[Bug] output_subdir: null does not work for multirun

[nkueng]

🐛 Bug

Description

Disabling the ouput of a .yaml file via hydra.output_subdir: null works for the standard use-case but not in multirun. This still produces an undesired multirun.yaml.

Checklist

• [x ] I checked on the latest version of Hydra
• [x ] I created a minimal repro (See this for tips).

To reproduce

Following the intro tutorial should reproduce the issue with the following conf/config.yaml:

defaults:
  - db: mysql
  
hydra:
  run:
    dir: .
  output_subdir: null
  sweep:
    dir: .
    subdir: .

This yields the unwanted multirun.yaml in directory ..

Expected Behavior

No output at all.

System information

• Hydra Version : 1.1
• Python version : 3.8
• Virtual environment type and version : virtualenv
• Operating system : Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon

Additional context

On a side note, the description for output_subdir mentiones None instead of null.

[Jasha10]

Hello @nkueng,
Thank you for the bug report!
We will look into it.

[omry]

output_dir is controlling the creation of the .hydra directory. multirun.yaml is created unconditionally.

[Jasha10]

So I guess this is more of a feature request than a bug report...

[omry]

Yes, and it's intertwined with #910 and is most likely what the author is really after.

[Jasha10]

Good point. I think we should be able to close this issue in favor of #910. @nkueng, is that ok with you?

[nkueng]

Thanks for the quick action! Indeed it goes along the lines of #910, but unlike stated there, there is currently no workaround to disable the multirun.yaml in 1.1. This is inconsistent in my eyes, as it is possible to disable the same output for a regualr run (as described here). Thus, I am wondering, why the same method does not apply to the mulitrun output.

[omry]

You are correct that there is no workaround for multirun.yaml right now. Working directory management will get some attention in the next version.

[nkueng]

Anyways, thanks for developing such a nice tool! Even if I don't want to use the auto-generated outputs, it's heaps cool! ;)