[ET Trac] [Einstein Toolkit] #1532: The ET should handle "optional" thorns (OpenCL ect) in a better way. (was: simfactories enabled-thorns does not check if a to be enabled thorn is actually present)

[Einstein Toolkit]

#1532: The ET should handle "optional" thorns (OpenCL ect) in a better way.
--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
  Reporter:  rhaas        |       Owner:  eschnett           
      Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  reopened           
  Priority:  minor        |   Milestone:                     
 Component:  Cactus       |     Version:  development version
Resolution:               |    Keywords:                     
--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
Changes (by knarf):

  * priority:  major => minor
  * type:  defect => enhancement
  * component:  SimFactory => Cactus


Old description:

> if one uses the default ET thornlist for download then transfers the
> cechkout to eg bluewaters then tries to build there then the build fails
> since thorns are not found:
> {{{
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Warnings were generated during execution of the CST
> ------------------------------------------------------
>

> CST error 1:
>   -> Missing thorn CactusExamples/WaveToyOpenCL
>

> CST error 2:
>   -> Missing thorn CactusUtils/Accelerator
>

> CST error 3:
>   -> Missing thorn CactusUtils/OpenCLRunTime
>

> CST error 4:
>   -> Missing thorn ExternalLibraries/OpenCL
>

> CST error 5:
>   -> Missing thorn McLachlan/ML_WaveToy_CL
> }}}
> Reading the resolution to #919 it seesm as if enabled-thorns should have
> been removed from the mdb but seems to not have been.
>
> I think enabled-thorns should be either removed and/or simfactory should
> check before activating (uncommenting) a thorn in the thornlist that the
> activated thorn actually exists.

New description:

 Currently, some thorns within the ET only work on some machines (for good
 reasons), and are thus disabled by default in the thornlist. This has
 several problems (they are not checked out by default, nor then synced to
 machines where they are supported and might be needed). We need to improve
 this.

 We could find a way to tag these as "optional" and then have a
 corresponding tag per machine that can enable them, if they are present.
 This way (at least most of them) could always be checked out, but Cactus
 would skip their compilation if they are not present, or not supported on
 that machine (indicated by something "missing" in the option list
 probably).

--

Comment:

 True. This isn't really a simfactory problem though. It already starts
 with GetComponents, so let's change the ticket accordingly.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://trac.einsteintoolkit.org/ticket/1532#comment:3>
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