Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
1804 lines (1260 loc) · 74.7 KB

CHANGES.md

File metadata and controls

1804 lines (1260 loc) · 74.7 KB

Selected Cylc Changes

Internal changes that do not directly affect users may not be listed here. For all changes see the closed milestones for each release.


SECURITY NOTE

Jinja2 CVE-2019-8341 (High) An issue was discovered in Jinja2 2.10. The from_string function is prone to Server Side Template Injection (SSTI) where it takes the "source" parameter as a template object, renders it, and then returns it. The attacker can exploit it with {{INJECTION COMMANDS}} in a URI

cylc-7.8.x (which supports Python 2.6 and 2.7 bundles Jinja2 2.10. But this CVE does not impact cylc-7 because Cylc workflow definitions are not web pages.

cylc-7.9.x (which requires Python 2.7) bundles Jinja2 2.11.

cylc-8 (master branch, Python 3 - not yet released) uses proper Python package management and does not bundle Jinja2.

cylc-7.8.15 (Upcoming)

cylc-7.8.14 (2023-01-15)

#5751 - prevent first execution time limit polling delay incrementing for every task where it is used.

#5747 - Fix a bug where Cylc Review was not returning the correct number of entries in the Cycles page.

#5237 - Cylc 8 forward-compat: allow suite-state xtriggers (and the cylc suite-state command) to read Cylc 8 databases.

cylc-7.8.13 (2023-06-13)

#5309 - Cylc 8 compat for Cylc Review:

  • Allow Cylc Review to see all jobs with different flow nums for Cylc 8.1 workflows
  • Warn that not all jobs for different flows will be visible for Cylc 8.0 workflows

cylc-7.8.12 (2022-09-30)

Fixes

#5140 - Update Cylc Review with version log files. Fix database error by switching call to a file check.

#5132 - Updates rsync command to make it compatible with latest (and patched older) rsync releases.

#5016 - fix bug where polling failure on restart would cause Cylc to assume task is running.

#4838 - fix bug where Cylc 7 would still be able to run a suite.rc workflow previously run with Cylc 8.

#4897 - In Cylc Review task jobs view: Only allow filtering by Cylc 8 task states for Cylc 8 workflows.

cylc-7.8.11 (2022-03-07)

Fixes

#4518 - load suite contact info for custom settings for task messaging.

#4444 - cylc review: syntax highlight all .cylc files (Cylc 8 log directory compatibility).

#4656 - cylc review: display Rose Bunch logs correctly.

cylc-7.8.10 (2021-10-01)

Fixes

#4429 - cylc review: handle log files with names changed at Cylc 8.

#4437 - fix for slow polling generating an incorrect submit-failed result.


cylc-7.8.9 (2021-09-23)

Enhancements

#4264 - Syntax highlighting for Cylc 8 flow.cylc files in Cylc Review.

#4320 - Prevent Cylc 7 from trying to run Cylc 8 workflows.

Fixes

#4427 - Fix bug when a conditional expression in the graph contains one task name that is a substring of another.

#4233 - Fix bug in Cylc Review caused by Cylc 8 workflows (change in terminology from 'suite' to 'workflow').

#4276 - Fix failure to show certain log files in Cylc Review.

#4280 - Fix failure to show Cylc 8 workflow status in Cylc Review.

#4299 - Fix a GUI bug which can cause extra log files to be listed multiple times.

#4327 - Ensure the suite always restarts using the same time zone as the last cylc run.


cylc-7.8.8 (2021-03-24)

Enhancements

#4134 - Allow Cylc Review to display information about Cylc 8 workflows.


cylc-7.8.7 (2020-12-04)

Enhancements

#3970 - Support Slurm heteregeneous jobs through an artificial "hetjob_" or "packjob_" directive prefix.

#3784 - Deprecate the [runtime][X][parameter environment templates] section and instead allow templates in [runtime][X][environment].

Fixes

#3948 - Only write task event timers to the database when they have changed (reverts behaviour change in 7.8.6). This corrects last updated timestamps in cylc review and reduces filesystem load.

#3759 - Fix a bug in the GUI tree view that could cause tasks to be sorted in the wrong order.

#3734 - Validate XTrigger labels to prevent runtime bugs when exporting environment variables.

#3814 - Fixes a minor bug in the auto-restart functionality which caused suites to wait for local jobs running on any host to complete before restarting.


cylc-7.8.6 (2020-05-14)

Fixes

#3597 - Fix a bug that could prevent housekeeping of the task_action_timers DB table and cause many warnings at restart.

#3603 - Fix a bug that prevented cycle point format conversion by the cylc suite-state command and the suite_state xtrigger function, if the target suite used the default format but downstream command or suite did not.


cylc-7.8.5 (2020-04-22)

Enhancements

#3349 - new command cylc ref-graph to generate text-format "reference graphs" without PyGTK (back-port from Python 3 master for Cylc 8).

Fixes

#3514 - Fix expanded ids for GScan, preventing that all suites are expanded after a single suite was expanded in GScan.

#3526 - Fix sorting of tasks in the tree view. Uses natural order, so that it follows the order 1, 2, 10, 11, and not 1, 10, 11, 2.

#3532 - Fix job submission to SLURM when task name has a percent % character.

#3539 - Don't warn that a task was already added to an internal queue, if the queue is the same.

#3508 - Fix list-valued global config items not defaulting to localhost values.


cylc-7.8.4 (2019-09-04)

Bug fix release.

Selected user-facing changes:

Enhancements

#3203 - support alternate run directories, particularly for sub-suites.

#3303 - improve CLI task-globbing help.

#3259 - sped up suite validation (which also affects responsiveness of suite controllers during suite startup, restarts, and reloads). Impact of the speedup is most noticeable when dealing with suite configurations that contain tasks with many task outputs.

Fixes

#3307 - fix a long-standing bug causing suites to stall some time after reloading a suite definition that removed tasks from the graph.

#3285 - fix xtrigger cycle-sequence specificity.

#3257 - leave '%'-escaped string templates alone in xtrigger arguments.

