vpl_evaluate.cpp file in compilation environment

[Astor-Bizard]

Hello!

It has come to my attention that the vpl_evaluate.cpp file is now present in the compilation environment. We can see it by having a vpl_evaluate.sh file containing simply ls:

common_script.sh  vpl_debug.sh        vpl_evaluate.cases  vpl_evaluate.sh
myreqfile.py      vpl_environment.sh  vpl_evaluate.cpp    vpl_run.sh

It seems that this is new from version 4.2. In previous versions, the file was not present among the others.

This change came with what seems to be the following behaviour: any VPL activity with a manually-created vpl_evaluate.cpp file in Execution files will have this file removed and replaced by the "automatic" vpl_evaluate.cpp.

Now, my questions are:
Are these changes intentional?
If not, should we expect it to be reverted?

[buddy1234567]

Good sleuthing! I wonder if this also pertains to the Proposed Grade issue in #178.

[jcrodriguez-dis]

Dear @Astor-Bizard and @Buddy1234567,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.

To clarify, the replacement of a custom vpl_evaluate.cpp file with the default version is not an intentional feature or a change in our approach. It is, unfortunately, a bug. Our design philosophy is that custom configurations should always have precedence over default settings.

The presense of the default vpl_evaluate.cpp file if no custom version is provided allows users the flexibility to write custom vpl_evaluate.sh scripts that may leverage the default vpl_evaluate.cpp program, for example creating dinamic test cases files. However, it's important to note that before the execution phase, the vpl_evaluate.cpp file is removed.

Given the significance of this bug and its impact on user experience, we recognize the urgency of issuing a fix.

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to rectify this issue.

Best regards, Juan Carlos