Installation updates to README and .github/workflows

[ras44]

Proposed changes

This work in progress addresses issues that seem to be arising during installation on cloud instances, in docker, and in google collab.

This PR should help to address #624, #609, #593, #533, #534, and #636 by updating README.md and also providing GitHub workflows that confirm build success status for conda-forge, conda-venv, PyPI, and source installations.

Types of changes

What types of changes does your code introduce to CausalML?
Put an x in the boxes that apply

• Bugfix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)
• Documentation Update (if none of the other choices apply)

Checklist

Put an x in the boxes that apply. You can also fill these out after creating the PR. If you're unsure about any of them, don't hesitate to ask. We're here to help! This is simply a reminder of what we are going to look for before merging your code.

• I have read the CONTRIBUTING doc
• I have signed the CLA
• Lint and unit tests pass locally with my changes
• I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my feature works
• I have added necessary documentation (if appropriate)
• Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

Further comments

This PR contains two elements:

• modifications to the README.md

  • mention requirements for gcc and g++
  • hint for installing miniconda
  • removing $ from existing code sections to make copy-paste easier

• new .github/workflows

  • these implement tests for various build configurations
  • not completed yet

Appreciate your feedback!

[CLAassistant]

All committers have signed the CLA.

[ras44]

Hi @jeongyoonlee , I was thinking about your comment re the gcc, g++ dependency section in the README, and this looks like it would take care of the compiler dependency in conda across a variety of OSs:

conda install -c conda-forge cxx-compiler

So as you mentioned, if we can include the above for anything with conda, it probably makes the most sense to move the install g++ notes to the pip and build from source option. Thanks for your suggestion!

[ras44]

@jeongyoonlee This PR is ready for an initial review. A brief summary:

• Updates README.md
  • removed preceding $ in code chunks for easy copy-paste
  • added conda setup hint for ubuntu
• Adds .github/workflows/test-build-from-source.yml
  • similar to .github/workflows/python-test.yml, but
    • creates a conda env, i.e. causalml-tf-py38
    • installs cxx compiler for eventual functionality across linux, windows, OSX
    • echoes the conda env (could eventually be swapped into the environment-tf-py38.yml file)
  • all builds are currently succeeding
• Adds .github/workflows/test-conda-forge-install.yml
  • installing using conda-forge
  • currently failing (see https://github.com/ras44/causalml/actions/workflows/test-conda-forge-install.yml)
• Adds .github/workflows/test-conda-venv-install.yml
  • installing in a clean conda env using the provided environment files
  • currently failing (see https://github.com/ras44/causalml/actions/workflows/test-conda-venv-install.yml)
• Adds .github/workflows/test-pypi-install.yml
  • installing in a clean conda env with PyPI
  • currently failing (see https://github.com/ras44/causalml/actions/workflows/test-pypi-install.yml)

[jeongyoonlee]

LGTM. The error for the test-pypi-install.yml build should have been addressed by #640. Is your branch rebased with the latest master?

I'm not sure what's happening with conda installation tests, though.

[ras44]

Thanks @jeongyoonlee My branch includes #640, and is currently only 1 commit behind master. So I think the error for the PyPI install is still valid. If I understand things correctly, the error arises because it pulls the 0.14.0 release, which doesn't contain the most recent fixes that resolve the build issues:

Once a new release is pushed to PyPI, those installations should pass (since the build and tests currently passes).

The same thing might be happening for conda-forge- although the conda-forge install is taking a very long time to complete, so there might be another issue there.

[jeongyoonlee]

Sounds good. @ras44, why don't we merge this PR and include it in the next v0.14.1 release?