Command Line

The OpihiExarata software system should already be installed on the computer Opihi operates off of. (If that is not the case, consult Installation for more information or contact a staff member.) To test that OpihiExarata is installed on the system, you can run the following in a terminal:

opihiexarata

This should print a help menu of sorts.

The general overview of the command-line syntax of this command is:

opihiexarata [action] [options]

Where [action] is the specified actions to take. There are many actions which the command-line interface may execute. The currently available actions are detailed in Available Actions.

Different command-line options, [options], are detailed in Available Options. The options detailed are all optional. The only mandatory input is the required action to take.

Available Actions

[action]

Here we list the available actions for the command-line interface, ordered by (approximately) the order of importance each command is to the average user.

Note that there are aliases for different actions for ease of use, they are all listed here.

Manual

manual, m

This opens up the manual mode GUI. This is used when the user wants to utilize the manual (asteroid view-finding) of Opihi and OpihiExarata. Or, alternatively, the user wants to manually operate the photometric monitoring mode.

Automatic

automatic, auto, a

This opens up the automatic mode GUI. This is used when the user wants to utilize the automatic (photometric monitoring) mode of Opihi and OpihiExarata. Typically, this user would be a telescope operator.

Generate

generate, g

This generates configuration files to allow a user to edit and customize the functionality of OpihiExarata. There are two different configuration files. Which type of configuration file, and where it is saved are determined by the specification of the optional parameters For more information about configuration and configuration files, see Configuration.

Help

help, h

This displays the help dialog in the terminal. It is identical to the --help option or invoking opihiexarata without any specified action.

Warning

If any action is specified that does not match any of the expected actions, the program will raise a Python exception as opposed to ignoring it or raising a shell error.

Available Options

[options]

Here we list the available actions for the command-line interface, ordered by (approximately) the order of importance each command is to the average user.

Note that there are aliases for different actions for ease of use, they are not listed here. Instead, the overall preferred syntax and formatting is provided. To see the aliases, see the help screen for more information: Help.

Help

--help

This overrides any specified actions and executes the help dialog. See Help.

Manual

--manual

This opens up the manual mode GUI regardless of the action specified. See Manual.

Automatic

--automatic

This opens up the automatic mode GUI regardless of the action specified. See Automatic.

Configuration

--config=<path/to/config.yaml>

This specifies the path of the configuration file. The configuration file is in a YAML format. If the action specified is generate, then this is the path where the generated configuration fill will be saved. Otherwise, the program will read the configuration file at this path and use its values instead of the program’s defaults, where they differ.

See Standard Configuration File for the specifications of the configuration file.

Secrets

--secret=<path/to/secret.yaml>

This specifies the path of the secrets file. The secrets file is in a YAML format. If the action specified is generate, then this is the path where the generated secrets fill will be saved. Otherwise, the program will read the secrets file at this path and use its values instead of the program’s defaults, where they differ.

See Secrets Configuration File for the specifications of the secrets file.

Overwrite

--overwrite

This option allows for the specification of what to do when a provided file at a path already exists. This is typically used when generating new configuration files. When provided, any pre-existing files are overwritten. The default, when this option is not provided, is to raise an error because a file already exists at a given path.

Keep Temporary

--keep-temporary

The normal operation of OpihiExarata requires the writing of temporary files. A temporary directory is created (as specified by the configuration file) and is then purged and deleted. Using this flag prevents the cleanup of the temporary directory on the program’s exit. However, as the software itself often cleans up after itself periodically during usage, this option is not very useful for the end user. It is more for debugging purposes.

Warning

If any option is specified that does not match any of the expected option, the program will raise a shell error.