Arvados

h1. Arvados-cwl-runner development

Arvados-cwl-runner has two modes: submitting a workflow, and actively managing a workflow

In submit mode (--submit) it creates a container request which executes arvados-cwl-runner inside a container.  The container request uses the docker image "arvados/jobs" and the docker tag is the version of submitting a-c-r instance.  The a-c-r instance inside the container actively manages the workflow (--local), and gets information about the container it is running in using containers().current().

When doing development related to workflow execution, you can also use "--local" to run a locally managed workflow using your development code.  However, you still need to test that the workflow can be submitted and run in the container.  This requires building a development arvados/jobs image with the correct code and version tag.

Here's a summary of the development process:

# $ virtualenv venv

# $ . venv/bin/activate

# $ (cd ~/arvados/sdk/cwl && python setup.py develop)

# _do your development_

# _test locally_

# $ arvados-cwl-runner --local

# $ git commit

# $ (cd ~/arvados/sdk/cwl && python setup.py develop)

# $ ~/arvados/build/build-dev-docker-jobs-image.sh

# _test submit to cluster_

# $ arvados-cwl-runner --submit

Important to note:

* You need to have ARVADOS_API_HOST an ARVADOS_API_TOKEN in your environment

* "setup.py develop" is convenient for editing files in place, but whenever you commit to git remember to re-run setup.py to record the new version number (which is derived from the git commit timestamp).

* the a-c-r code which is run by the submitter and which is copied in the docker image are expected to match, and it uses the version number of the python package / docker image to enforce that.