#3204 - fix restart on cylc run --icp=now SUITE and related, which was broken at 7.8.3.

#3205 - fix output from cylc version, which should return the numerical version string "7.8.4" not "flow-7.8.4". (Broken since the source repository was renamed to cylc-flow to align with the new multi-component cylc-8 architecture).

#3218 - fixed typo in the User Guide custom batch system handler example (BATCH_SYSTEM_HANDLER should be BATCH_SYS_HANDLER).

#3280 - Fix log & DB recording of broadcasts from xtriggers so they register all settings, not just one.


cylc-7.8.3 (2019-06-12)

Minor maintenance release.

Selected user-facing changes:

Fixes

#3159 - restore compatibility with Python 2.6 (for those stuck on older systems).

#3186, #3183 - Fix subprocess invocation of commands from GUI, e.g. cylc run and cylc trigger-edit, which were broken at 7.8.2.

#3147 - Fix restart correctness when the suite has a hold point, stop point, a stop task, a stop clock time and/or an auto stop option. These settings are now stored in the suite run SQLite file and are retrieved on suite restart. In addition, the settings are removed when they are consumed, e.g. if the suite stopped previously on rearching the stop point, the stop point would be consumed, so that on restart the suite would not stop again immediately.

The cylc run command can now accept --initial-cycle-point=CYCLE-POINT (--icp=CYCLE-POINT) and --start-cycle-point=CYCLE-POINT options, as an alternative to a second command line argument. This is more consistent with commands such as cylc validate, and with the final/stop cycle point options.

After this change:

  • cylc run SUITE POINT is equivalent to cylc run --icp=POINT SUITE.
  • cylc run -w SUITE POINT is equivalent to cylc run -w --start-point=POINT SUITE.

The cylc run and cylc restart commands can now accept the --final-cycle-point=POINT and --stop-cycle-point=POINT options too. The --until=POINT option is now an alias for --final-cycle-point=POINT option.

The cylc run and cylc restart commands can now accept the new --auto-shutdown option. This overrides the equivalent suite configuration to force auto shutdown to be enabled. Previously, it was only possible to disable auto shutdown on the command line.


cylc-7.8.2 (2019-05-02)

Maintenance release with minor enhancements.

Selected user-facing changes:

Enhancements

#3128 - Add security bug reporting guidelines (SECURITY.md)

#3078 - Add an "aborted" suite event, to support alerting of unexpected suite shutdowns.

#3017 - Document all the parts of a task job script and how they relate to one another.

#3002 - Make suite context available to custom Jinja2 filter functions.

#2992 - Fix incorrect time record in the suite DB on submit failed events.

#2986 - Close GUI cleanly on Ctrl-C.

#2970 - Generate single- (as well as multi-) page User Guide under the new (post LaTeX) system.

#2948 - Higher-contrast link colors in the User Guide.

Fixes

cylc review:

  • #3125, #3146 - URL encoding for special characters in suite names.
  • #2938 - Restore visibility of waiting tasks.
  • #2945 - Fix for possible code injection vulnerability.

#3109 - Preprend custom Jinja2 filter locations to the Python search path in case of name clashes with other modules.

#3047 - Fix cylc graph node styling issues and desktop theme compatibility

#3053 - Prevent batch system job kill from immediately releasing tasks from retrying status (for tasks configured to retry on failure).

#3100 - Restore the intended "kill all active tasks" behavior of cylc kill SUITE with no task glob argument.

#3059 - Fix suite abort on referencing a non-existent external trigger function.

#2968 - Fix for job submission failures after reloading a suite with some tasks in the "retrying" state..

#2941 - Suite host selection: ignore stdout generated by login scripts.


cylc-7.8.1 (2019-01-25)

Maintenance and minor enhancement release, plus new-format User Guide.

Selected user-facing changes:

Enhancements

#2910 - replace LaTeX-generated HTML and PDF User Guide with Sphinx-generated HTML.

#2815 - allow initial cycle point relative to current time.

#2902 - expose suite UUID to event handlers.

Fixes

#2932 - fix possible blocking pipe due to chatty job submission (and other subprocess) commands.

#2921 - better suite validation warning for out-of-bounds cycling sequences.

#2924 - fix and expand 7.8.0 cylc review documentation in the User Guide.


cylc-7.8.0 (2018-11-27)

Minor release with over 120 issues closed. Significant issues include:

Enhancements

#2693 - auto host selection; and #2809 - auto migration. cylc run and cylc restart can now select the best host (based on several metrics) on which to launch suite server programs. And running suites can be told (via global config) to self-migrate to another available host, e.g. for server maintenance. (The pool of suite hosts should see a shared filesystem).

#2614 and #2821 - web-based job log viewer - cylc review (migration of "Rose Bush" from the Rose project).

#2339 - general external triggering: tasks can trigger off of arbitrary user-defined Python functions called periodically by the suite server program, with built-in functions for suite-state (inter-suite) triggering and clock triggering (these deprecate the existing suite-state polling tasks and clock-triggered tasks).

#2734 - EmPy templating support, as an alternative to Jinja2. "EmPy allows embedding plain Python code within templates and doesn't enforce any particular templating philosophy."

#2733 - enhanced Jinja2 support:

  • import pure Python modules in the same way as template modules
  • Jinja2Tests and Jinja2Globals, for custom "is" tests and global variables (c.f. our existing Jinja2Filters for custom filters).

#2682 - new built-in Jinja2 filter to convert ISO8601 date-time durations to decimal seconds or hours.

#2842 - cylc gui and cylc graph - better integration with system desktop themes, including dark themes; and other minor graph visualization improvements.

#2807 - task output events (event handlers can now be triggered when a task reports a registered output message).

#2868 - a new task runtime config item exit-script, for scripting to be executed at the last moment after successful job completion. (Companion of err-script).

#2781 and #2854 - improved suite server program logging (including: log/suite/err is no longer used).

#2849 - record local background jobs by host name rather than "localhost".

