Glossary¶

compass: The python package containing framework for listing, setting up and running test cases, as well as the cores, test groups, test cases and steps.
Legacy COMPASS: The old version of COMPASS that used XML files and python scripts to define cores, test groups, test cases and steps.
MPAS core: This term refers to the collection of tests cases associated with an MPAS dynamical core, ocean for MPAS-Ocean and landice for MALI.
Step: A step is the smallest units of work in compass that you can run on its own. Each test case is made up of a sequence of steps. Currently, these steps run in sequence, but there are plans to allow them to run in parallel in the near future. Common types of steps in compass are those for creating meshes and/or initial conditions; for running the MPAS model; and for performing visualization of the results.
Test case: A test case is the smallest unit of work that compass will let a user set up on its own. It is a sequence of one or more steps that a user can either run all together or one at a time. A test case is often independent of other test cases. For example, many test groups in compass include test cases for checking bit-for-bit restart and decomposition across different numbers of cores and threads. Sometimes, it is convenient to have test cases that depend on other test cases. The most common example of this in compass are test cases that create meshes and/or initial conditions that are used in several subsequent test cases.
Test group: A test group is a collection of test cases with a common concept or purpose. Each MPAS core defines several test groups. Examples in the Landice core are dome and greenland, while examples from Ocean core include baroclinic_channel and global_ocean.
Test suite: A collection of test cases that are from the same MPAS core (but not necessarily the same test group) that can be run together with a single command (compass run <suite>, where <suite> is the suite’s name). Sometimes, test suites are used to perform regression testing to make sure new MPAS-model features do not add unexpected changes to simulation results. Typically, this involves providing a “baseline” run of the same test suite to compare with. Other types of test suites are used to run a sequence of test cases that depend on one another (e.g. creating a mesh, setting up an initial condition, running the model, and processing the output, as in global_ocean).
Work directory: The location where test cases will be set up and run. The “base work directory” is the root for all MPAS cores (and therefore test groups, test cases and steps), and is the path passed with the -w or -b flags to compass setup and compass suite. The work directory for a test case or step its location within base work directory (the base work directory plus its relative path)
Package: A python package is a directory that has a file called __init__.py. That file can be empty or it can have code in it. If there is code in __init__.py, it gets imported as if it were directly in the package (you never include __init__ in an import statement).
Module: Python modules are python files that can be imported by other python files (so they’re not just scripts). Nearly every single file ending in .py in the compass package is a module. The __init__.py files are a special case, that may define a module with the name of the package (directory) that __init__.py is in.