Hello Simon, On Oct 23, 2013, at 5:01 PM, Simon Guest <simon.guest@agresearch.co.nz> wrote:
We've noticed a funny about resetting repository metadata from the toolshed web interface.
My understanding is that this is used to get the toolshed back in sync with the underlying mercurial repo, for example after pushing updates from hg on the command line.
This is not quite correct. When committing a new changeset to a repository (either via hg push from the command line or by using any feature in the Tool Shed's upload component), metadata is reset on the repository automatically, but only back to the previous installable changeset revision if one exists. So for those repositories that have multiple changeset revisions, not all of the repository changelog is inspected with a new commit. The "Reset all repository metadata" feature, however, does inspect the complete repository changelog and resets metadata from revision 0 through the repository tip. In addition to being useful for the current repository itself, it can also be useful for all other repositories that have a dependency relationship to it. See http://wiki.galaxyproject.org/RepositoryRevisions#Resetting_metadata_on_your.... In general, it is not necessary to use this feature.
It seems that only the person who created the repository can reset metadata. I granted authority to make changes to a colleague, which enables him to push updates, but he doesn't see the reset metadata entry in the menu. This seems like a bug to me. Or is it by design?
This was the original desing, but a more recent oversight as this feature has evolved. This has been corrected in 11114:71c35dbde130, which i committed to the next-stable branch and is now running on both the test and main Galaxy tol sheds.
Also, is there a reason why this function is necessary at all?
Yes, but it is not generally necessary for it to be used. It used to be restricted to only a Tool Shed admin, but recently it was exposed to repository owners (and noew anyone tha thas write access) because it became very useful for developers like Bjoern Gruening to be able to reset metadata on repositories (especially in the test tool shed) as new repository and tools dependency relationship features were being introduced at the same time as repository types (TOOL_DEPENDENCY_DEFINITION) and he was helping to flesh out the support for the new features.
Wouldn't it be better if the toolshed just noticed updates to the underlying mercurial repo, and reset its own metadata automatically?
It does, but hopefully my explanations above, as well as the details in the referenced tool shed wiki page will clarify this feature for you.
cheers, Simon ___________________________________________________________ Please keep all replies on the list by using "reply all" in your mail client. To manage your subscriptions to this and other Galaxy lists, please use the interface at: http://lists.bx.psu.edu/
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