#2877 - new batch system handler pbs_multi_cluster, supports PBS 13 clients fronting heterogeneous clusters with different home directories from the cylc remote. (Not needed for PBS 14+.) (For Rose suites this requires a corresponding change to rose suite-run: metomi/rose#2252.)

#2812 - cylc gscan: show application menu bar by default.

#2768 - cylc gscan: display Cylc version of running suites.

#2786 - make task try number available to event handlers (as for task job submit number).

#2771 - bash command completion: complete suite names for commands that take a suite name argument (see etc/cylc-bash-completion).

#2769 - cylc check-software now takes arguments to check for availability of specific modules.

#2763 - cylc monitor - clean exit on Ctrl-C.

#2704 - paginated cylc help output.

#2660 - new gcylc.rc config item to show grouped cyclepoint subgraphs by default.

#2766 - (development) formal test coverage reporting and integration with GitHub.

#2751 - (development) new contributor guidelines - see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Fixes

#2876 - avoid subprocess hang when executing commands that generate a lot of stdout (such as when submitting hundreds of jobs at once).

#2828 - suite.rc - fail validation on detecting trailing whitespace after a line continuation character.

#2807 - handle multiple events of the same type with the same message (e.g. warnings) from the same task job.

#2803 - reset job submit number correctly after aborting (backing out of) a trigger edit-run.

#2727 - cylc gui: fix dropdown list of log numbers for re-inserted tasks or after suite restart.

#2759 and #2816 - suite registration tweaks and fixes.

#2861 - improved emacs syntax highlighting.

#2892 - print the bad host name along with "Name or service not known" exceptions.


cylc-7.7.2 (2018-07-26)

Maintenance release.

(Some minor changes not relevant to normal users may be omitted.)

Fixes and minor enhancements

#2719 - improved job poll logging

#2724 - fix a rare error associated with ithe use of final cycle point in multiple recurrence expressions

#2723 - fix remote commands (executed by remote task jobs) running in UTC mode when the suite is not running in UTC mode

#2726 - fix crash in suites with no final cycle point that are reloaded following a restart

#2716 - ensure that job polling interval lists are not overridden

#2714 - block irrelevant InsecureRequestWarnings from urllib3 on anonymous suite server access by cylc scan and cylc ping

#2715 - fix a cross-version incompatibility, if a cylc-7.6.x task job messages a cylc-7.7.1 suite

#2710 - fix a GUI error on right-clicking a "scissor node" in the graph view


cylc-7.7.1 (2018-06-27)

Minor maintenance release.

Fixes

(Several minor fixes have been omitted from this list.)

#2678 - fix loading of job poll timers on restart (bug introduced at last release)

#2683 - fix potential error in cylc check-software (which checks for installed software dependencies)

#2691 PBS support - handle job poll result correctly if qstat temporarily fails to connect to the server

#2703 - fix an error (inconsequential) that appears in the suite log at restart: ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded

#2692 - fix X11 forwarding for GUI edit job log, with cylc gui --host=HOST

#2690 - invoking Cylc command help should not require $DISPLAY to be set

#2677 - use random serial numbers in the self-signed SSL certificates generated by suite server programs

#2688 #2705 - block several security warnings emitted by urllib3 under old Python versions (2.6). We are aware of the security issues, but these warnings serve no purpose on affected platforms except to confuse and annoy users.

#2676 - use #!/usr/bin/env python2 (i.e. Python-2 specific) in Cylc source files, to avoid issues with default Python 3 installations (note Cylc is going to Python 3 next year)

#2679 - change bold font back to normal in the GUI log viewer


cylc-7.7.0 (2018-05-12)

Enhancements

#2661 -

  • new User Guide section on Remote Job Management
  • tidy the installation documentation
  • standardise directory structures (all docs updated accordingly):
    • deprecated <cylc-dir>conf/ file locations:
      • site config file <cylc-dir>etc/global.rc
      • gcylc config example <cylc-dir>/etc/gcylc.rc.eg
      • site job environment init <cylc-dir/etc/job-init-env.sh
      • editor syntax files in <cylc-dir>etc/syntax/
      • bash completion script <cylc-dir>/etc/cylc-bash-completion
    • user global.rc can now go in ~/.cylc/<cylc-version>/ or ~/.cylc/ (the version-specific location avoid forward compatibility problems - see notes in <cylc-dir>/etc/global.rc.eg).
    • moved central cylc wrapper template to usr/bin/cylc
    • various developer scripts and notes moved from <cylc-dir>/dev/ to <cylc-dir>/etc/dev-bin, dev-notes, dev-suites.
    • the ancient site.rc and user.rc global config filename variants are now obsolete.

#2659 - commands in the process pool (event handlers, and job submit, poll and kill commands) will now be killed on a configurable timeout if they hang, rather than tying up a member of the finite process pool: global.rc default: process pool timeout = PT10M

#2582 - improve client/server interface, including: cylc message can send multiple messages at once, with different severities; server ignores messages from superseded job submits; running jobs detect that the suite has been cold-started under them and will not attempt to connect; ssh-based indirect client-server communication now works automatically for all clients, not just messaging.

#2582, #2624, and earlier changes: all job host actions are now done by remote cylc subcommands that are compatible with ssh whitelisting.

#2590 - replaced the fixed process pool with direct management of individual sub-processes (for external commands executed by the server program).

#2561 - pass resolved triggering dependencies to $CYLC_TASK_DEPENDENCIES in job environments.

#2639 - date-time cycling: document availability of 365-day (never a leap year) and 366-day (always a leap year) calendars.

#2597 - emit a "late" event if a task has not triggered by a user-defined real-time offset relative to cycle point.

#2648 - improve version reporting. Note than non-standard lowercase cylc -v is now gone; use cylc -V or cylc --version, with optional --long format to print as well as version.

#2620 - re-document the long-dated [special tasks]sequential and recommend using explicit dependencies in the graph instead.

#2584 - internal queues now release task jobs on a FIFO (First In, First Out) basis, rather than randomly.

#2538 - remove leading whitespace from multi-line script items in task definitions, for cleaner job scripts.

