FAQ

1. Do I need to compile COAWST for every simulation?

No, you don’t need to compile COAWST every time — as long as you're using the same configuration. If you're running multiple simulations with the same COAWST configuration, you can compile it once, save the resulting binary, and reuse it in subsequent runs. This can significantly reduce simulation time and resource usage.

You can do this by following the steps below.

Step 1: Run COAWST and save the binary

On your first run, run COAWST and save the binary in your outputs:

coawst.run(
    input_dir="/Path/to/SimulationFiles",
    sim_config_filename="sim_file.in",
    build_coawst_script="build_coawst.sh",
    compile_simulator=True,
    cleanup_commands=["cp __COAWST/coawstM ."],
    on=machine_group,
    n_vcpus=96)

Notes:

• build_coawst_scriptis mandatory if you want to compile COAWST.
• compile_simulator is set to True by default, so you can omit it if you want.
• cleanup_commands is a list of commands that will be executed after the simulation is finished. In this case, we are copying the binary coawstM to our simulation files. You can add any other command you want to run after the simulation is finished.

Step 2: Reuse the saved binary in future runs

For subsequent simulations, skip compilation and use the saved binary:

coawst.run(
    input_dir="/Path/to/SimulationFiles",
    sim_config_filename="sim_file.in",
    compile_simulator=False,
    # Specify the binary name in your simulation files
    coawst_bin="coawstM",
    on=machine_group,
    n_vcpus=96)

Notes:

• build_coawst_scriptis not needed if you are not compiling COAWST.
• compile_simulator needs to be set to False, so the simulator will not be compiled again.
• coawst_bin is the name of the binary you want to use. In this case, we are using the binary we saved in the previous simulation.

This is all you need to do to save time and resources when running multiple simulations using the same COAWST configuration.

Note: If your binary is not called coawstM, update thecleanup_commands and coawst_bin parameters accordingly.

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