ZiniADS.txt

Purpose

ZiniADS.txt is an optional defaults file for the two required command-line options. Modern runs normally pass everything on the command line and do not need this file at all:

./adsidac --project-dir=<path> --input-deck=<path_to_.i_file>

If ZiniADS.txt exists in the current working directory when adsidac starts, it is read as a configuration file supplying defaults for any option not given on the command line. Command-line values take precedence.

Legacy format retired

Older manuals describe a three-line Project_Directory / Input_Deck_File / Simulation_Type format that had to sit next to the executable. That parser is no longer wired in. The current format is option=value lines matching the CLI option names, and the file is looked up in the working directory, not the executable directory.

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File Format

One option=value per line, using the long CLI option names:

project-dir=/home/analyst/cases/Generic_PWR
input-deck=/home/analyst/cases/Generic_PWR/Generic_PWR.i

Any long option accepted by the CLI may appear (e.g., truncation-time=), but in practice the file is only useful for the two path options.

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Practical notes

• Path length: the input-deck path is handed to RELAP5's Fortran reader, which limits it to 80 characters. Runs from deeply nested directories fail loudly at startup if the resolved deck path exceeds the limit — keep case directories shallow.
• Machine-specific by nature: the file usually carries absolute paths, so it does not travel between machines. For this reason it is deliberately excluded from the configuration fingerprint that guards checkpoint/resume — two machines with different ZiniADS.txt files but identical Input/ trees can exchange checkpoints freely.
• Not tracked in the repository: for the same reason, tests/*/ZiniADS.txt is gitignored — the reference cases do not ship one, and the adsmd validator's BV4 regression tests exclude its rules (R1/R2) so results don't depend on a local copy. A commented template lives at tests/template/ZiniADS.example.txt.
• Scripts and CI should always pass --project-dir and --input-deck explicitly rather than relying on a ZiniADS.txt in whatever directory the job happens to start in.