#2503, #2624 - cylc cat-log: all remote host actions now done by a cylc sub-command; and simpler command options (see cylc cat-log --help; warning: the old command options are not supported)

Fixes

#2666 - cylc scan: make default behavior consistent with cylc gscan: get suite information from ~/cylc-run/ only for the current user; and no partial matches with -n/--name=PATTERN (i.e. --name=bar will only match the suite bar, not foobar or barbaz).

#2593 - fix polling after job execution timeout (configured pre-poll delays were being ignored).

#2656 - fix suicide triggers with multiple prerequisites in the same graph line.

#2638 - fix duplicate "failed" task events after cylc stop --kill.

#2653 - tidy and correct the main cylc help documentation.

#2644, #2646 - fix some graph parsing edge cases.

#2649 - respect suite UTC mode when recording job submit time (database and GUI tree view).

#2631 - fix "failed" task event after bad host select.

#2626 - cylc gui: fix error when a task job completes just before "view task prerequisites" (menu) is actioned.

#2600 - correct task prerequisite manipulation on state changes.

#2596 - fix reference to parameter values containing + or - characters.

#2592 - permit syntax errors in edit runs, so that the job file still gets written.

#2579 - cylc gscan: fix a re-spawning error dialog.

#2674 - cylc cat-log: avoid leaving orphaned tail-follow processes on job hosts.


cylc-7.6.1 (2018-03-28)

A collection of bug fixes made since cylc-7.6.0.

Fixes

#2571 - cylc gui: fix tailing of remote job logs from the GUI (in 7.6.0 this failed with a Python traceback).

#2596 - allow parameter values that contain +/- characters

#2574 - cylc gscan HOST: show just the owner's suites by default (at 7.6.0 this showed all suites on HOST).

#2592 - cylc trigger --edit: disable job script syntax checking in edit runs (this prevented a new job script from being written for editing).

#2579 - cylc gscan: fix respawning error dialog on giving a bad regular expression (on the command line) to match owner or suite name.

#2606 - jobs with batch system info missing in a corrupted status file (thus not pollable) will now poll as failed rather appear stuck as running.

#2603 - cylc gui (graph view): fix possible error on inserting a nested family.

#2602 - cylc gui (tree view): fix negative progress bar value (reportedly possible after manual task state manipulations).

#2586 - cylc gui (tree view): fix possible division-by-zero error in elapsed time computation.

#2588 - cylc trigger --edit: fix edit runs for tasks with dynamic remote host selection.

#2585 - fix recovery from a failed host select command.


cylc-7.6.0 (2018-02-07)

Enhancements

#2373 - refactored suite server code (for efficiency, maintainability, etc.)

#2396 - improved job polling and task state reset:

  • allow polling of finished tasks - to confirm they really succeeded or failed
  • poll to confirm a task message that implies a state reversal - it could just be a delayed message
  • allow reset to submitted or running states
  • removed the "enable resurrection" setting - any task can now return from the dead

#2410 - new CUSTOM severity task messages that can trigger a custom event handler

#2420 - cylc monitor now reconnects automatically if its target suite gets restarted on a different port

#2430 - cylc gscan, cylc gui - significant reduction in impact on suite server programs

#2433 - "group" (used to group suites in cylc gscan) is now defined under the suite "[[meta]]" section

#2424 - task job scripts now run in bash -l (login shell) instead of explicitly sourcing your .profile file. WARNING: if you have a .bash_profile and were using .profile as well just for Cylc, the latter file will now be ignored because bash gives precendence to the former. If so, just move your Cylc settings into .bash_profile or consult the Cylc User Guide for other ways to configure the task job environment.

#2441 - #2458 - allow more event handler arguments:

  • batch system name and job ID
  • submit time, start time, finish time
  • user@host

#2455 - network client improvements:

  • on a failed connection, clients detect if the suite has stopped according to the contact file, then report it stopped and remove the contact file
  • on attempt run an already-running suite (contact file exists) print more information on how old the suite is and how to shut it down
  • clients running in plain HTTP protocol will no longer attempt to fetch a non-existent SSL certificate
  • if a contact file is loaded, always use the values in it to avoid conflicting host strings in SSL certificate file, etc.

#2468 - initialize task remotes asynchronously via the multiprocessing pool, to avoid holding up suite start-up unnecessarily. WARNING this introduces new remote commands: cylc remote-init and cylc remote-tidy that will affect sites using ssh whitelisting

#2449 - #2469 - #2480 - #2501 - #2547 - #2552 - #2564 - User Guide:

  • rewrote the section on restart from state checkpoints
  • rewrote the section on suite run databases
  • new section on suite contact files
  • new section on disaster recovery
  • new section on remote monitoring and control
  • improved terminology:
    • "suite server program" instead of "suite daemon" (it's not always a daemon)
    • "severity" instead of "priority" for logging and task messaging
    • "task remote" to encompass the concept of "the account where a task job runs" whether under the same user account or not, on another host or not
  • documented requirements for remote access to suite-parsing and file-retrieval commands, including via the GUI; and clarified the same for suite client commands
  • documented a known bug in use of parameters in complex graph syntax (and an easy workaround) - see the task parameters section
  • documented kill-to-hold behavior of tasks with retries configured

#2475 - suite server program: separate debug mode from daemonization

#2485 - export task job environment variables on definition and before assignment, to ensure they are available to subshells immediately - even in expressions inside subsequent variable definitions

#2489 - #2557 - cylc gscan -

  • configurable menubar visibility at start-up
  • grouped suites now retain their grouped status once stopped

#2515 - #2529 - #2517 - #2560 - cylc gui

  • put prompt dialogss above all windows
  • load new-suite log files after switching to another suite via the File menu
  • graph view: reinstate the right-click menu for ghost nodes (lost at cylc-7.5.0)
  • job log files:
    • fix and document the "extra log files" setting
    • add "view in editor" support for extra log files
    • add text-editor functionality to cylc jobscript
    • add "preview jobscript" functionality to the GUI

#2527 - #2431 - #2435 - #2445 - #2491 - #2484 - #2556 - improved parameter support:

