Remarks

The input of the program MBDyn is subject to continuous changes at a fast pace, since the code is under development. This documentation attempts to give some insight into the logics that drove its implementation. While most of the software resulted from a careful design, some portions are ``as they are'' only because they were made in a hurry, or because no better way was at hand at the moment they were made. The input format partially reflects the development of the software. Whenever changes in the input format and in the syntax of existing parts are required, an effort will be attempted to make it as much backward compatible as possible, or at least reliable diagnostics and error checking will be put in place that warns for possible erroneous inputs related to a change in the input format. At present the input of MBDyn already warns for many possible errors and makes as many cross-checks as possible on the consistency of the data. Nearly every warning and error issue shows the line of the input file where the error occurred. This document will be subjected to changes, so be sure you always have a release that is aligned with the version of the code you're running.

For any question or problem, to fix typos, bugs, for comments and suggestions, please contact the Development Team without hesitation:

Pierangelo Masarati,
MBDyn Development Team
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale
Politecnico di Milano
via La Masa 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
Fax:	+39 02 2399 8334
E-mail:	mbdyn@aero.polimi.it
Web:	http://www.aero.polimi.it/~mbdyn/

This manual is also available online at
http://mbdyn.aero.polimi.it/~masarati/MBDyn-input/manual/index.html

Make sure you use the manual that refers to the version of MBDyn that you are using; from 1.2 on, the input manual is marked with the same version number of the package.

The website http://www.aero.polimi.it/~mbdyn/ may advertise different versions of the manual, including those related to past releases and a HEAD or -devel version, which refers to current development; this can be useful to check whether the current development may address problems you are having and, since the updating of the manual is not as fast as code releases, it may describe features that are already in the most recent release.