config file specification when running ESMValTool

[rswamina]

Is it possible to --config-file as well as --config_file when running ESMValTool? Seems like they will both work.

@valeriupredoi note: see unreliable command line flags issue here https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/936

[valeriupredoi]

no, the fact that they both seem to work is due to the fact that a wrong command line option does not raise an exception, see https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/797 - this is something either @jvegasbsc or myself should fix, rather sooner than later

[schlunma]

I think they both work, just tested with --config-file, --config_file and --config-fiiiile. The first two runs go just fine, in the third run ESMValTool complains about a missing config file (in the default location):

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '~/.esmvaltool/config-user.yml'

[valeriupredoi]

be careful what you mean by "work" - only one option (config_user) works in that it grabs the file that you are actually specifying, the others are looking in the default location even if you specify a particular file, the effect of not even running with the command line flag at all

[valeriupredoi]

read @bouweandela 's issue a I linked, the symptoms are clearly described there, we really have to fix this behavior :+1:

[schlunma]

No, both --config-file and --config_file locate the file I'm specifying. I know since my default dir is empty (see error!).

[valeriupredoi]

if your default dir is empty, it'll grab it from the install target location, this thing is like your mum - you'll never win an argument with it, the problem is that you have to be careful that the file you need to be used is actually used

[schlunma]

I swear --- it uses the right one in both cases:

INFO: Using config file ~/config/mymodels.yml

which is definitely not the default dir or the installation location. It also finds my files which are in custom dirs, there's no way it does that with a default file.

When I specify the wrong argument on purpose (so something like --config-fiiiiile) I get:

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '~/.esmvaltool/config-user.yml'

So yes, both --config-file and --config_file work. I don't know how and why...but they do :laughing:

[valeriupredoi]

I'll be...did Javi sneakily code up AI with that change to fire? It's prob that _ and - are equivalent in whatever text interpreter fire uses, which is probably not safe - @jvegasbsc you know of that?

[valeriupredoi]

also, I do like that config-fiiile - clearly yodeling, we should customize our command line options based on where you are from :grin:

[bouweandela]

It's prob that _ and - are equivalent

In my experience they are, though I would recommend using the version with underscore in documentation and tutorials, because that's the way they are displayed when you run the --help command, e.g.

$ esmvaltool run -- --help
NAME
    esmvaltool run - Execute an ESMValTool recipe.

SYNOPSIS
    esmvaltool run RECIPE <flags>

DESCRIPTION
    `esmvaltool run` executes the given recipe. To see a list of available
    recipes or create a local copy of any of them, use the
    `esmvaltool recipes` command group.

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS
    RECIPE
        Recipe to run, as either the name of an installed recipe or the path to a non-installed one.

FLAGS
    --config_file=CONFIG_FILE
        Type: Optional[]
        Default: None
        Configuration file to use. If not provided the file ${HOME}/.esmvaltool/config-user.yml will be used.
    --max_datasets=MAX_DATASETS
        Type: Optional[]
        Default: None
        Maximum number of datasets to use.
    --max_years=MAX_YEARS
        Type: Optional[]
        Default: None
        Maximum number of years to use.
    --skip_nonexistent=SKIP_NONEXISTENT
        Default: False
        If True, the run will not fail if some datasets are not available.
    --synda_download=SYNDA_DOWNLOAD
        Default: False
        If True, the tool will try to download missing data using Synda.
    --diagnostics=DIAGNOSTICS
        Type: Optional[]
        Default: None
        Only run the selected diagnostics from the recipe. To provide more than one diagnostic to filter use the syntax 'diag1 diag2/script1' or '("diag1", "diag2/script1")' and pay attention to the quotes.
    --check_level=CHECK_LEVEL
        Default: 'default'
        Configure the sensitivity of the CMOR check. Possible values are: `ignore` (all errors will be reported as warnings), `relaxed` (only fail if there are critical errors), default (fail if there are any errors), strict (fail if there are any warnings).
    Additional flags are accepted.

NOTES
    You can also use flags syntax for POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS

You can read all about fancy ways of using fire in it's documentation: https://google.github.io/python-fire/

An interesting feature is command line tab completion: https://google.github.io/python-fire/using-cli/#completion-flag

[valeriupredoi]

can this be closed @rswamina ? :beer:

[egalytska]

Since the issue is not yet closed I would also like to contribute. I just have recently installed ESMValTool v2.4 and started with running example python recipe as follows:

esmvaltool run examples/recipe_python.yml --config-file /path/to/my/config/file/config-user.yml

and it took quite a long time to figure out that ESMValTool reads the file from ${HOME}/.esmvaltool, but not from the path I specified.

At this point (i) it would be indeed useful if ESMValTool would not let me use a wrong command, or at least notified me that it is not valid; (ii) for some reason under ${HOME}/.esmvaltool there was an old config-user.yml file with options like write_plots, which was surprising since I did an ESMVAlTool v2.4 installation from scratch.

In the end I fixed the issue with esmvaltool config get-config-user --path=/path/to/my/config/file/ from the documentation here.

[valeriupredoi]

@egalytska very good point, and it's been an item on my (extended) to-do list (very extended, mind you :grin: ) - we do have an issue in Core https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/936 for this sort of behavior so I'm going to close this for now :+1:

[bouweandela]

The problem described by @egalytska looks very similar to this issue: https://github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/797

[egalytska]

Alright, good to know. Thanks for taking care @valeriupredoi