feat: Add Mille Solver by goblirsc · Pull Request #5954 · acts-project/acts

goblirsc · 2026-08-25T16:59:43Z

Add a MilleSolver to handle running the MillePede alignment step and collect the results.

Adds a MilleSolver which wraps the call to pede. It allows to redirect the output and returns a struct with the fit status and the location of the output files.

Currently, it expects the user to have already configured the steering file for the fit - this will be handled by one of the next PRs in the ongoing stack, by a separate tool.

The child process call required for this wrapping is currently done via Boost::process. For the longer-term future, a refactor of pede is foreseen to allow running the alignment fit via an API call to a library, rather than having to invoke an external program. Once that becomes available, this wrapper will be replaced accordingly.

The PR also adds python bindings for the solver and its configuration, as well as a unit test.

github-actions · 2026-08-25T17:39:40Z

Public API surface diff

+22 added, 0 breaking.

➕ Added public API

New types / aliases / enums / variables / concepts (4)

enums ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeError
type ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver
type ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config
type ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult

New call signatures (incl. defaulted-arg overloads) (3)

ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::MillePedeSolver()
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::MillePedeSolver(Acts::Logging::Level)
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::solve(const Config &) const

New public data members (15)

ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::evFileName
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::extraOpts
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::histoFileName
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::logFileName
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::redirectStdout
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::resFileName
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::steeringFile
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::Config::workDir
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::evFile
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::exitCode
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::exitMessage
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::exitStatus
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::histoFile
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::logFile
ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::MillePedeSolver::mpResult::resultsFile

goblirsc · 2026-08-31T14:47:51Z

Two questions to the experts triggered by unit test failures (e.g. lcg_109_alma9_gcc15 (pull_request))

if I want to test a case which intentionally emits an ERROR message, how can I prevent this message from triggering a unit test failure?
if my unit test depends on a thirdparty executable program (here: pede) compiled during the ACTS build process, can I make the CI unit tests run the "install" step / source the ACTS setup script before running the unit tests, to ensure my program is picked up?

…dy suggestion

github-actions · 2026-09-21T14:34:22Z

📊: Physics performance monitoring for `66bebd5`

Full contents

physmon summary

sonarqubecloud · 2026-09-22T10:17:44Z

Quality Gate passed

Issues
1 New issue
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:36:56Z

+
+namespace ActsPlugins::ActsToMille {
+
+enum class childProcessStatus {


Suggested change

enum class childProcessStatus {

enum class ChildProcessStatus {

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:37:41Z

+  ok = 0,
+  progNotFound = 1,
+  failedRedirectStdout = 2,
+  failedWorkDir = 3,
+  failedRun = 4,
+  unknownError = 5


not 100% sure but I think we usually capitalize these too

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:39:44Z

+/// @param runDir: If not empty, will run in the specified directory.
+/// Should already exist (caller is responsible).
+/// @return a pair with the call outcome and the return code (if any, else -1).
+childProcessStatus runChildProcess(


runChildProcess sounds a bit generic but might be fair inside the ActsPlugins::ActsToMille namespace. the header is placed in detail so I think this function should be too? an alternative name could be runMilleExecutable

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:40:44Z

+    std::string steeringFile =
+        "pedeSteerMaster.txt";                /// steering file with run options
+    std::filesystem::path workDir = "";       /// directory to run in
+    std::vector<std::string> extraOpts = {};  /// extra CLI options
+    std::string resFileName =
+        "";  /// destination for result file - if empty, keep original
+    std::string redirectStdout = "";  /// destination for the cout/cerr printout
+                                      /// from pede - if empty, send to parent
+    std::string logFileName =
+        "";  /// destination for the log file - if empty, keep original
+    std::string histoFileName =
+        "";  /// destination for the histogram file - if empty, keep original
+    std::string evFileName =
+        "";  /// destination for the eigenvector file - if empty, keep original


the formatting goes a bit wild here. might be better to lift the comments above the variable like

/// steering file with run options std::string steeringFile = "pedeSteerMaster.txt";

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:40:56Z

+  };
+
+  /// @brief package the result of the alignment fit
+  struct mpResult {


Suggested change

struct mpResult {

struct MpResult {

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:44:22Z

+#if BOOST_VERSION >= 108800
+
+#include <boost/process/environment.hpp>
+#include <boost/process/process.hpp>
+#include <boost/process/start_dir.hpp>
+#include <boost/process/stdio.hpp>
+
+#else
+#include <boost/process.hpp>
+#endif


do we support both versions?