  • allow "%d" integer format in parameter templates
  • allow out of range parameter on graph RHS
  • allow positive offset for parameter index on graph
  • allow negative integer parameters
  • allow custom templating of parameter environment variables, in addition to the built-in CYLC_TASK_PARAM\_&lt;param-name&gt;
  • allow bare parameter values as task names
  • allow explicit parameter values in "inherit" items under "[runtime]"
  • fix parameters inside (as opposed to beginning or end) of family names
  • fixed inheritance from multiple parameterized namespaces at once

#2553 - upgraded the bundled Jinja2 version to 2.10. This fixes the block scope problem introduced in the previous version

#2558 - new options to print out JSON format from cylc show and cylc scan

Fixes

#2381 - validation: fail bad event handler argument templates

#2416 - validation: print the problem namespace in case of bad multiple inheritance

#2426 - validation: fail non-predefined config item names (e.g. batch scheduler directives) that contain multiple consecutive spaces (to ensure that hard-to-spot whitespace typos don't prevent repeated items from overriding as intended)

#2432 - fixed an issue that could cause HTTPS client failure due to SSL certificate host name mismatch

#2434 - correctly strip "at TIME" from the end of multi-line task messages

#2440 - cylc suite-state

  • fixed DB query of tasks with custom outputs that have not been generated yet

#2444 - added cylc report-timings to main command help

#2449:

  • server suite and task URLs from suite server programs, rather than parsing them from the suite definition - so browsing URLs from a remote GUI now works
  • allow proper string templating of suite and task names in URLs; retained the old pseudo environment variables for backward compatibility

#2461 - fixed manual task retrigger after an aborted edit run - this was erroneously using the edited job file

#2462 - fixed job polling for the SGE batch scheduler

#2464 - fixed the ssh+HTTPS task communication method (broken at cylc-7.5.0)

#2467 - fixed an error in reverse date-time subtraction (first_point - last_point)

#2474 - cylc graph - better handle suite parsing errors on view refresh

#2496 - ensure that broadcasted environment variables are defined before all user-defined variables, which may need to reference the broadcasted ones

#2523 - fixed a problem with suicide triggers: with several used at once, tasks could go untriggered

#2546 - fixed problems with stop point after a suite reload: do not reset an existing stop point (this is dangerous, but it could be done before, and the stop point in the GUI status bar would still refer to the original)

#2562 - improved advice on how to generate an initial user config file (global.rc)


cylc-7.5.0 (2017-08-29)

Enhancements

#2387, #2330: New suite.rc [meta] sections for suite and task metadata. These hold the existing title, description, and URL items, plus arbitrary user-defined items. Metadata items can be passed to event handlers (e.g. a site-specific task "priority" or "importance" rating could inform an event-handler's decision on whether or not to escalate task failures).

#2298, #2401: New shell function cylc__job_abort <message> to abort task job scripts with a custom message that can be passed to task failed event handlers.

#2204: Remove auto-fallback to HTTP communications, if HTTPS is not available. Now HTTP is only used if explicitly configured.

#2332, #2325, #2321, #2312: Validation efficiency improvements.

#2291, #2303, #2322: Runtime efficiency improvements.

#2286: New command cylc report-timings to generate reports of task runtime statistics.

#2304: New event handlers for general CRITICAL events.

#2244, #2258: Advanced syntax for excluding multiple points from cycling sequences.

#2407: Documented exactly how Cylc uses ssh, scp, and rsync to interact with remote job hosts.

#2346, #2386: cylc graph now plots implicit dependences as grayed-out ghost nodes.

#2343: Improved the "Running Suites" section of the User Guide, including documentation of suite remote control.

#2344: Attempt to access suite service files via the filesystem first, before ssh, for other accounts on the suite host.

#2360: Better validation of suite parameter configuration.

#2314: In debug mode, send bash job script xtrace output (from set -x) to a separate log file.

Fixes

#2409: Fixed the cylc spawn command (it was killing tasks, since cylc-7).

#2378: Fixed use of negative offsets by the cylc suite-state command.

#2364: Correctly load completed custom task outputs on restart.

#2350: Handle bad event handler command line templates gracefully.

#2308: The parameterized task environment variable $CYLC_TASK_PARAM_<param> is now guaranteed to be defined before any use of it in the user-defined task environment section.

#2296: Prevent suites stalling after a restart that closely follows a warm-start (now the restart, like the warm start, ignores dependence on tasks from before the warm start point).

#2295: Fixed cylc cat-log "open in editor" functionality for remote job logs.

#2412: Fixed duplication of log messages to the old log after restart.


cylc-7.4.0 (2017-05-16)

Enhancements and fixes.

Highlighted Changes

#2260: Open job logs in your text editor, from CLI (cylc cat-log) or GUI.

#2259: cylc gscan - various improvements: right-click menu is now for suite operations only; other items moved to a main menubar and toolbar (which can be hidden to retain gscan's popular minimalist look); added all suite stop options (was just the default clean stop); task-state colour-key popup updates in-place if theme changed; new collapse/expand-all toobar buttons.

#2275: Pass suite and task URLs to event handlers.

#2272: Efficiency - reduce memory footprint.

#2157:

  • internal efficiency improvements
  • allow reset of individual message outputs
  • "cylc submit" can now submit families

#2244: Graph cycling configuration: multiple exclusion points.

#2240: Stepped integer parameters.

Fixes

#2269: Fix auto suite-polling tasks (i.e. inter-suite dependence graph syntax) - Broken in 7.3.0.

#2282: Fix global config processing of boolean settings - users could not override a site True setting to False.

#2279: Bundle Jinja2 2.9.6. (up from 2.8) - fixes a known issue with Jinja2 "import with context".

#2255: Fix handling of suite script items that contain nothing but comments.

#2247: Allow cylc graph --help in the absence of an X environment.

Other Changes

#2270: Detect and fail null tasks in graph.

#2257: cylc gscan - graceful exit via Ctrl-C.

#2252: ssh: add -Y (X Forwarding) only if necessary.

