mesh conversion tools not giving full provenance

[xylar]

The mesh conversion tools (cell culler, mesh converter and mask creator) don't appear to be including options with flags in their provenance information. For example, the following call sequence from init_step1.py for global_ocean test cases:

./MpasMaskCreator.x  base_mesh.nc land_mask.nc -f land_coverage.geojson
./MpasMaskCreator.x  base_mesh.nc critical_passages_mask.nc -f critical_passages.geojson
./MpasCellCuller.x  base_mesh.nc culled_mesh.nc -m land_mask.nc
./MpasMaskCreator.x  culled_mesh.nc seed_mask.nc -s seed_points.geojson
./MpasCellCuller.x  culled_mesh.nc culled_mesh_final.nc -i seed_mask.nc
./MpasMaskCreator.x  culled_mesh_final.nc critical_passages_mask_final.nc -f critical_passages.geojson

results in the following histories:

$ ncdump -h land_mask.nc 
...
        :history = "MpasMaskCreator.x base_mesh.nc land_mask.nc\n",
            "MpasMeshConverter.x base_grids/x1.40962.grid.nc base_meshes/x1.40962.grid.nc" ;
...
$ ncdump -h critical_passages_mask.nc
...
        :history = "MpasMaskCreator.x base_mesh.nc critical_passages_mask.nc\n",
            "MpasMeshConverter.x base_grids/x1.40962.grid.nc base_meshes/x1.40962.grid.nc" ;
...
$ ncdump -h culled_mesh.nc
...
        :history = "MpasCellCuller.x base_mesh.nc culled_mesh.nc\n",
            "MpasMeshConverter.x base_grids/x1.40962.grid.nc base_meshes/x1.40962.grid.nc" ;
...
$ ncdump -h seed_mask.nc
...
        :history = "MpasMaskCreator.x culled_mesh.nc seed_mask.nc\n",
            "MpasCellCuller.x base_mesh.nc culled_mesh.nc\n",
            "MpasMeshConverter.x base_grids/x1.40962.grid.nc base_meshes/x1.40962.grid.nc" ;
...

and so on, all without the flags.

Presumably a second issue is that the provenance from the files included with flags is also missing.

[xylar]

@pwolfram, is this something you might want to look into?

[pwolfram]

@xylar, this is not something I've looked into in depth yet. It seems like it should be relatively straight-forward to fix. What is the priority on this?

[xylar]

@pwolfram, it's a low priority but it would be best if it doesn't fall completely off the radar.

[pwolfram]

@xylar, this makes sense. It seems like something best suited as a task for a new software engineer after they are hired as a spin-up task. However, this is something you or I should be able to resolve in the interim if necessary. It is obviously a matter of priority. I agree this is a bug but there appear to be higher priorities elsewhere. Would you agree?