Installing extensions from git repository

[jotelha]

Usually, it is possible to install from a git repository directly, and without looking at the mechanisms in too much detail, I believe that this works by providing git_config at

easybuild-framework/easybuild/framework/easyblock.py

Line 379 in 210743d

path = self.obtain_file(filename, download_filename=download_filename, force_download=force_download,

However, I was not able to figure out how to do the same for an extension (defined within the exts_list easyconfig parameter), and I suspect that might be due to the fact that no git_config from an extension's options is passed at

easybuild-framework/easybuild/framework/easyblock.py

Line 520 in 0b7a627

src_fn = self.obtain_file(fn, extension=True, urls=source_urls, force_download=force_download)

Why not? Wouldn't that be useful, i.e. for installing a custom python repository via git together with its dependencies (say, standard pipy packages) in a PythonBundle?

[boegel]

@jotelha Building extensions straight from a Git repository is currently not supported, and yes this would be useful.

For extensions, the way to specify which source to use is a bit crippled: all you can use is source_tmpl, as opposed to sources for non-extensions (where you can use git_config, see https://easybuild.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Writing_easyconfig_files.html#downloading-from-a-git-repository).

The easiest way to ensure you can use git_config for extensions is probably to make sure that sources is picked up for extensions (and then probably deprecate the custom source_tmpl which only works for extensions)...

[boegel]

Relevant recent PR by @kelseymh: #3294