#2245: SSL certficate: add serial number (issue number). This allows curl, browsers, etc. to connect to suite daemons.

#2265: cylc gpanel - restored sorting of items by suite name.

#2250: Updated installation docs for HTTPS-related requirements.


cylc-7.3.0 (2017-04-10)

New Suite Design Guide, plus other enhancements and fixes.

Highlighted Changes

#2211: New comprehensive Suite Design Guide document to replace the outdated Suite Design section in the User Guide.

#2232: cylc gscan GUI: stop, hold, and release suites or groups of suites.

#2220: dummy and simulation mode improvements:

  • new dummy-local mode runs dummy tasks as local background jobs (allows dummy running other-site suites).
  • proportional run length, if tasks configure an execution time limit
  • single common [simulation] configuration section for dummy, dummy-local, and simulation modes.
  • dummy or simulated tasks can be made to fail at specific cycle points, and for first-try only, or all tries.
  • custom message outputs now work in simulation mode as well as the dummy modes.

#2218: fix error trapping in job scripts (degraded since job file refactoring in 7.1.1)

#2215: SGE batch system support - fixed formatting of directives with a space in the name.

Other Notable Changes

#2233: Upgraded the built-in example suites to cylc-7 syntax.

#2221: cylc gui GUI dot view - maintain user selection during update.

#2217: cylc gscan GUI - fix tracebacks emitted during suite initialization.

#2219: add user@host option to cylc monitor an cylc gui. Allows suite selection at startup using cylc scan output.

#2222: cylc gui GUI graph view - fixed right-click "view prerequisites" sub-menu.

#2213: Record family inheritance structure in the run database.


cylc-7.2.1 (2017-03-23)

Minor enhancements and fixes.

Highlighted Changes

#2209: Fixed the cylc gui graph view, broken at cylc-7.2.0.

#2193: Restored cylc gscan suite-stopped status checkerboard icons, lost at cylc-7.1.1.

#2208: Use suite host name instead of suite name in the SSL certificate "common name".

#2206: Updated User Guide installation section.

Other Notable Changes

#2191: Clearer task prerequisites print-out.

#2197: Removed the bundled external OrderedDict package.

#2194: cylc gscan - better handling of suites that are still initializing.


cylc-7.2.0 (2017-03-06)

Minor enhancements and fixes (note mid-level version number bumped up to reflect significant changes included in 7.1.1 - esp. job file refactoring).

Highlighted Changes

#2189: New assert and raise functions for handling Jinja2 errors in suites.

Other Changes

#2186: Use lowercase local shell variable names in new job script shell functions introduced in 7.1.1, to avoid overriding shell built-ins such as $HOSTNAME.

#2187: Fixed a bug causing restart failure in the presence of an active broadcast of a submission timeout value.

#2183: Use site-configured suite host self-identification, if present, as hostname in the SSL certificate.

#2182: Fixed failed User Guide build in 7.1.1.


cylc-7.1.1 (2017-02-27)

Minor enhancements and fixes (plus a significant change: task job file refactoring).

Highlighted Changes

#2141: Tidier task job files: hide error trap and messaging code, etc., in external shell functions.

#2134: Suite-state polling (e.g. for inter-suite triggering) now automatically detects and uses the remote suite cycle point format.

#2128: Suite-state polling (e.g. for inter-suite triggering) now works with custom task messages.

#2172: Added a built-in Jinja2 filter for formatting ISO8601 date-time strings.

#2164: Fixed support for Jinja2 in site/user config files, broken at 6.11.0.

#2153: cylc gui - use task execution time limit as the default mean elapsed time, to compute a progress bar for the first instance of a cycling task.

#2154: cylc gui graph view - fixed right-click sub-menu activation, broken at 7.1.0.

#2158: cylc gui graph view: fix right-click family ungroup, broken since 7.0.0.

Other Changes

#2142: New "select all" and "select none" buttons in the cylc gui task filter dialog.

#2163: (Development) New automated profiling test framework for comparing performance between Cylc versions.

#2160: Better suite stall detection in the presence of clock-triggered tasks.

#2156: Fix potential division-by-zero error in cylc gscan.

#2149: Fix handling of cycle point offsets in weeks (e.g. "P1W").

#2146: Documented how to set multiple -l VALUE directives in jobs submitted to PBS.

#2129: Allow initial cycle point to be specified on the command line for all relevant commands, if not specified in the suite definition.

#2139: Fixed error in use of execution time limit in jobs submitted to Platform LSF.

#2176: cylc gui graph view - fixed a bug that could cause a blank graph view window, since 7.0.0.

#2161: gcylc gui- disallow insertion at cycle points that are not valid for the task (unless overridden with --no-check).


cylc-7.1.0 (2017-01-26)

Minor enhancements and fixes.

Highlighted Changes

#2021: New command cylc checkpoint to create a named suite state checkpoint that you can restart from.

#2124: open another GUI window (to view another suite) via the gcylc File menu.

#2100: group multiple task event notifications into a single email over a 5 minute interval (configurable).

#2112: broadcast settings can now be loaded (or cancelled) from a file as well as the command line.

#2096: the cylc gscan GUI can now display summary states for suites owned by others.

Other Changes

#2126: fixed occasional misidentification of suite stall when only succeeded tasks exist just prior to shutdown.

#2127: fixed the cylc diff command (broken at 7.0.0)

#2119: fixed remote job kill after a suite definition reload, for task proxies that exist at the time of the reload.

#2025: GUI right-click menu items can now be selected with either mouse button 1 or 3.

#2117: improved logic for adding lib/cylc to Python sys.path (there was one reported instance of the system-level cherrpy being imported instead of the Cylc-bundled one, in cylc-7.0.0).

#2114: documented syntax-driven line continuation in suite graph configuration.

#2116: corrected a rare edge-case side-effect of manual task-state reset.

#2107: cylc insert - disallow insertion at cycle points that are not valid for the task (unless overridden with --no-check).

#2106: fixed cylc get-config --python output formatting, broken since cylc-6.6.0.

