Electronic Submission Guidelines - CSCI 551, Spring 2012

Check the server time at the submission server.

1. Create a gzip compressed .tar file containing all the source files needed to compile your project. Do not add .o files, executables, or core files to the .tar file. Please note that including .o files, executables, or core files will result in an automatic deduction of 10% of the points allocated to the corresponding project. For example, if your project (with Makefile, README, some .c and some .h files) resides in a directory named warmup1 in your home directory, this must be done by (if your source code filename extensions are not .c and .h, you should replace .c and .h by what you want to submit):

       % cd ~/warmup1
       % /usr/usc/bin/gtar cvzf warmup1.tar.gz Makefile README *.c *.h

   Please note that the 2nd commandline argument of the gtar command above is the output filename of the gtar command. So, if you omit warmup1.tar.gz above, you may accidentally replace one of your files with the output of the gtar command. So, please make sure that the first commandline argument is cvzf and the 2nd commandline argument is warmup1.tar.gz.

   If for some reason you cannot run the commands above and decide to use another method, you must inform the TA and the instructor through e-mail as soon as you submit your assignment. Also, you will be doing this at your own risk!

   If you submit through e-mail, please note that it can take a lot of time for the e-mail to get delivered to the instructor's mailbox. Depending on your e-mail client and your service provider, an e-mail can take anywhere from seconds to hours before it is delivered. Unless you know your e-mail server well, it's probably a good idea to submit early this way. Also, since the header of e-mail messages can be spoofed easily, the only timestamp the instructor can use (in order to be fair to all) in an e-mail submission is the time the e-mail arrived into the instructor's mailbox.

   For homework assignments, the only acceptable formats are ASCII text, PDF, Postscript, and HTML. All other formats will receive a score of zero. If you are planning to submit PDF, Postscript, or HTML files, please make sure in advance that your machine is capable of generating files in the format you want and that you are familiar with the procedure.

   It is recommended that you extract the .tar.gz file you created to a temporary directory somewhere else, and try compiling and running your code there. This will provide some assurance that your project submission will work at grading time. Please see the verify your submission section below.

2. Submit the .tar.gz file you created, use the bsubmit executable in the ~csci551b/bin directory on nunki.usc.edu (or any Solaris machine which you can find ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit). The syntax is:

       ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit upload -email your_email -event event_id -file submission_file

   Please note that this bsubmit submission software is new and behaves very differently from the old submit program you are used to.

   The first line above is to configure the submission software for the e-mail address where you will receive notifications from the sever.

   The event_id for each assignment is different:

   Assignment	event_id
   Warm-up Project #1	bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_52
   Warm-up Project #2	bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_53
   Final Part (1)	bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_54
   Final Part (2)	bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_55

   Therefore, you should submit the projects by doing:

       % ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit upload \
             -email `whoami`@usc.edu \
             -event bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_52 \
             -file warmup1.tar.gz
       % ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit upload \
             -email `whoami`@usc.edu \
             -event bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_53 \
             -file warmup2.tar.gz
       % ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit upload \
             -email `whoami`@usc.edu \
             -event bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_54 \
             -file final1.tar.gz
       % ~csci551b/bin/bsubmit upload \
             -email `whoami`@usc.edu \
             -event bourbon.usc.edu_80_1291227186_55 \
             -file final2.tar.gz

   respectively. Please note that `whoami` will be replaced by your nunki login ID, and therefore, `whoami`@usc.edu is your USC e-mail address.

3. Check the output of the bsubmit program carefully. It should tell you:
   • where a copy of your submission is stored,
   • where the upload ticket is stored,
   • where the receipt is stored,
   • and at what time did the server received your submission.

   By default, these files are stored in:

       ~/.bistro/tickets/$evid

   where $evid is the event_id for the corresponding event.

The bsubmit program can be used multiple times for a given assignment. A later (on time) submission is considered to supersede previous submissions. If you would like us to grade an earlier submission instead of the last on time submission, you need to send e-mail to the grader, the TA, and the instructor within 12 hours after deadline.

    % cd ~/warmup1
    % mkdir xyzzy
    % cd xyzzy
    % gunzip -c ../warmup1.tar.gz > warmup1.tar
    % tar xvf warmup1.tar
    % make
    % cd ..
    % rm -rf xyzzy

1. If the gunzip command failed, the warmup1.tar.gz file your've submitted is not properly gzipped.
2. If the tar command failed, the warmup1.tar.gz file your've submitted is not properly created.
3. If the make command failed, you probably forgot to include something in your submission. Please remember that if this does not work, you may lose quite a few points.
4. If any of the above failure occurs, you must recreate your submission and submit again and verify again.