use "nim" instead of "nimble" to run *.nimble tasks

Makefile

@@ -72,11 +72,9 @@ premix persist debug dumper hunter: | build deps
 	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -o:build/$@ premix/$@.nim && \
 		echo -e "\nThe binary is in './build/$@'.\n"
 
-#- "--nimbleDir" is ignored for custom tasks: https://github.com/nim-lang/nimble/issues/495
-#  so we can't run `nimble ... nimbus` or `nimble ... test`. We have to duplicate those custom tasks here.
 #- a phony target, because teaching `make` how to do conditional recompilation of Nim projects is too complicated
 nimbus: | build deps
-	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -o:build/nimbus nimbus/nimbus.nim && \
+	./nimble.sh nimbus && \
 		echo -e "\nThe binary is in './build/nimbus'.\n"
 
 # dir
@@ -102,7 +100,7 @@ $(NIMBLE_DIR): | $(NIM_DIR)/bin/nim
 
 # builds and runs all tests
 test: | build deps
-	$(ENV_SCRIPT) nim c -r -d:chronicles_log_level=ERROR -o:build/all_tests tests/all_tests.nim
+	./nimble.sh test
 
 # usual cleaning
 clean:

README.md

@@ -154,6 +154,15 @@ git checkout <commit hash here>
 make -j8 clean update
 ```
 
+Running a dependency's test suite using `nim` instead of `nimble` (which cannot be
+convinced not to run a dependency check, thus clashing with our jury-rigged
+"vendor/.nimble/pkgs"):
+
+```bash
+cd vendor/nim-blscurve
+../../nimble.sh test
+```
+
 ### Troubleshooting
 
 Report any errors you encounter, please, if not [already documented](https://github.com/status-im/nimbus/issues)!

nimble.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+######################################################
+# run *.nimble tasks using "nim" instead of "nimble" #
+######################################################
+
+# exit on command error
+set -e
+
+[ -z "$1" ] && { echo "usage: $0 task_name"; exit 1; }
+
+F=""
+for F in *.nimble; do
+	# get the first one
+	break
+done
+[ -z "$F" ] && { echo "No *.nimble file found."; exit 1; }
+
+# "nim" seems to only run custom NimScript files if they have a "nims" extension
+NIMS="${F%.nimble}.nims"
+ln -s "$F" "$NIMS"
+
+# delete the temporary symlink on script exit
+cleanup() {
+	rm -rf "$NIMS"
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+# can't have an "exec" here or the EXIT pseudo-signal won't be triggered
+$(dirname $0)/env.sh nim "$1" "$NIMS"
+

nimbus.nimble

@@ -25,22 +25,26 @@ proc buildBinary(name: string, srcDir = ".", lang = "c") =
   setCommand lang, srcDir & name & ".nim"
 
 proc test(name: string, lang = "c") =
-  --define:"chronicles_log_level=ERROR"
+  switch("define", "chronicles_log_level=ERROR")
   --run
   buildBinary name, "tests/"
 
 task test, "Run tests":
-  test "all_tests"
   # debugging tools don't yet have tests
   # but they should be compilable
-  exec "nim c -r tests/test_rpc"
-  exec "nim c premix/premix"
-  exec "nim c premix/persist"
-  exec "nim c premix/debug"
-  exec "nim c premix/dumper"
-  exec "nim c premix/hunter"
-  exec "nim c tests/tracerTestGen"
-  exec "nim c tests/persistBlockTestGen"
+  for binary in [
+      "premix/premix",
+      "premix/persist",
+      "premix/debug",
+      "premix/dumper",
+      "premix/hunter",
+      "tests/tracerTestGen",
+      "tests/persistBlockTestGen",
+    ]:
+    exec "nim c --verbosity:0 --hints:off --warnings:off " & binary
+    rmFile binary
+  # executed last, no matter where you place it, because of "setCommand"
+  test "all_tests"
 
 task nimbus, "Build Nimbus":
   buildBinary "nimbus", "nimbus/"