NickelEval.jl

commit ab9e20e277a75d135fdaaaca618256e4d924c1dd
parent 5fb0d2ad08c4966605ff5fd36ff84421de3399bd
Author: Erik Loualiche <[email protected]>
Date:   Tue, 17 Mar 2026 23:15:31 -0500

Prioritize local deps/ over artifact and add HPC build docs (v0.5.2)

Local deps/ builds now take priority over pre-built artifacts, fixing
the case where a cluster-built .so is ignored because the artifact
(with incompatible glibc) exists. Also adds HPC/Slurm build-from-source
instructions to README.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <[email protected]>

Diffstat:
M
Project.toml
 | 
2
+-
M
README.md
 | 
21
++++++++++++++++++++-
M
TODO.md
 | 
2
+-
M
src/ffi.jl
 | 
15
++++++++-------

4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "NickelEval"
 uuid = "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890"
 authors = ["NickelJL Contributors"]
-version = "0.5.1"
+version = "0.5.2"
 
 [deps]
 Artifacts = "56f22d72-fd6d-98f1-02f0-08ddc0907c33"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ Import paths are resolved relative to the file's directory.
 
 ### Building FFI
 
-The FFI library requires Rust. To build:
+Pre-built binaries are downloaded automatically as Julia artifacts on supported platforms. If `check_ffi_available()` returns `false`, you can build from source (requires Rust):
 
 ```bash
 cd rust/nickel-jl
@@ -202,6 +202,25 @@ cp target/release/libnickel_jl.dylib ../../deps/  # macOS
 # or libnickel_jl.so on Linux, nickel_jl.dll on Windows
 ```
 
+### FFI on HPC / Slurm Clusters
+
+The pre-built Linux binary may fail on clusters with an older glibc (e.g., RHEL 8 / CentOS 8). To build from source in the installed package directory:
+
+```bash
+# Install Rust if needed
+curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
+source ~/.cargo/env
+
+# Build in the installed package
+cd $(julia -e 'using NickelEval; print(pkgdir(NickelEval))')
+cd rust/nickel-jl
+cargo build --release
+mkdir -p ../../deps
+cp target/release/libnickel_jl.so ../../deps/
+```
+
+Restart Julia after building. The FFI functions (`nickel_eval_native`, `nickel_eval_ffi`, etc.) do not require the Nickel CLI — only the subprocess functions do.
+
 ## API Reference
 
 ### Evaluation Functions
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # NickelEval.jl - Status & TODOs
 
-## Current Version: v0.5.1
+## Current Version: v0.5.2
 
 ## Completed Features
 
diff --git a/src/ffi.jl b/src/ffi.jl
@@ -24,8 +24,15 @@ else
     "libnickel_jl.so"
 end
 
-# Find library path: try artifact first, then local deps/
+# Find library path: try local deps/ first (custom builds, HPC clusters with old glibc),
+# then fall back to pre-built artifact
 function _find_library_path()
+    # Try local deps/ folder first (custom builds override artifacts)
+    local_path = joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "deps", LIB_NAME)
+    if isfile(local_path)
+        return local_path
+    end
+
     # Try artifact (Julia auto-selects platform based on arch/os in Artifacts.toml)
     try
         # @artifact_str triggers lazy download if needed
@@ -38,12 +45,6 @@ function _find_library_path()
         # Artifact not available (platform not supported or download failed)
     end
 
-    # Fall back to local deps/ folder (for development)
-    local_path = joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "deps", LIB_NAME)
-    if isfile(local_path)
-        return local_path
-    end
-
     return nothing
 end