= Staging input files =

Before using an input file you must "stage" it,
i.e. put it where it is accessible via HTTP from volunteer computers.
The default place is on your BOINC server,
in your project's '''download''' directory hierarchy.
To do this, run
{{{
bin/stage_file [--gzip] [--copy] [--verbose] path
}}}
 --gzip:: send the file in compressed form to 7.0+ clients.
  Note: you must also include the '''<gzip/>''' attribute for this file in the job's [JobTemplates input template].
 --copy:: copy the file from its current location to the BOINC download directory.
  The default is to move it.
 --verbose:: generate verbose output.

'''stage_file''' also
 * checks whether a file of that name already exists in the download hierarchy.
   If so, it verifies that the file has the same contents.
 * computes and saves the file's MD5 hash and size.
   This eliminates the need to do this each time a job submission refers to the file.

'''path''' is the file to be staged.
If '''path''' is a directory, all the files in that directory are staged.

Note: '''stage_file''' was added to the BOINC trunk on 16 Oct 2012.
If your server code is older than that, use
{{{
cp file_path `bin/dir_hier_path file_name`
}}}

You may also put input files on Web servers other than your BOINC server.
In that case you must specify the URL, file size, and MD5 either in the [JobTemplates input template]
or as an argument to the '''create_work''' function or script.