The Submit Script

  1. Overview
  2. Usage
  3. Problems?

Overview

Some instructors for some courses (mainly CMSC courses) want you to submit your assignments (typically codes) using the submit script on GRACE.

WARNING
Do NOT submit assignments using the submit script for courses UNLESS you were instructed to do so by the professor. If they are not expecting work to be submitted in this fashion, they might not count such as a valid method of turning in assignments and deduct points or fail you for that assignment.
WARNING
Some instructors will provide a custom submit script for you to use when submitting work for their class. It might or might not use a name other than submit. If so, make sure that you use the appropriate submit script for each course. The following is for the Division of Information Technology provided submit script. If in doubt, you can access the DIT provided submit script by giving its full path, /usr/local/scripts/submit.

Usage

The submit script is available on all Terpconnect/Glue/GRACE systems, although typically it will be run from one of the GRACE unix systems. The submit script takes 7 arguments:

  1. year
  2. semester
  3. college
  4. course
  5. section number
  6. assignment number
  7. file to submit

For example, to submit the file myproj4.c as your fourth assignment to CMSC 456 Section 0102 for the Spring 2015 semester, you would run: 

submit 2015 spring cmsc 456 0102 4 myproj4.c

The first thing it will do is print out all the information you just entered and ask if you are sure it is correct. It will then copy the submitted file into your submission directory for that course, under a subdirectory for that assignment. You do NOT have access to read or modify anything after it was submitted. Nor can you overwrite anything you already submitted; if you need to resubmit you should do so with a different filename.

It is up to the instructors of the course as to what format your file should be in, and whether or not multiple submissions are accepted. The instructor will see the time at which it is submitted, so they will be able to tell if you made it before or after the deadline.

NOTE: If your professor has instructed you to use an alternative submission script, you should use that instead.

Problems or Questions

Problems or issues with the submit script should be reported to the Division of Information Technology.. You should also consider reporting the matter to your instructor, as sometimes an issue can affect many students. Note that the Division of Information Technology does not have the resources to provide 24x7 support for this script, and assignment deadlines can occur outside of normal business hours, so you should check with your instructors at the start of the semester about what the policy is for technical issues around the assignment deadline, and what if any alternate means of submission are available.

The following list covers some common issues:

  • Make sure you are using the correct submit script. If you previously took a class wherein the professor instructed you to use a custom submit script for that particular class, you might have set your PATH variable to find that one first. This can cause problems if you then try to use it in another class. When in doubt, use the full path to the submit script, /usr/local/scripts/submit, e.g. 
    /usr/local/scripts/submit 2015 spring cmsc 456 0102 4 myproj4.c