[petsc-dev] Updating MOAB version during download

[Barry Smith]

On Jun 16, 2014, at 5:43 PM, Jed Brown <jed at jedbrown.org> wrote:

> Barry Smith <bsmith at mcs.anl.gov> writes:
>>> The commit hash, which is exactly what we have now.
>> 
>>  1) It is a manual beasty that someone has to edit moab.py and change
>>  on a regular basis? This doesn’t work as proved by the current
>>  fiasco.
> 
> One instance of misunderstanding the model is not an indictment that the
> model is broken.
> 
>>  2) It does not give me access to the branch so that I can make
>>  changes. Say I am working on feature-dmmoab in PETSc and see a
>>  little bug in the moab branch that (indirectly only since I am at
>>  some stupid headless commit-hash instead on a branch) I am pointing
>>  to, that if I quickly fix I can push and make life easier for my
>>  entire team of eight developers. I need to manual figure out what
>>  branch corresponds to the commit-hash thing I had checked out,
>>  change to that branch in moab, fix the branch in moab, push it and
>>  then comeback and edit moab.py in PETSc to point to the new
>>  commit-hash beasty of the moab branch.
> 
> If you find a bug, you have to fix it within the workflow of THAT
> project.  If they use a workflow similar to PETSc, then a good option
> would be to start a new branch from that critical commit and ask for it
> to be merged.

   Sure. and If —download-moab had gotten me into the right branch I would branch off my fix branch from that, test it with my PETSc stuff and then make a pull request. 
> 
>>    So somehow I would like the moab.py to “know” about the associated
>>    moab branch (if there is one) as well as a commit-hash. Now when I
>>    checkout the PETSc feature-dmmoab I want the branch checked out
>>    (at a particular commit-hash? Is that possible?) Now if I update
>>    the moab branch with a new commit then when I commit my
>>    feature-dmmoab I want it to automatically update the “commit-hash”
>>    in the moab.py
> 
> --download-package is a feature for USING a third-party package, not a
> framework for CONTRIBUTING to that project.

   Sure it is! Why the fuck should I be manually download/installing packages when a tool can do it for me? What are computers for if it is not to remove the manual process that can be automated.

   When I am inside a PETSc branch and I say —download-xxx I am saying given me the appropriate beasty that I can work with inside this branch AND "WORK WITH" MEANS DO AS MUCH AS I COULD HAVE IF I HAD MANUALLY DOWNLOADED IT MYSELF. I don’t want —download-xxx to mean download a crippled version of the stuff, I want it to mean give me everything I would get if I downloaded it myself and manually set the branch etc.


> 
> 
> For you, what is wrong with updating gitcommit when you change an
> interface in MOAB?  If other people are also developing MOAB, they
> should have their own clone and "git pull" each time, not use
> --download-moab.

  1) I will of course forget to update gitcommit

  2) I don’t even want to freaking know where moab is hosted. If I want to run some tests on a linux machine (because Apple sucks and doesn’t have valgrind) you think I want to manually figure out where moab is hosted, use some git clone command to download it, manually checkout the correct branch and then tell PETSc where I downloaded it when —download-moan can do that for me?  Why should I do all that (which I won’t do) when —download-moab can take care of it for me? 

   You are very much hung up on —download-xxx is for users. As I said before I wrote —download-xxx for developers (me) and want to continue to extend it to help developers (including me). 

  Barry