#2097: fixed a problem with task host and owner task proxies reloaded at suite restart (could cause job poll and kill to fail in some cases, for tasks in this category).

#2095: fixed validation of mixed deprecated and new suite.rc syntax.

cylc-7.0.0 (2016-12-21)

cylc-7 client/server communications is not backward compatible with cylc-6.

Note that cylc-7 bug fixes were back-ported to a series of 6.11.x releases, for those who have not transitioned to cylc-7 yet.

Highlighted Changes

#1923: A new HTTPS communications layer, replaces Pyro-3 Object RPC for all client-server communications. Suite daemons are now web servers!

#2063: Removed deprecated cylc-5 syntax and features.

#2044: Suite start-up now aborts with a sensible message on suite configuration errors (previously this happened post daemonization so the user had to check suite logs to see the error).

#2067: Consolidated suite service files (passphrase, SSL files, contact file, etc.) under .service/ in the suite run directory; the suite registration database and port files under $HOME/.cylc/ are no longer used; suites can now be grouped in sub-directory trees under the top level run directory.

#2033: Allow restart from suite state checkpoints other than the latest (checkpoints are also recorded automatically before and after restarts, and on reload).

#2024: cylc gscan now supports collapsible suite groups via a top level suite config group item. Right-click View Column "Group".

#2074: Task retry states and timers, and poll timers, now persist across suite restarts. Waiting tasks are not put in the held state before shutdown. Held tasks are not automatically released on restart.

#2004: Task event handlers are now continued on restart.

Other Changes

#2042: Documented [scheduling]spawn to max active cycle points (new in 6.11.0), which lets successive instances of the same task run out of order if dependencies allow.

#2092: New command cylc get-suite-contact to print suite contact information (host, port, PID, etc.)

#2089: Improved documentation on cycling workflows and use of parameterized tasks as a proxy for cycling.

#2021: cylc gui: removed the "connection failed" warning dialog that popped up on suite shutdown. This should be obvious by the reconnection countdown timer in the info bar.

#2023: New custom event email footer via global or suite config.

#2013: Fixed "remove task after spawning" which since 6.9.0 would not force a waiting task to spawn its successor.

#2071: Fix quote stripping on initial cycle point = "now".

#2070: Fix dummy mode support for custom task outputs: they were incorrectly propagated to other tasks.

#2065: cylc gscan now supports suite name filtering via a --name command line option.

#2060: 5-second timeout if hanging connections are encountered during port scanning.

#2055: Task elapsed times now persist over restarts.

#2046: Multi-task interface for cylc show. Fixed View Prerequisites for tasks in the runahead pool.

#2049: Per-host job submission and execution polling intervals via global/user config files.

#2051: Bundle Jinja2 2.8 with Cylc - one less external software dependency.

#2088: Support dependence on absolute cycle points in cycling graphs.

cylc-6.11.4 (2017-01-26)

More bug fixes backported from early Cylc-7 releases.

#2120: fixed remote job kill after a +suite definition reload, for task proxies that exist at the time of the reload.

#2111: fixed member-expansion of complex (FAMILY:fail-any & FAMILYI:finish-all) graph triggers.

#2102: fixed validation of mixed deprecated and new suite.rc syntax.

#2098: fixed a problem with task host and owner task proxies reloaded at suite restart (could cause job poll and kill to fail in some cases, for tasks in this category).

cylc-6.11.3 (2016-12-21)

One minor bug fix on top of 6.11.2.

#2091: Since 6.11.0 use of cylc-5 special "cold start tasks" caused downstream tasks to become immortal. This fixes the problem, but note that you should no longer be using this deprecated feature (which will be removed from cylc-7).

cylc-6.11.2 (2016-10-19)

Some minor enhancements and fixes.

Highlighted Changes

#2034: Allow restart from checkpoints. These are currently created before and after reloads, and on restart. (Note that since 6.11.0 suite state dump files no longer exist).

#2047: Documented the new "[scheduling]spawn to max active cycle points" suite configuration item, which allows successive instances of the same task to run out of order if the opportunity arises.

#2048: Allow "view prerequisites" for tasks in the 'runahead' state.

#2025: Provide a configurable event mail footer (suite or site/user configuration).

#2032: cylc gui - removed the annoying warning dialog for connection failed. Take note of the connection countdown in the status bar instead.

Other Changes

#2016: Fixed a Python traceback occasionally generated by the gcylc GUI log view window.

#2018: Restored the incremental printing of dots to stdout from the cylc suite-state polling command (lost at 6.11.1).

#2014: Fixed "remove after spawning". Since 6.9.0 this would not force-spawn the successor of a waiting task.

#2031: cylc gscan - fixed occasional jumping status icons introduced in 6.11.1.

#2040: Corrected documentation for the cylc cat-log command (it was using the alias cylc log).

cylc-6.11.1 (2016-09-22)

Three minor bug fixes on top of 6.11.0:

#2002: fix a bug in the graph string parser - if a task appears both with and without a cycle point offset in the same conditional trigger expression (unlikely, but possible!)

#2007: fix handling of OS Error if the user run into the limit for number of forked processes.

#2008: fix occasional traceback from cylc gsan.

cylc-6.11.0 (2016-09-13)

Highlighted Changes

#1953: Parameterized tasks: generate tasks automatically without using messy Jinja2 loops.

#1929: Under [runtime]:

  • New task [[[job]]] sub-sections unify the various batch system, job execution, and job polling settings (older settings deprecated).
  • A new [[[job]]] execution time limit setting allows cylc to:
    • automatically generate batch system time limit directives;
    • run background or at jobs with the timeout command;
    • poll job with configurable delays (default 1, 3, 10 minutes) after reaching the time limit.
  • Moved the content of the old [event hooks] section to a unified [events] section (older settings deprecated).

#1884: cylc gscan displays a new warning icon with a tool-tip summary of recent task failures.

#1877: The gcylc status bar now shows a countdown to the next suite connection attempt, and resets the connection timer schedule if the user changes view settings.

