using `SystemCompiler` easyblock for wrapper around system GCC fails if an Intel license is not defined

[branfosj]

Building GCCcore-system.eb fails if a suitable Intel license definition is not set

== 2022-10-25 19:38:56,495 filetools.py:2353 INFO Considering INTEL_LICENSE_FILE to find FlexLM license specs: []
== 2022-10-25 19:38:56,495 filetools.py:2353 INFO Considering LM_LICENSE_FILE to find FlexLM license specs: []
== 2022-10-25 19:38:56,495 filetools.py:2353 INFO Considering None to find FlexLM license specs: []
== 2022-10-25 19:38:56,496 filetools.py:2390 INFO Found valid license specs via provided license spec: []
== 2022-10-25 19:38:56,582 build_log.py:169 ERROR EasyBuild crashed with an error (at easybuild/src/easybuild-framework/easybuild/base/exceptions.py:124 in __init__): No viable license specifications found; specify 'license_file', or define $INTEL_LICENSE_FILE or $LM_LICENSE_FILE (at easybuild/src/easybuild-easyblocks/easybuild/easyblocks/generic/intelbase.py:287 in prepare_step)

Following this through:

• prepare_step in systemcompiler.py, at EB_GCC.prepare_step(self, *args, **kwargs)
• super(EB_GCC, self).prepare_step(*args, **kwargs) in gcc.py
• hit the check for Intel license in intelbase.py

Any of the following avoid the issue:

• setting requires_runtime_license = False in GCCcore-system.eb
• changing class SystemCompiler(Bundle, EB_GCC, EB_ifort) to be class SystemCompiler(Bundle, EB_ifort, EB_GCC) in systemcompiler.py
• setting fake Intel license information

The second of these makes me believe that the correct fix is making sure the inheritance order triggers the right super in gcc.py.

[boegel]

Since the license check in intelbase.py is a part of prepare_step, this is weird: we're explicitly calling EB_GCC.prepare_step, so we're not calling super(SystemCompiler, self).prepare_step, and hence we should never hit EB_ifort.prepare_step (which is probably what's triggering IntelBase.prepare_step...

Changing the order in the class definition is "cheating" in some sense, and may cause trouble further down the installation process (especially when wrapping a system installation of the Intel compilers).

[Micket]

Just to demystify this, as I encountered the same issue with another diamond inheritance graph for my CargoPythonBundle.

The SystemCompiler.__mro__ will be constructed based on the class hierarchy.
We have GCC -> (ConfigureMake ->) EasyBlock -> object
and EB_ifort -> (EB_icc ->) IntelBase -> EasyBlock -> object

Python will determine the mro as follows

<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.generic.systemcompiler.SystemCompiler'>
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.generic.bundle.Bundle'>  # First direct inclusion
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.gcc.EB_GCC'>                # Second direct inclusion
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.generic.configuremake.ConfigureMake'> # Direct dependency of EB_GCC
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.ifort.EB_ifort'>
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.icc.EB_icc'>
<class 'easybuild.easyblocks.generic.intelbase.IntelBase'>
<class 'easybuild.framework.easyblock.EasyBlock'>    # First common dependency; the second intel must be squeezed in before here.
<class 'object'>

So while SystemCompiler.prepare_step intentionally calls EB_GCC.prepare_step, EB_GCC.prepare_step itself calls:

    def prepare_step(self, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        Prepare build environment, track currently active build stage
        """
        super(EB_GCC, self).prepare_step(*args, **kwargs)

        # Set the current build stage to the specified stage based on the iteration index
        self.current_stage = self.build_stages[self.iter_idx]

so while one might think it should look up it's own statically determine class hierarchy (regardless of subclasses like SystemCompiler), that isn't what it does. It basically looks for the next method down the mro list.
ConfigureMake doesn't overload prepare step, so next up is EB_ifort.prepare_step or EB_icc.prepare_step or IntelBase.prepare_step.

[bartoldeman]

@Micket would a better solution then be for ConfigureMake to overload the prepare step?