Adding common_paths

[djarecka]

closes #374

Adding common_paths to input dataset config for files from dataset top level (not non-subject).
Replaces the hard-coded dataset_description.json in sparse-checkout.

[asmacdo]

Opened djarecka#1 to fixup the tests. Otherwise looks good to me!

[asmacdo]

I've found an additional requirement for how this needs to function that changes how the PR should be implemented.

The problem I hit

sparse-checkout doesn't include root-level bids sidecars in the per-subject job. (BIDS Inheritance Principle), e.g. a top-level task-rest_bold.json carrying RepetitionTime/PhaseEncodingDirection. In my case, the fmriprep jobs failed on valid data with KeyError: 'RepetitionTime' and Missing readout timing information across several OpenNeuro datasets.

what we need to do

common_paths (the sparse-checkout + datalad get) needs to respect the BIDS Inheritance Principle. Playing with this briefly, that means:

• common_paths needs to respect globbing. The inherited sidecars vary per dataset (task names differ), so users can't enumerate them — a glob like *.json is the only dataset-agnostic way, and keeps the bootstrapped job from carrying hard-coded paths.
• The default common_paths should include the root-level sidecars (not just dataset_description.json), so valid BIDS works out of the box instead of silently dropping inherited metadata.
• For processing_level: session, the default should also include the subject-level sidecars. A session job sparse-checks-out sub-XX/ses-YY, which misses files sitting directly under sub-XX/ — the subject tier between root and session, which also inherits down. (Subject-level jobs are fine: they get the whole sub-XX/ subtree already.)

In inheritance terms the tiers are root → sub-XX/ → sub-XX/ses-YY/ → modality. The sub-XX/ses-YY subtree already covers the session + modality tiers; root is this PR; the subject tier is the only remaining gap, and only for session-level jobs.

AI-generated pseudocode (one way to implement) + gotchas

Gotchas found while testing, that shape the approach:

• datalad get -n "<ds>/*.json" errors on a quoted glob (exit 1). datalad never globs — the shell does, and the template necessarily quotes the arg, so the glob reaches datalad literally and fails. Under the job's set -e that kills the job. So a glob can't be passed through verbatim — resolve it to literal paths first.
• In git sparse-checkout --no-cone, a bare *.json over-matches into other subjects' trees (gitignore-style * crosses /). Root-anchoring avoids it.
• Resolve with git ls-tree --name-only HEAD, not by globbing the working tree. ls-tree reads the committed tree, so it's independent of checkout/sparse state (robust to step reordering) and, being non-recursive, is naturally root-anchored. Resolution still happens at job runtime, so the scaffolded script carries the pattern and adapts if the dataset changes.

Default (in input_dataset.py): make the root sidecars the default, e.g. common_paths defaults to ['*.json'] (covers dataset_description.json too; add '*.tsv' if you also want scans/sessions/events inheritance). Keep [] to disable, as in the PR.

Template (participant_job.sh.jinja2):

{# Resolve common_paths (globs allowed) at runtime, from git. ls-tree reads HEAD
   -> independent of checkout/sparse state, and non-recursive -> root-anchored.
   We resolve to LITERAL paths because `datalad get -n` can't take a glob. #}
resolve_tier() {            # $1 = dir relative to dataset root ('' = dataset root)
  git -C "{{ input_dataset['path_in_babs'] }}" ls-tree HEAD "$1" \
    | awk '$2 == "blob" { print $4 }' \
    | while IFS= read -r f; do
        for pat in {% for p in input_dataset['common_paths'] %}'{{ p }}' {% endfor %}; do
          case "${f##*/}" in $pat) printf '%s\n' "$f"; break ;; esac
        done
      done
}

mapfile -t common_paths < <(resolve_tier '')                       # root tier (always)
{% if processing_level == 'session' %}
mapfile -O "${#common_paths[@]}" -t common_paths < <(resolve_tier "${subid}")  # subject tier
{% endif %}

# Hand the resolved LITERAL paths to all three consumers:
for c in "${common_paths[@]}"; do
  datalad get -n "{{ input_dataset['path_in_babs'] }}/${c}"        # no-op for in-git, fetches annexed
done
{ echo "${subid}{% if processing_level == 'session' %}/${sesid}{% endif %}"
  printf '%s\n' "${common_paths[@]}"
} | ( cd "{{ input_dataset['path_in_babs'] }}" && git sparse-checkout set --stdin )
inputs=(); for c in "${common_paths[@]}"; do inputs+=( -i "{{ input_dataset['path_in_babs'] }}/${c}" ); done
# datalad containers-run ... "${inputs[@]}" ...

Notes: this must run after the input subdataset is installed (so ls-tree can read its HEAD). It's illustrative — BIDS filenames have no spaces, so the mapfile/word-splitting is fine in practice, but a real impl may want to harden that.

[codecov-commenter]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 79.09%. Comparing base (95fd99d) to head (782685c).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #376      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   79.07%   79.09%   +0.02%     
==========================================
  Files          17       17              
  Lines        2079     2081       +2     
  Branches      362      362              
==========================================
+ Hits         1644     1646       +2     
  Misses        300      300              
  Partials      135      135              

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[asmacdo]

I've built on-top of this PR and opend #385 If preferred, I can close that one and push here. If that one merges this one can be closed.

[djarecka]

i will go with #385