conda_build result in ci doesn't run on google colab

[aymanhab]

Comparing older versions that worked out of the box to new problematic builds shows:
new info/about.json
"conda_build_version": "3.21.9",
"conda_private": false,
"conda_version": "4.13.0"
vs. old info/about.json
"conda_build_version": "3.21.8",
"conda_private": false,
"conda_version": "4.12.0",

Maybe we can force conda version and conda build version on ci

[aymanhab]

Possibly related
info/index.json contains
"depends": [
"libgcc-ng >=11.2.0",
"libstdcxx-ng >=11.2.0",
"numpy",
"openblas",
"python"
],
as opposed to
"depends": [
"libgcc-ng >=9.3.0",
"libstdcxx-ng >=9.3.0",
"numpy",
"openblas",
"python"
],

[aymanhab]

@AlbertoCasasOrtiz thanks for the deep investigation into this. My sense is that we control the environment which we use to create conda builds, if we can't do it on ci we can do it in a local environment for now until this gets resolved rather than burden clients with complicated maneuvers especially considering target audience which uses conda exclusively to avoid these low level complications.

[aymanhab]

@moorepants Sorry to pull you into this but I'm having hard time understanding how conda resolves dependencies or particularly why it decides to upgrade libstdcxx-ng Any pointers to help troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[aymanhab]

@hmok do you or your collaborators have experience troubleshooting this issue (latest build of opensim 4.4 pulls python38 package, auto updates dependencies then fails due to missing dependency) we have a workaround but it feels cumbersome to users. Is there a reliable setting to make sure conda packages load without error into jupyter? Thank you

[hmok]

Thanks, @aymanhab for the question. I remember we had similar issues and had to stick to "python 3.7.7" for building OpenSim v4.3.

Below is the note from @ESJiang. Arthur, I wonder if you have any solution for Ayman's questions here, please. Thank you.

"_Note: It is advisable to create a virtual environment that supports python 3.7.7 before moving to the steps below. Although OpenSim 4.3 now supports Python 3.8 in default, there are many unexpected issues. You can run [python -V] to check its version. If it is not 3.7.7, you can run [conda install python=3.7.7] and recheck it._"

[moorepants]

@moorepants Sorry to pull you into this but I'm having hard time understanding how conda resolves dependencies or particularly why it decides to upgrade libstdcxx-ng Any pointers to help troubleshoot would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

conda's dependency solver looks for the most recent versions of all software in the environment that give a compatible set of versions. The conda tree tool or mamba's query tool can show the dependency chains for investigative work.