As described by @kaday (to whom many thanks for boiling it down to the toy example below):
The following rose config
#!/bin/bash
SRC=$(mktemp -d)
cat > "${SRC}/rose-suite.conf" <<__ICI__
[template variables]
DATE_END=20211203
DATE_START=20211202
__ICI__
mkdir "${SRC}/meta"
cat > "${SRC}/meta/rose-meta.conf" <<__ICI__
[template variables=DATE_END]
compulsory=false
description=Set end date of trial, YYYYMMDD format.
sort-key=a-03
type=integer
fail-if=this > 0 and this <= template variables=DATE_START;
ns=Control
help=This is the end date of the data you wish to plot
[template variables=DATE_START]
compulsory=true
description=Set start date of trial, YYYYMMDD format.
sort-key=a-02
type=integer
ns=Control
help=This is the start date of the data you wish to plot
__ICI__
tree "${SRC}"
rose metadata-check -C "${SRC}/meta"
Results in an unexpected failure:
[V] rose.metadata_check.MetadataChecker: issues: 1
template variables=DATE_END=fail-if=this > 0 and this <= template variables=DATE_START;
Not found: variables=DATE_START
As described by @kaday (to whom many thanks for boiling it down to the toy example below):
The following rose config
Results in an unexpected failure: