[ET Trac] [Einstein Toolkit] #919: simfactory fails for standard thornlist copied using sync

[Einstein Toolkit]

#919: simfactory fails for standard thornlist copied using sync
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  Reporter:  knarf   |       Owner:  eschnett  
      Type:  defect  |      Status:  review    
  Priority:  major   |   Milestone:  ET_2012_05
 Component:  Other   |     Version:            
Resolution:          |    Keywords:            
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Comment (by eschnett):

 It is perfectly fine to use Cactus without Simfactory; I expect many
 people to do so. It is also perfectly fine to use parts of Simfactory's
 MDB without using the remainder of Simfactory. Being surprised (and angry)
 at Simfactory's behaviour is fine as it leads to improvement; choosing
 radical solutions is not, since it drives people away. Simfactory has
 (sometimes strong) opinions about what is a "good way" of doing things,
 and in many cases people disagree -- mostly, because Simfactory is
 evolving, and finding a true "good way" of doing things requires
 experimentation and much feedback from the community.

 I am sure we can find a solution that is more of a consensus among the
 community.

 For example, if we expect most novice users to use Simfactory, then it
 needs to be much simpler to configure Simfactory and Cactus on random
 laptops and workstations. We would need examples for (say) the five most
 common operating systems, more elaborate self-checks, much better error
 messages, etc.

 One of the problems with Simfactory is that it wants to know a system's
 configuration up front. This requires people to find out all the details
 up front, instead of e.g. being able to do some of the work first and only
 being held up by a problem later -- which gives people a sense of
 progress. ("okay, now I've figured out to log in, now let's compile";
 "okay, I managed to compile, now let's run".) Currently, Simfactory
 appears like a wall that doesn't let you through unless you specify
 details about a machine that you, otherwise, would only have to care about
 much later. In a way, that's like a web store that verifies your credit
 card credentials before it lets you browse: sure, this ensures you are not
 disappointed later, but will make people angry.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.einsteintoolkit.org/ticket/919#comment:8>
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