So I’ve been playing with an interesting “feature” in PCP2 – the “chapterize” command generates different results when it can talk to the window server versus when it can’t. In my case, it generates much better results in the case of the former.

“But,” you say, “my PCP2 xgrid jobs can’t talk to the window server!”

Very true. However, you can change the user that PCP2 uses to submit Xgrid jobs, and Xgrid will run the job with that user’s permissions if everyone is single signon’d to the same kerberos domain.

So, now we’ve got PCP2 jobs running as a real user. Next, log into the GUI as that user.

Now, when PCP2 workflows run, they’ll be able to talk to the window server, and at least in the case of “chapterize,” use what appears to be the “Good” code path. Faster, more accurate, more delightful.