= 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 way to do this is to store it on your BOINC server,
in your project's '''download''' directory hierarchy.
To do this, run
{{{
bin/stage_file [--gzip] [--copy] file_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.

'''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.
   This eliminates the need to do this each time a job submission refers to the file.

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 stage input files to servers other than your BOINC server.
In that case you must specify the URLs in the [JobTemplates input template].