hjoliver/cylc — Issue #24: Rationalize suite auto-shutdown criteria
Author: hjoliver
Created: 2012-02-02 01:41:08+00:00
State: open
Labels: bug

"held" tasks are involved in suite shutdown, as well as normal task and suite hold. When a suite is told to shut down after after all currently running tasks have finished (or after a particular stop cycle) any waiting tasks (or any waiting tasks spawned beyond the stop cycle) are put into the held state, and then the suite shuts down when all tasks are either finished or held. The reason for holding waiting tasks prior to shutdown rather than removing them from the suite is that it allows you to change your mind and release them again, and to restart the suite again after shutdown (at which point the held tasks can just be released).

The current implementation leads to some odd behavior in unusual circumstances, however. For example (reported by Dave Matthews) if you hold the last task in the suite, the suite will shut down after the second to last task finishes. And, if you hold the suite and then release every task manually, you can end up with a suite running in the held state and all tasks completed, but the suite does not shut itself down.