Simplified file based configuration

One of the challenges of creating a Distributed Control System is providing a way for each software program within the system to obtain its configuration easily. For several years DCS development involved a centralized mysql database which was used to maintain the complete configuration for all beam lines. However, experience has shown that maintaining a mysql database for this purpose is far more difficult than managing simple text files for configuration.

Release 4.0 introduces the dcsconfig project to help handle distributed configurations. This project provides a simple API for obtaining configuration data from a text file.

The following programs now use the dcsconfig project:

1. Enhanced and original Blu-Ice.

2. Distributed Control System Server (dcss)

3. Diffraction Image Server (imgsrv)

4. Simulated DHS (simdhs)

5. MyAuthClient

6. The "Legacy" Distributed Hardware Server (dhs project), controlling the following devices:
   1. Galil DMC2180

   2. MAR 345 detector

   3. MAR family of CCD detectors

   4. Quantum 4 CCD detector

   5. Quantum 315 CCD detector

   6. Image analysis of sample jpeg for automated crystal centering