preCICE Config Checker

A library that checks a preCICE configuration file for logical errors.

How does this differ from precice-tools check? This checker only checks the configuration for logical errors.

[!NOTE] This checker assumes that precice-tools check (before preCICE version 3.3.0) or precice-config-validate (after preCICE version 3.3.0) has already been executed without an error on the configuration file.
Otherwise, the behavior of this checker is undefined.

Requirements

• Python 3.10
• Pip
• Git for cloning the repository
• precice-config-graph Library. This will be installed during the Installation step below.

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/precice/config-check
cd config-check

2. Create a new Python Virtual Environment (optional, but recommended):

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`

3. Install required dependencies:

pip install .

You need to force re-install the precice_config_graph-dependency on new versions, since it is downloaded directly from GitHub. To do so, run:

pip install --ignore-installed .

Project Structure

config-check
├── .github, .idea, etc…
│
├── docs                       # Documentation on rules and the inner workings of this checker
│   └── ...
│
├── preciceconfigcheck         # Main library files
│   ├── rules                  # All rules that are checked by this utility
│   │   ├── ...
│   │   └── examples           # Exemplary implementations of rules to test output format
│   │       └── ...
│   │
│   ├── tests                  # Configuration files to test rules
│   │   └── ...
│   │
│   ├── cli.py                 # Main entrypoint for this checker
│   ├── color.py               # Definition of colors for CLI output
│   ├── rule.py                # Class of a rule and logic to check all rules
│   ├── rules_processing.py    # Processes rules and handles output
│   ├── rules_utils.py         # Utility functions for rules
│   ├── severity.py            # Enum for specifying severity of output
│   └── violation.py           # Class of a violation
│
│
├── .gitignore, LICENSE, README.md
│
├── pyproject.toml             # Project configuration (dependencies etc.)
└── shell.nix                  # Dependencies for anyone using NixOS / the nix-package manager. Should be replaced by a flake in the future.

Checking a preCICE config

To check a preCICE configuration file for logical errors, run the following within the root of this repository:

python -m preciceconfigcheck.cli "path/to/precice-config.xml"

If you want more information about the checks that were performed and their results, use

python -m preciceconfigcheck.cli "path/to/precice-config.xml" --debug

Suggesting new Rules

We are always open to suggestions for new rules. When encountering a logical error that does not already get reviewed by our checker, please create a new issue on our GitHub repository and:

• Check that the problem is not already under development (marked with TODO in docs/Rules.md)
• Explain the problem:
  • What exactly is the problem?
  • Why is it a problem?
  • Are there cases when this setup is valid?
  • Please also provide a precice-config.xmlfile with the error you described and one with a fix of how it should be