Spec: prefer a splice-specific method to __len__ (#47585)

Automatic splicing say `Spec` grow a `__len__` method but it's only used
in one place and it's not clear the semantics are useful elsewhere. It also
runs the risk of Specs one day being confused for other types of containers.

Rather than introduce a new function for one algorithm, let's use a more
specific method in the splice code.

- [x] Use topological ordering in `_resolve_automatic_splices` instead of 
      sorting by node count
- [x] delete `Spec.__len__()` and `Spec.__bool__()`

---------

Signed-off-by: Todd Gamblin <tgamblin@llnl.gov>
Co-authored-by: Greg Becker <becker33@llnl.gov>
Co-authored-by: Massimiliano Culpo <massimiliano.culpo@gmail.com>

lib/spack/spack/solver/asp.py

@@ -3839,12 +3839,21 @@ def splice_at_hash(
         self._splices.setdefault(parent_node, []).append(splice)
 
     def _resolve_automatic_splices(self):
-        """After all of the specs have been concretized, apply all immediate
-        splices in size order. This ensures that all dependencies are resolved
+        """After all of the specs have been concretized, apply all immediate splices.
+
+        Use reverse topological order to ensure that all dependencies are resolved
         before their parents, allowing for maximal sharing and minimal copying.
+
         """
         fixed_specs = {}
-        for node, spec in sorted(self._specs.items(), key=lambda x: len(x[1])):
+
+        # create a mapping from dag hash to an integer representing position in reverse topo order.
+        specs = self._specs.values()
+        topo_order = list(traverse.traverse_nodes(specs, order="topo", key=traverse.by_dag_hash))
+        topo_lookup = {spec.dag_hash(): index for index, spec in enumerate(reversed(topo_order))}
+
+        # iterate over specs, children before parents
+        for node, spec in sorted(self._specs.items(), key=lambda x: topo_lookup[x[1].dag_hash()]):
             immediate = self._splices.get(node, [])
             if not immediate and not any(
                 edge.spec in fixed_specs for edge in spec.edges_to_dependencies()

lib/spack/spack/spec.py

@@ -1431,8 +1431,6 @@ def tree(
 class Spec:
     #: Cache for spec's prefix, computed lazily in the corresponding property
     _prefix = None
-    #: Cache for spec's length, computed lazily in the corresponding property
-    _length = None
     abstract_hash = None
 
     @staticmethod
@@ -3702,18 +3700,6 @@ def __getitem__(self, name: str):
 
         return child
 
-    def __len__(self):
-        if not self.concrete:
-            raise spack.error.SpecError(f"Cannot get length of abstract spec: {self}")
-
-        if not self._length:
-            self._length = 1 + sum(len(dep) for dep in self.dependencies())
-        return self._length
-
-    def __bool__(self):
-        # Need to define this so __len__ isn't used by default
-        return True
-
     def __contains__(self, spec):
         """True if this spec or some dependency satisfies the spec.
 
@@ -4472,7 +4458,7 @@ def clear_caches(self, ignore=()):
             if h.attr not in ignore:
                 if hasattr(self, h.attr):
                     setattr(self, h.attr, None)
-        for attr in ("_dunder_hash", "_prefix", "_length"):
+        for attr in ("_dunder_hash", "_prefix"):
             if attr not in ignore:
                 setattr(self, attr, None)
 

lib/spack/spack/test/abi_splicing.py

@@ -229,3 +229,19 @@ def test_spliced_build_deps_only_in_build_spec(splicing_setup):
         assert _has_build_dependency(build_spec, "splice-z")
         # Spliced build dependencies are removed
         assert len(concr_goal.dependencies(None, dt.BUILD)) == 0
+
+
+def test_spliced_transitive_dependency(splicing_setup):
+    cache = ["splice-depends-on-t@1.0 ^splice-h@1.0.1"]
+    goal_spec = Spec("splice-depends-on-t^splice-h@1.0.2")
+
+    with CacheManager(cache):
+        spack.config.set("packages", _make_specs_non_buildable(["splice-depends-on-t"]))
+        _enable_splicing()
+        concr_goal = goal_spec.concretized()
+        # Spec has been spliced
+        assert concr_goal._build_spec is not None
+        assert concr_goal["splice-t"]._build_spec is not None
+        assert concr_goal.satisfies(goal_spec)
+        # Spliced build dependencies are removed
+        assert len(concr_goal.dependencies(None, dt.BUILD)) == 0

lib/spack/spack/test/cmd/pkg.py

@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ def test_pkg_grep(mock_packages, capfd):
             "depends-on-manyvariants",
             "manyvariants",
             "splice-a",
+            "splice-depends-on-t",
             "splice-h",
             "splice-t",
             "splice-vh",

var/spack/repos/builtin.mock/packages/splice-depends-on-t/package.py

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Copyright 2013-2024 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and other
+# Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT)
+
+from spack.package import *
+
+
+class SpliceDependsOnT(Package):
+    """Package that depends on splice-t"""
+
+    homepage = "http://www.example.com"
+    url = "http://www.example.com/splice-depends-on-t-1.0.tar.gz"
+
+    version("1.0", md5="0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef")
+
+    depends_on("splice-t")
+
+    def install(self, spec, prefix):
+        with open(prefix.join("splice-depends-on-t"), "w") as f:
+            f.write("splice-depends-on-t: {0}".format(prefix))
+            f.write("splice-t: {0}".format(spec["splice-t"].prefix))