About the Global Config

sdss_brain includes a global configuration class, Config, which handles parameters used globally by sdss_brain and potentially other SDSS packages.

General custom configuration can be accomplished using the sdss_brain.yml YAML configuration file. This file can also be used to set custom user choices. See the sdsstools config or the Python template config for more details on the custom configuration file.The Config class reads in this file and updates any overlapping parameters with user values. This way you can set a custom SDSS configuration only once.

The Config class contains the following attributes:

  • mode: the MMA mode to operate in

  • release: the data release to use

  • download: If True, downloads any files accessed with sdss_access

  • ignore_db: If True, ignores any database connections used with Brain-based tools

Only valid releases are allowed when setting a new release. Allowed releases are those returned by the SDSS tree package, using the get_available_releases method. Valid releases are typically any public data releases (DRs) or official survey-specific internal releases, e.g interal MaNGA Product Launches (MPLs).

Additionally, setting the release to work allows sdss_brain and sdss_access to access files not yet within a release, specified in the current sdsswork.cfg Tree environment configuration.

To set a new global release:

from sdss_brain.config import config
config.set_release('DR14')

To set global “working” versions:

# set the new work versions
from sdss_brain.config import config
config.set_work_versions({'drpver': 'v2_4_3', 'run2d': 'v5_10_0', 'apred': 'r12'})

# access the set work versions
config.work_versions

The Custom Config File

To customize the configuration for the Brain, you can create a new YAML config file at yml. This config file allows you to set custom configuration options that are loaded when the Brain config is instantiated. The following entries are available:

  • ignore_db: If True, ignores any database connections used with Brain-based tools

  • download: If True, downloads any data files accessed with sdss_access

  • default_release: Sets the default data release to use

  • work_versions: Sets the specified versions to use when accessing “sdsswork” files

The following example config file instructs the Brain to always ignore database connections, to not download data files by default, to use DR15 as the default release, and to set the work versions for MaNGA, APOGEE, and EBOSS data to (v2_4_3, 2.2.1), r12, and v5_10_0, respectively.

ignore_db: True
download: False
default_release: DR15
work_versions:
  drpver: v2_4_3
  dapver: 2.2.1
  apred: r12
  run2d: v5_10_0