linear accelerator simulation framework with placet and guinea-pig

Many good tracking tools are available for simulations for linear accelerators. However, several simple tasks need to be performed repeatedly, like lattice definitions, beam setup, output storage, etc. In addition, complex simulations can become unmanageable quite easily. A high level layer would therefore be beneficial. We propose LinSim, a linear accelerator framework with the codes PLACET and GUINEA-PIG. It provides a documented well-debugged high level layer of functionality. Users only need to provide the input settings and essential code and / or use some of the many implemented imperfections and algorithms. It can be especially useful for first-time users. Currently the following accelerators are implemented: ATF2, ILC, CLIC and FACET. This note is the comprehensive manual, discusses the framework design and shows its strength in some condensed examples.