noaa-gfdl::fre-nctools conda package for MacOS

[ilaflott]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
no, this is a low-priority, nice-to-have

Describe the solution you'd like
i've enjoyed using conda-installed noaa-gfdl::fre-nctools on linux, and i'd love to play with a MacOS version on my laptop locally with fre-cli and catalogbuilder in the mix too.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Additional context
M3 chip

[mlee03]

@ilaflott, should we still keep this issue open?

[HansVahlenkamp]

Just curious, do you mean building with Apple's Xcode or a third-party software environment such as MacPorts?

[ilaflott]

@mlee03 let's keep this open for now

@HansVahlenkamp command-line based DevelperTools which is an XCode based package... i haven't ever had excellent luck with MacPorts apps in the past, but admittedly it's been almost a decade since i bothered with MacPorts emacs so... is either easier as an approach over the other?

[ilaflott]

wait- now that i look closer at the repo, where is the recipe for the current conda package up on the channel? is that not committed or documented anywhere?

@ceblanton @underwoo i'm confused! am i misunderstanding something about FRENCtools approach to conda packaging?

EDIT: issue #224/ PR #225

[HansVahlenkamp]

I have used both Xcode and MacPorts, but I have not tried to build the GFDL packages with them. However, MacPorts does provide an enormous amount of third-party packages which might help to simplify the build process. Maybe worth testing...

[ilaflott]

from discussion in #225, it seems the intention for the conda recipe in FRE-NCtools was to put it in a separate, "feed-stock" style repository ala conda-forge, but we haven't done this and I doubt anyone is on the cusp of thinking about making it happen at this point. Currently, the FRE-NCtools being used in fre-cli is 2022.02.01, and i'm guessing the latest and greatest PRs merged into FRE-NCtools have not been tested against conda build .

[mlee03]

I am confused about conda packaging FRE-NCTools since FRE-NCTools is not in python

[ilaflott]

fair, a lot of conda packages we currently have are for python packages. But- conda does more than just python- you have to give it a build.sh script, or equivalently those commands under the build: key in meta.yaml.

from #225 - all @ceblanton's minimal edits work very well for fre-cli, link to those changes

EDIT: i recently did a mkmf conda package, and mkmf is basically just three scripts in either perl or shell: https://github.com/NOAA-GFDL/mkmf/pulls

[ilaflott]

OK so at this point, since fre-cli sees fre-nctools as a conda-package dependency, and that conda packaging hasn't been committed to main, I'm going to re-boot that effort for fre-cli's sake and leave a MacOS based package for later.

closing as superceded by #347