#1966: Optionally spawn waiting tasks out to "max active cycle points" instead of one cycle point ahead. This means successive instances of the same task can run out of order (dependencies allowing). Use with caution on large suites with a lot of runahead.

#1940: Bash tab completion for cylc commands.

Other Changes

#1585: If a suite stalls, report any unsatisified task prerequisites that cannot be met.

#1944: cylc get-config now returns a valid suite definition.

#1875: Enabled multiple selection in the gcylc text tree view.

#1900: Automatically continue graph string lines that end in (or start with) a dependency arrow.

#1862: New notation for initial and final cycle point in graph cycling section headings. E.g. [[[R1/^+PT1H]]] means "run once, one hour after the initial cycle point"; [[[R1/$-PT1H]]] means "run once, one hour before the final cycle point".

#1928: New notation for excluding a cycle point from a recurrence expression, e.g. [[[T00!^]]] means "daily at T00 after but not including the initial cycle point".

#1958: Suite daemon logging upgrade: improved log file formatting; the log, out, and err files are now rolled over together as soon as any one reaches the size limit.

#1827: Suite state dump files no longer exist - the suite run DB now records all restart information.

#1912: Fixed coloured cylc scan -c output (broken at 6.10.1).

#1921: Don't ignore dependencies among tasks back-inserted prior to a warm-start cycle point.

#1910: Task job scripts now use set -o pipefail to ensure that failure of any part of a shell pipeline causes a job failure.

#1886: When a job is submitted for the first time, any job logs with higher submit numbers will be removed ( these must have been generated by a previous suite run).

#1946: Removed annoying warnings that "self-suicide is not recommended".

#1889: Record any unhandled task messages (e.g. general progress messages) in the suite DB.

#1899: Custom task output messages (for message triggers) are now automatically faked in dummy mode.


cylc-6.10.2 (2016-06-02)

Highlighted Changes

#1848: Automatic stalled-suite detection, a "stalled" event hook, and an option to abort (shutdown) if stalled.

#1850: Much reduced CPU loading in cycling suites that have progressed far beyond their initial cycle point (cache recent points to avoid continually iterating from the start).

#1836: New gscan.rc file to configure the initial state of cylc gpanel and cylc gscan (e.g. which columns to display).

#1849: New configuration options for the gcylc GUI, e.g. to set the initial window size.

Other Changes

#1863: Report tasks added or removed by a suite reload.

#1844: Allow client commands from another suite's task (these would previously load the passphrase for the parent suite rather than the target suite).

#1866: Allow explicitly unset intervals in cylc config files, e.g. execution timeout = # (nothing).

#1863: Fixed a recent bug (since in 6.10.0) causing shutdown on reload of a suite after removing a task and its runtime definition.

#1864: Stronger checks to prevent users starting a second instance of a suite that is already running.

#1869: Fixed day-of-week cycling.

#1858: Fixed a recent bug (since 6.10.1) that could prevent a task at suite start-up from submitting even though its prerequisites were satisfied.

#1855: Allow inserted tasks to be released to the waiting immediately, even if the suite is currently quiet.

#1854: Restore wildcards to allow insertion of multiple tasks at once (inadvertently disallowed at 6.10.0).

#1853: Fixed a recent bug (since 6.10.1): reset task outputs to incomplete on manually retriggering or resetting to a pre-run state.


cylc-6.10.1 (2016-05-17)

Highlighted Changes

#1839: gcylc - fix for occasional locked-up blank GUI window at start-up (since 6.8.0, Jan 2016).

#1841: gcylc tree view - fix for excessive CPU load when displaying large suites (since 6.10.0).

#1838: Fix for the suite timeout event timer not resetting on task activity (since 6.10.0).

Other Changes

#1835: Suite reload - reload all tasks at once (previously, current active tasks were reloaded only when they finished, which could result in reloads appearing to take a long time).

#1833: gcylc - initial task state filtering configurable via the gcylc.rc config file.

#1826: Prevent tasks becoming immune to change by suite reload after being orphaned by one reload (i.e. removed from the suite) then re-inserted after another.

#1804: PBS job name length - truncate to 15 characters by default, but can now be configured in global.rc for PBS 13+, which supports longer names.


cylc-6.10.0 (2016-05-04)

Highlighted Changes

#1769, #1809, #1810, #1811, #1812, #1813, #1819: Suite daemon efficiency and memory footprint - significant improvements!

#1777: Faster validation of suites with large inter-dependent families. See also #1791.

#1743: Improved event handling: flexible handlers, built-in email handlers, execute event handlers asynchronously, general suite event handlers.

#1729: gcylc - The File -> Open dialog can now connect to suites running on other scanned hosts.

#1821: Right-click on a cycle-point in the gcylc text tree view to operate on all tasks at that cycle point.

Other Changes

#1714: Further improvements to Jinja2 error reporting.

#1755: Pyro-3.16 is now packaged with with cylc and has been modified to reduce the overhead of repeated calls to socket.gethost*. We will eventually replace it with a new client/server communications layer.

#1807: Dropped support for detaching (or manual completion) tasks.

#1805: gcylc - corrected the suite hold/release button state during active suite reloads.

#1802: Do not unregister running suites or assume that the argument of cylc unregister is a pattern.

#1800: Print a sensible error message for a suite graph section with a zero-width cycling interval.

#1791: Documented how to write suites with efficient inter-family triggering.

#1789: Fixed a bug causing high CPU load in large suites with queued tasks present.

#1788: Fixed a bug that could occasionally result in missing entries in suite run databases.

#1784: Corrected and improved the advice printed at start-up on how to see if a suite is still running.

#1781: Fixed a bug that could disable the right-click menu for some tasks after enabling a filter.

#1768: Client commands like cylc broadcast can now be invoked by tasks on remote hosts that do not share a filesystem with the suite host.

#1763: Remote tasks now load the right suite passphrase even if a locally registered suite has the same name.

#1762: Fixed polling of jobs submitted to loadleveler (broken since 6.8.1).

#1816, #1779: Allow task names that contain family names after a hyphen.


For changes prior to cylc-6.10.0 see doc/changes.html in the cylc source tree.