Asking questions about software will likely be a frequent part of your work in ATLAS. The following are some of the few channels dedicated to answering users’ questions.
The dedicated ATLAS-talk Categories, which are also set up as mailing lists, are probably the best way to get a fast response from experts. There are dedicated Categories/Lists for different topics. ATLAS-talk is a Discourse instance, similar to Stack Exchange. Don’t be shy about asking “beginner” questions, that is the purpose of these channels.
A good place to check before asking your question is the archive for each Category.
Make sure you log in to ATLAS-talk at least once to setup your account. You have significant flexibility around notifications and other settings for the site.
When contacting the mailing lists please be as detailed as possible. When asking for software help, you will never be accused of providing too much detail.
Include things such as:
If log files or input files are large, share them via CERNBox.
Mattermost is a team communication service very similar in functionality to Slack. This is supported at CERN and can be accessed by the Mattermost App or through the CERN Mattermost page. You should have access to the service by default if you have a CERN account.
CERN Mattermost has several “teams” you can join, each of which has multiple channels. A good place for software questions is the atlassoftware team.
The CERN Service Portal is the place to visit for questions and problems with CERN infrastructure and services. These include things like account management, CERNBox, service outages, security, etc. If you’re pretty confident that the issue you are facing is not an “ATLAS” issue, but a CERN issue, the service portal is the right place to go:
https://cern.service-now.com/service-portal/
Note that because of the name, Service NOW, you will often hear tickets in this system referred to as SNOW tickets.
Please remember, the CERN Code of Conduct applies to all of these communication channels.