Before each time step CO5BOLD checks in the working directory
whether the file rhd.stop exists.
If it has been generated (e.g. with touch rhd.stop),
the code exits gracefully, i.e. it produces a
proper final model, which can be used to restart the code.
This method of stopping a simulation is to be preferred over
a simple kill or qdel command because it allows
to analyze the state of the model just at the end of the simulation
and a smooth restart.
Before the restart the rhd.stop file has to be deleted!
The simulation can be continued by just initiating a new run.
If the file rhd.cont exists at the beginning of a
simulation, the code tries to resume an interrupted computation:
The initial model will not be taken from the start model file
(infile_start) but from the final model (outfile_end).
The data for the full and the mean file is not written into new files
but will be appended to the existing ones.
In this way a simulation can be interrupted and continued in a fairly
safe way. It is possible to analyze the final model and to changes
values in the parameter file.
Keep in mind that after a restart with rhd.cont the specifications
about the length of the job (e.g. the number of time steps) will be
counted from the restart point and not from the beginning of the original
simulation.
To interrupt a job with rhd.stop can be very handy.
The continuation with rhd.cont and the old parameter file
is not to be preferred over an ordinary restart with a new parameter file.
If a run was successful i.e. it was completed because one of the
regular termination conditions was fulfilled (e.g. the requested number
of time steps was performed) the exit status file rhd.done is produced.
Currently, it contains the date and time of its generation.
The existence of this file can be checked within a script to determine
if the simulation was successful (and should be continued).
Note: the existence of an rhd.end file
only indicates that CO5BOLD managed to exit gracefully - due to an error or
in a regular way.