[ET Trac] [Einstein Toolkit] #761: Fold option list, submit script, and run script into mdb

[Einstein Toolkit]

#761: Fold option list, submit script, and run script into mdb
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  eschnett     |       Owner:  eschnett
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new     
 Priority:  major        |   Milestone:          
Component:  SimFactory   |     Version:          
 Keywords:               |  
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 It would be nice to avoid having both an mdb, and three separate files
 (option list, submit script, run script) for each machine. These really
 belong together.

 The following may be possible:
 1. An option list consists of a set of key-value pairs. It should be
 straightforward to put these into the mdb.
 2. The submit script consists essentially of a single command, and various
 options that are set via comments. These options could also be set via
 command line options to qsub, and thus be stored in the mdb. In fact, Orca
 (Sharcnet) already requires this, and only has a trivial submit script.
 3. All run scripts follow the same pattern: some commands to change the
 environment, some commands to mangle MPI node lists, and an mpirun
 command. Interspersed is a lot of boilerplate. These could be abstracted
 out into two or three MDB entries specifying these commands.

 The result would be that all information is stored in the mdb, and no
 additional files need to be tracked.

 To protect against mdb modifications while a job is waiting, we
 could/should store a copy of the mdb entry with each simulation.

 If the current mdb format is not convenient for storing this information
 (but why should it not?), then we could examine other options, e.g. based
 on XML or SqLite. (There are e.g. XML-like formats that have the same
 semantics as XML, but use a slightly different syntax that is friendlier
 for humans, but is as easy to parse for machines.) XML and friends would
 give us a hierarchy, which INI doesn't.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.einsteintoolkit.org/ticket/761>
Einstein Toolkit <http://einsteintoolkit.org>
The Einstein Toolkit