Feedback from EPI2ME Labs users revealed the desired for people to be able to control the running of the EPI2ME Labs notebook server from the command-line without opening a graphical user interface. Such users are typically running the server on a different, and more computationall capable, computer from where they are using the notebook web interface.

With the v1.0.8 release of the launcher we have introduced the ability to start, stop, and check the status of the EPI2ME Labs notebook server from the command-line. The application is install to

/usr/local/bin/EPI2ME-Labs-Launcher/EPI2ME-Labs-Launcher

on Linux systems. On Ubuntu systems this is aliased as two commands, labslauncher and labsmanager, installed to:

/usr/local/bin

which is typically listed in the PATH environment variable.

Running the EPI2ME-Labs-Launcher (or labslauncher shortcut) will run the standard EPI2ME Labs Launcher with a graphic interface, and with logging to the terminal. However running:

/usr/local/bin/EPI2ME-Labs-Launcher/EPI2ME-Labs-Launcher manager --help

(or simply labsmanager --help on Ubuntu) will initiate a simple command-line interface. The interface has the following commands:

--start      Start the server.
  --restart    Restart the server.
  --stop       Stop a running server and cleanup resources.
  --status     Report server status.
  --update     Update server.

all of which should be fairly self-explanatory. The program will alert users if updates are available for the server or for the program itself. The last command in the above can be used to update the notebook server component. For updates to the Launcher application users should continue to download these from the downloads page. (Users on Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing devices can also upgrade the Launcher through apt).

When starting an EPI2ME Labs notebook server the full array of options available in the graphical application are available to be set; running the --help command will display these. In contrast to the graphical interface, when using the command-line options are not stored in the applications settings for subsequent use: users wishing to override the default value of options must supply these options every time the program is run. This provides a more natural command-line interface.

We hope that users will find the new command-line interface useful and look forward to feedback.