Test suite does not accept SYSTEM as valid toolchain for dep

[ocaisa]

See https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/runs/7471210039?check_suite_focus=true#step:8:160

[Micket]

I don't understand. Do you have an example easyconfig of what should work but doesnt?

[ocaisa]

I did, but to get the PR to pass the tests I changed it :P see 494fc0e

[Micket]

Right though SYSTEM is a macro thing that is expanded to the toolchain dict. We surely can't put that there
I can imagine changing this issue to the (valid) complaint:

Using

    ('CUDA', '11.4.1', '', True),

to denote system toolchain is cryptic.

Maybe we can have some other appropriately named macro that just evaluates to True there?

[ocaisa]

A fix for this is now part of #15900

[Micket]

Discussed during the zoom meeting;
I hadn't realized that using the full toolchain dict just actually worked there, i thought it had to be True, so that completely negates everything I've said in this issue so far.

@boegel mentioned we might need to investigate the behaviour of dumpenv to see if we perhaps need to fix something in framework.

Otherwise, we were all very much in favour of doing this everywhere going forward.

[boegel]

Indeed, using SYSTEM rather than True is way more intuitive, so going forward with that definitely makes sense.

@ocaisa The workaround you had to do in the easyconfigs suite is probably a signal that we should change something in framework instead, i.e. avoid that True is being used when an easyconfig is being dumped, and use the SYSTEM constant instead?
Then there should be no need for the workaround you implemented in #15900...

[Micket]

i.e. avoid that True is being used when an easyconfig is being dumped, and use the SYSTEM constant instead?

whatever we pick, it'll have to resolve to something right? So any dump checker will have to account for the implied equality between True and {'system': ....} unless we really want to make one of those an error?

[Micket]

This is definitely solved (in fact, the test suite insists on this now)