modeldb-meta.yaml clone or copy a local repository

[nrnhines]

github: "local: /path/to/repository"
github: "copy: /path/to/parentfolder"

This is currently in the form of an ugly hack, but I found the workflow it supports to be very convenient.
I think it would be straightforward to clean up the implementation.

Local repository clone

                # Using
                #  github: "local: /path/to/repository"
                # in modeldb-run.yaml implies that we 'git clone /path/to/repository'.
                # This is useful to tentatively explore the effect of
                # model changes on results with different nrn versions
                # without committing to github or before being ready to
                # make a pull request

and even more convenient is a local repository copy

               # Using
                #  github: "copy: /path/to/parentfolder"
                # in modeldb-run.yaml implies that we
                #  'cp -R /path/to/parentfolder/<id> <workingdir>'
                # A copy differs from a clone in that local changes in
                # the checkout are mirrored in the copy without having to
                # be committed. Note the copy leaves out the .git and
                # x86_64 folders.

though I haven't yet bothered to leave out the .git or x86_64 folders

One improvment might be to specify a list of ids in a separate yaml file with a format like

id:
  clone:  /path/to/parent/where/id/is/located
id:
  copy: /path/to/parent/where/id/is/located

in order to avoid temporary changes to modeldb/modeldb-run.yaml

I found the copy to be more useful than the clone so copy alone would suffice. In fact it would probably suffice merely to have an environment variable like

export MODELDB_LOCAL_REPOSITORIES=$HOME/models/modeldb

and any id folder at that location that matches an id specified in getmodels or runmodels is copied from there

[pramodk]

@nrnhines : Do we need to have both of these options? i.e. I see that copy: would cover what we typically need in our development workflow. Adding local: help in any other way?

By the way, for naming itself, IMO local: is a bit better than copy:.

[nrnhines]

My experience is that copy is more useful than clone since the former copies also the changes in the working checked out version (so one does not need to first commit those changes). It could easily be called "local:". However, I think the environment variable approach above export MODELDB_LOCAL_REPOSITORIES=$HOME/models/modeldb might be better than having to modify modeldb-meta.yaml. We should discuss some of the detailed positive and negative aspects.

[pramodk]

I think the environment variable approach above export MODELDB_LOCAL_REPOSITORIES=$HOME/models/modeldb might be better than having to modify modeldb-meta.yaml.

That's also OK. But this will also need local commits.

Anyway, I feel like the scope + impact of this decision is limited. So I think it's perfectly fine if you choose either approach.

[pramodk]

Important part is to have this flexibility and document it properly.

[nrnhines]

I don't think there needs to be any hurry with this. I'll let it ripen for a while wait til the next round of modeldb updates to see how some of the details help with the workflow.