McXtrace - An X-ray ray-trace simulation package

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mctest family

Installation testing / benchmarking tools, under tools/Python/mctest.

mctest / mxtest

Runs every test embedded in the instrument library, compiling, displaying (single-particle), and running each one, then compares the result against the target value recorded in the instrument header. A %Test: header line (older name: %Example:) defines a single-value test:

%Test: lambda=2.36 Detector: He3H_I=9.84026e-10

A %TestScan: header line (older name: %Scan:) defines a parameter scan. The parameters use the mcrun scan syntax, followed by a {}-enclosed list of one target value per scan point, which may span several header lines:

%TestScan: dBz=-0.0001,0.0001 -N41 -n1e5 Detector: detector_I={
  86.04,101.892,108.731,...,
  85.406 }

mcrun/mxrun and *.instr tokens on test lines are ignored. A %Test: always runs at the global --ncount (scaled by --statfactor): a -n on its line is only a hint for users (mcdoc shows it) and is ignored, with a log message. To get better statistics in a %Test:, change the instrument (e.g. SPLIT) rather than adding -n. A scan uses its own -n if given, otherwise at most 1e5 per point, and runs its points in parallel (--scan_split=auto) unless MPI is used. A value, or every point of a scan, passes when it is within 20 % of its target, or, with --nsigma or --pvalue, within the statistical tolerance described below.

A target may carry its error bar, written as in the simulation's own output, e.g. %Test: ... Detector: NAME_I=2.00752e+08 NAME_ERR=2.28872e+06 or, for a scan, Detector: NAME_I={...} NAME_ERR={...}. It is used with --nsigma/--pvalue.

How --nsigma, --pvalue and --statfactor judge test values against their targets, and where that can mislead, is explained in Statistical acceptance in mctest.

Option	Description
--ncount N, -n N	ncount sent to mcrun (default: 1e6)
--seed S, -s S	seed sent to mcrun (default: 1000; 0/NULL randomises)
--mpi N	MPI node count sent to mcrun
--no-mpi	compile and run without MPI (--no-mpi sent to mcrun)
--openacc	pass --openacc to mcrun
--nexus	compile/run with NeXus output format everywhere
--lint	just run the C-linter (no simulation run)
--config CONFIG	test only this specific config — label name (regex) or absolute path
--instr PATTERN	test only instruments matching this regex (comma-separated for multiple); together with --comp, instruments matching either are tested
--comp COMP[,COMP...]	test only instruments that use any of the given components (whole-word match)
--mccoderoot DIR	root search folder for McCode installations
--testdir DIR	write test results directly into DIR (default: cwd)
--local DIR	pick up instruments to test from DIR instead of the McCode installation
--limit N	test only the first N instruments
--skipnontest	skip compiling instruments that have no %Test/%TestScan test
--suffix SUFFIX	append SUFFIX to the test directory name
--uid ID	unique identifier for the suffix (default: timestamp)
--compilemax S	max seconds allowed per compilation (default: 1800; x100 with --lint)
--runmax S	max seconds allowed per test run (default: 3600)
--displaymax S	max seconds allowed per test display run (default: 60)
--nsigma N	accept a test value (each point of a scan) within N × the combined error bar sqrt(ERR_test² + ERR_target²), when the target line gives NAME_ERR; targets without it are assumed to come from the unscaled ncount (√(1+F)·ERR_test with --statfactor F, √2·ERR_test by default) and are also accepted within 20 %. Error bars from fewer than 100 effective events (I/ERR)² are not used: the 20 % rule applies
--statfactor F	scale the ncount of every test (and per scan point) by F, e.g. 0.01 for quick runs or 100 for reference-quality ones; with --nsigma/--pvalue, a target without NAME_ERR is assumed to come from the unscaled ncount (combined error bar √(1+F)·ERR_test)
--pvalue P	as --nsigma, given as a two-sided Gaussian p-value (e.g. 0.0027 = 3σ, 5.7e-7 = 5σ)
--noscans	skip the %TestScan tests, only run the %Test tests
--noplots	do not generate plots (01_overview.pdf, 02_plots.html) of the test output
--permissive	exit 0 even if some tests fail
--strict	let instruments without %Test/%TestScan line(s) fail immediately (cannot be combined with --permissive)
--verbose	print a test/no-test status header before each test

mcviewtest / mxviewtest

Builds a single browsable HTML comparison report from one or more mctest result sets (as written by mctest --testdir), diffing/co-plotting each row against a chosen reference column via mcplotdiff-html/mccoplot-html. Each test, and each scan, is one row. Cells are coloured pass/fail by the same rule mctest used for that result set (20 %, or the --nsigma/--pvalue and --statfactor stored with the results); a scan cell shows how many points passed, and hovering it lists every point's value, target and percentage.

Option	Description
testdir	(optional) root folder containing mctest result subfolders (default: cwd)
--reflabel LABEL	reference column/label to compare against (default: oldest subfolder in cwd)
--testroot DIR	test-root folder for interactive result management/cleanup
--verbose	output excessive debug information
--nobrowse	do not open a browser on completion
--nodiff	do not generate diff/co-plot comparison cells
--diff-errors-only	only diff rows that show a discrepancy (default: diff every valid row)
--diffmax S	max seconds per diff/co-plot comparison (default: 300)
--diffworkers N	number of comparisons to run in parallel (default: number of CPUs)

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Last Modified: Monday, 02-Nov-2026 21:43:07 CET