCH} directory with probably a /opt/metwork-mfdata => /opt/metwork-mfdata-{BRANCH} symbolic link (depending on what you have installed). Have a look in the /opt directory.

Because /opt is not used by default on standard Linux, the installation shouldn't break anything.

Therefore, if you do nothing specific after the installation, you won't benefit of MFDATA environment.

In order to work with MFDATA, you have to load/activate the "Metwork MFDATA environment". There are several ways to do that, described in the sections below.

In the following sections, we use {MFDATA_HOME} as the installation directory of the mfdata module.

.. _activate_mfdata_user:

2. Activate MFDATA environment by logging in as mfdata user.

Once MFDATA is installed, a mfdata user and, therefore, a /home/mfdata directory are created.

Log in as the mfdata user:

su - mfdata

.. note:: If it's the first time you log in as mfdata user, there is no default password. You have to either set a password before (passwd mfdata or sudo passwd mfdata), or or use su - mfdata from root to log in as mfdata user.

Then, the MFDATA environment is loaded/activated for the whole session of the mfdata user.

From now, you are able to work with your plugin(s) in this /home/mfdata directory.

3. Activate MFDATA environment from any user.

You can activate the MFDATA environment from your own account.

This way is a good one if you intend to share the same Metwork environment on the same Linux machine with other users.

Load the mfdata environment for the whole shell session by entering:

# {MFDATA_HOME} is the root mfbase directory, e.g. /opt/metwork-mfdata
source {MFDATA_HOME}/share/interative_profile

Then, the MFDATA environment is loaded/activated for the whole session of your account. A metwork/mfdata directory is created in your home directory. From now, you are able to work with your plugin(s) in this ~/metwork/mfdata directory.

.. caution:: The ~/metwork/mfdata directory has nothing to do with the /home/mfdata :ref:directory <activate_mfdata_user> and they don't share anything.

.. caution:: Before sourcing interactive_profile, mfdata service must not be started, for instance, from a mfdata user session. Check from a mfdata user session mfdata is stopped : mfdata.status, mfdata.stop.

.. tip:: If you are fed up of always entering the source command, you may create an mfdata alias in your .bash_profile file and use this mfdata alias when you want to quickly load the "MFDATA environment": MFDATA_HOME=/opt/metwork-mfdata

    `alias mfdata="source ${MFDATA_HOME}/share/interactive_profile"`

.. warning:: We don't recommend to source directly mfdata interactive_profile in your .bash_profile if you are working with a full graphical interface because of possible side effects with desktop environment.

4. Activate MFDATA for one command only from any user.

If you want to load the "MFDATA environment" for only one command and then return back to a standard running environment, you can use the specific wrapper {MFDATA_HOME}/bin/mfdata_wrapper:

##### mfdata_wrapper example #####

# where is the system python command ?
$ which python
/usr/bin/python
# => this is the standard/system python command (in /usr/bin)

# what is the version of the system python command ?
$ python --version
Python 2.7.5
# => this is a python2 version

# execute python through the wrapper
# (please replace {MFDATA_HOME} by the real mfdata home !)
$ {MFDATA_HOME}/bin/mfdata_wrapper which python
/opt/metwork-mfext-master/opt/python3_core/bin/python
# => this is the metwork python command included in this module

# what is the version of the mfbase python command ?
$ {MFDATA_HOME}/bin/mfdata_wrapper python --version
Python 3.5.6
# => this is a python3 version

For more details, enter {MFDATA_HOME}/bin/mfdata_wrapper --help command.

5. Miscellaneous

You may also be interested in the outside Metwork command. Check the :ref:related documentation <outside_metwork_command>.