devel install does not replace previous bundle

[jingrou.zeng18@…]

The devel install command should replace the existing installed bundle even if the version number is the same. Otherwise it is very unfriendly to developers. Maybe add a force reinstall option and have it default to true.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Zeng, Jingrou via ChimeraX-users" <chimerax-users@…>
Subject: [chimerax-users] Removing and Testing Bundles
Date: November 9, 2021 at 7:12:32 AM PST
To: "chimerax-users@…" <chimerax-users@…>
Reply-To: "Zeng, Jingrou"

Hello,

I am working on a selector bundle and need to actively reload it into ChimeraX every time I make changes to the code. I have followed the instructions on the tutorials and successfully loaded my bundle into ChimeraX using 'devel install [path]'. I then tried to reload the bundle after I have made changes to the code with commands 'devel clean [path]' followed by 'devel install [path]'. But ChimeraX didn't receive my update to the bundle. I tried reinstalling ChimeraX, the selector bundle still works without a separate installation and it doesn't register any updates I have made.

I am using macOS and have experimented with both daily build and 1.2.5. Is there a way of completely removing the old version of my bundle? What is the best way to do bundle reloading and testing in ChimeraX? I also want to use the print command for debugging, but printing doesn't seem to work with the ChimeraX log, is there a separate log for this situation?

Thank you for your help.

Regards,
Katie

[Greg Couch]

The devel install command does replace the existing bundle, and it does do a force reinstall, so that is not the problem. The problem is probably due to expecting that the changes will be visible without restarting ChimeraX. There can easily be references to the bundle's packages that that are are not replaced when the new version is installed. So to see the changes, you need to quit ChimeraX, and start it up again. The DevelExtras toolshed bundle provides a "devel module reload" command that tries to eliminate the need to restart ChimeraX, but it is not possible to make it foolproof due to how Python works.

Please confirm that is the issue.

[jingrou.zeng18@…]

Hi,

I have experimented around using Tony’s suggestions and found the command ‘devel bundle [path]’ provided by the DevelExtras package reloads the bundle without quitting Chimera.

I tried ‘devel [bundle name] reload’ command which gave the error of 'unknown command'. I have also tried 'devel install [path]' and it gave the error of 'ValueError: list_remove(x): x not in list'.

The reinstalling command I use now is ‘devel bundle [path]’ and it works fine. It was confusing in the beginning because I was expecting to use ‘devel uninstall’ or ‘devel reinstall’ instead of ‘toolshed uninstall’ to completely remove the package.

Thank you for your help.

Regards,
Katie
________________________________
From: ChimeraX <ChimeraX-bugs-admin@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 9, 2021 10:08 pm
Cc: gregc@cgl.ucsf.edu; Zeng, Katie
Subject: Re: [ChimeraX] #5574: devel install does not replace previous bundle


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#5574: devel install does not replace previous bundle
---------------------------------------+------------------------
          Reporter:  jingrou.zeng18@…  |      Owner:  Greg Couch
              Type:  defect            |     Status:  feedback
          Priority:  moderate          |  Milestone:
         Component:  Tool Shed         |    Version:
        Resolution:                    |   Keywords:
        Blocked By:                    |   Blocking:
Notify when closed:                    |   Platform:  all
           Project:  ChimeraX          |
---------------------------------------+------------------------
Changes (by Greg Couch):

 * status:  assigned => feedback


Comment:

 The devel install command does replace the existing bundle, and it does to
 a force reinstall, so that is not the problem.  The problem is probably
 due to expecting that the changes will be visible without restarting
 ChimeraX.  There can easily be references to the bundle's packages that
 that are are not replaced when the new version is installed.  So to see
 the changes, you need to quit ChimeraX, and start it up again.  The
 DevelExtras toolshed bundle provides a "devel module reload" command that
 tries to eliminate the need to restart ChimeraX, but it is not possible to
 make it foolproof due to how Python works.

 Please confirm that is the issue.

--
Ticket URL: <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/trac/ChimeraX/ticket/5574#comment:1>
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