Written a doc. Changing the name of the variables related to the hash log.

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,43 @@
 # Study of the Reproducibility and Longevity of Dockerfiles
 
-TODO: doc
+ECG is a program that automates software environment checking for scientific artifacts.
+
+It is meant to be executed periodically to analyze variations in the software environment of the artifact through time.
+
+## How it works
+
+ECG takes as input a JSON configuration telling where to download the artifact, where to find the Dockerfile to build in the artifact, and which package managers are used by the Docker container.
+
+It will then download the artifact, build the Dockerfile, and then create a list of the installed packages in the Docker container. It also stores the potential errors encountered when building the Dockerfile, and logs the hash of the artifact for future comparison.
+
+## Setup
+
+A Linux operating system and the following packages are required:
+- `snakemake`
+- `gawk`
+- `nickel`
+
+The following Python package is also required:
+- `requests`
+
+Otherwise, you can use the Nix package manager and run `nix develop` in this directory to setup the full software environment.
+
+## Usage
+
+Run `ecg.py` as follow:
+
+```
+python3 ecg.py <config_file> -p <pkglist_path> -l <log_file> -b <build_status_file> -a <artifact_hash_log> -c <cache_directory>
+```
+
+Where:
+- `<config_file>` is the configuration file of the artifact in JSON format. An example is given in `artifacts_json/test.json`.
+- `<pkglist_path>` is the path to the file where the package list generated by the program should be written.
+- `<log_file>` is the path to the file where to log the output of the program.
+- `<build_status_file>` is the path to the file where to write the build summary of the Docker image given in the configuration file.
+- `<artifact_hash_log>` is the path to the file where to log the hash of the downloaded artifact.
+- `<cache_directory>` is the path to the cache directory, where downloaded artifacts will be stored for future usage.
+
+## License
+
+TBD

ecg.py

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import sys
 config_path = ""
 pkglist_path = "" # Package list being generated
 buildstatus_path = "" # Summary of the build process of the image
-arthashhist_path = "" # History of the hash of the downloaded artifact
+arthashlog_path = "" # Log of the hash of the downloaded artifact
 cachedir_path = "" # Artifact cache directory
 
 # Commands to list installed packages along with their versions and the name
@@ -133,12 +133,12 @@ def download_sources(config):
             artifact = tarfile.open(artifact_path)
         logging.info(f"Extracting artifact at {artifact_dir}")
         artifact.extractall(artifact_dir)
-        # Saving the current hash of the artifact for the history:
+        # Logging the current hash of the artifact:
-        arthashhist_file = open(arthashhist_path, "a")
+        arthashlog_file = open(arthashlog_path, "a")
         now = datetime.datetime.now()
         timestamp = str(datetime.datetime.timestamp(now))
-        arthashhist_file.write(f"{timestamp},{artifact_hash}\n")
+        arthashlog_file.write(f"{timestamp},{artifact_hash}\n")
-        arthashhist_file.close()
+        arthashlog_file.close()
     else:
         logging.info(f"Cache found for {url}, skipping download")
     return artifact_dir
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ def remove_image(config):
     subprocess.run(["docker", "rmi", name], capture_output = True)
 
 def main():
-    global config_path, pkglist_path, buildstatus_path, arthashhist_path, cachedir_path
+    global config_path, pkglist_path, buildstatus_path, arthashlog_path, cachedir_path
 
     # Command line arguments parsing:
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ def main():
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "-a", "--artifact-hash",
-        help = "Path to the file where to write the history of the hash of the downloaded artifact.",
+        help = "Path to the file where to write the log of the hash of the downloaded artifact.",
         required = True
     )
     parser.add_argument(
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ def main():
     pkglist_path = args.pkg_list
     log_path = args.log_path
     buildstatus_path = args.build_summary
-    arthashhist_path = args.artifact_hash
+    arthashlog_path = args.artifact_hash
     cachedir_path = args.cache_dir
 
     # Setting up the log: will be displayed both on stdout and to the specified