Explore using conda-lock to generate lockfiles

[darribas]

conda-lock provides the ability to generate lockfiles for different platforms. This would be a great addition to replace the currently gds_py.yml as a way to build the same Python environment as the container natively.

An idea of how this could work:

• Build gds_py environment on Dockerfile
• Export environment into one of the supported input files
• Generate lockfiles for Linux (Arch/arm), macOS (intel/M1), Windows
• Publish lockfiles with each release so the environment is fully recreateable natively on a broader range of machines without conflicts

If the workflow above can work, then we should add CI testing on each architecture.

[darribas]

An alternative to conda-lock that might work just as well through Github Actions would rely on vanilla conda ability to build identical environments:

• Build gds_py on the Dockerfile
• Export environment to gds_py.yml as now
• Upon commit to this repo, a Github Action would:
  • Trigger the build of the environment on a variety of supported architecture/OS/platform options
  • Test the environment passes the tests
  • Write out a full spec file with:

  > conda list --explicit > gds_py-<architecture>-<os>-<platform>.txt

  • Commit the spec files to the repository

These spec files would later be able to be used directly to replicate the environment in different machines:

> conda create --name gds --file gds_py-<architecture>-<os>-<platform>.txt

One major drawback of this approach is the end-user needs to know their architecture/OS/platform to select the appropriate install file.

[darribas]

Arch's to be supported (and write explicit files for):

• win-64
• osx-64
• osx-arm64
• linux-64
• linux-aarch64