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:44:59Z

+  std::filesystem::path m_path{};
+};
+
+#if BOOST_VERSION >= 108800


alternatively we could split this into two headers and put them into the source file, including them depending on the boost version

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:46:02Z

+  // determine where the user wishes to run
+  std::filesystem::path workDir = std::filesystem::current_path();
+
+  if (!runDir.empty()) {
+    workDir = runDir;
+  }
+  if (!std::filesystem::exists(workDir)) {
+    std::error_code e;
+    std::filesystem::create_directories(workDir, e);
+    if (e) {
+      return ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::childProcessStatus::failedWorkDir;
+    }
+  }


I think it would be fair to have the workDir as an input and as a precondition that it exists

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:46:27Z

+ActsPlugins::ActsToMille::runChildProcess(
+    const std::string& program, const std::vector<std::string>& args,
+    const std::filesystem::path& runDir,
+    const std::filesystem::path& output_dest) {


Suggested change

const std::filesystem::path& output_dest) {

const std::filesystem::path& outputDest) {

andiwand · 2026-09-22T10:47:01Z

+childProcessStatus runChildProcess(
+    const std::string& program, const std::vector<std::string>& args,
+    const std::filesystem::path& runDir = "",
+    const std::filesystem::path& output_dest = "");


Suggested change

const std::filesystem::path& output_dest = "");

const std::filesystem::path& outputDest = "");

goblirsc mentioned this pull request Aug 25, 2026

feat: Add a Millepede result reader #5955

Draft

github-actions Bot added the Component - Plugins Affects one or more Plugins label Aug 25, 2026

github-actions Bot added this to the next milestone Aug 25, 2026

github-actions Bot added the Public API label Aug 25, 2026

goblirsc added 2 commits August 26, 2026 18:41

make Mille MT-safe

0cfded2

Mille up

b4cfe70

goblirsc force-pushed the MG_MilleSolver branch from 40c5b6d to 2bea6dd Compare August 26, 2026 16:42

github-actions Bot added the Infrastructure Changes to build tools, continous integration, ... label Aug 26, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into MG_MilleThreading

9f3773c

goblirsc force-pushed the MG_MilleSolver branch from 9dfa940 to 92d51ec Compare September 8, 2026 11:23

goblirsc and others added 3 commits September 9, 2026 15:28

Merge branch 'main' into MG_MilleThreading

4f8897e

update devcontainer spack

48f6822

Merge branch 'main' into MG_MilleThreading

fa1651e

add Mille Solver and associated tests

fd24cb2

goblirsc force-pushed the MG_MilleSolver branch from 0f28665 to fd24cb2 Compare September 21, 2026 08:16

github-actions Bot removed Component - Core Affects the Core module Component - Fatras Affects the Fatras module labels Sep 21, 2026

github-actions Bot removed Component - Examples Affects the Examples module Component - Documentation Affects the documentation Event Data Model Seeding Track Finding Track Fitting Changes Performance Component - Detray Affects the Detray project Component - Traccc labels Sep 21, 2026

goblirsc added 3 commits September 21, 2026 10:20

deps to 24.4

22944e7

fix 'invalid child process work dir' unit test and implement clang-ti…

6354cf0

…dy suggestion

SonarQube recommendations

da0a418

Merge branch 'main' into MG_MilleSolver

66bebd5

goblirsc marked this pull request as ready for review September 22, 2026 08:25

andiwand reviewed Sep 22, 2026

View reviewed changes


		namespace ActsPlugins::ActsToMille {

		enum class childProcessStatus {

	const std::filesystem::path& output_dest) {
	const std::filesystem::path& outputDest) {

	const std::filesystem::path& output_dest = "");
	const std::filesystem::path& outputDest = "");

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Public API surface diff

➕ Added public API

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📊: Physics performance monitoring for 66bebd5

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goblirsc commented Aug 25, 2026 •

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📊: Physics performance monitoring for `66bebd5`