OS dependency checks should be smarter

[verdurin]

Working on my UCSC-tools easyconfig, I have an OS dependency specified for mysql-devel. On CentOS, this is met by the mariadb-devel package:

[centos@easybuild-6 x86_64]$ rpm -q --provides mariadb-devel
mariadb-devel = 1:5.5.44-1.el7_1
mariadb-devel(x86-64) = 1:5.5.44-1.el7_1
mysql-devel = 1:5.5.44-1.el7_1
mysql-devel(x86-64) = 1:5.5.44-1.el7_1

However, EB complains that the dependency is not met.
I think it should have a smarter check that takes account of this kind of thing.

[boegel]

Right now, eb just uses rpm -q <depname>, see https://github.com/hpcugent/easybuild-framework/blob/master/easybuild/tools/systemtools.py#L359

What should it be using instead?

We need something the other way around, i.e. an alternative to rpm -q mysql-devel (since we don't know which package provides this, i.e. we can't use mariadb-devel.

Alternatively, you can list both mysql-devel and mariadb-devel as options:

osdependencies = [('mysql-devel', 'mariadb-devel')]

[verdurin]

Yes, I've worked around it for now by adding both alternatives in the easyconfig.

Maybe that's all that's needed here. I suppose installing it via yum protected me from this at first.

[fgeorgatos]

Yet, the tuple operator is mostly a workaround for the majority of current
issues,
however it is not the complete answer to it:

• what about fi. Boost libs which are packaged differently across different
  linux bistro families?
  (yeah, you could rely on eb provided boost for that, but try to see the
  more generic need)

IMHO, this suggests for a needed solution which can interface nicely with
existing CM /
Configuration Management mechanisms and even more generic things (such as
ports, macports etc).
Speaking of which, I'm inclined to ask: which CM solution have you seen to
be more linux distro family agnostic,
as regards setting up packages for a given need? (example: install package
which provides host command)

On 2 October 2015 at 15:50, Adam Huffman notifications@github.com wrote:

Yes, I've worked around it for now by adding both alternatives in the
easyconfig.

Maybe that's all that's needed here. I suppose installing it via yum
protected me from this at first.

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