Release wave: QUBODrivers 0.6 / QUBOTools 0.13 compat + seed support + benchmark conformance

[bernalde]

Part of the benchmarking-readiness epic: JuliaQUBO/QUBO.jl#40 (WS2 — coordinated driver release wave). Blocked by the QUBODrivers metadata/seed standardization and conformance-suite issues on that epic (WS1) — adopt both in a single PR here so the package is only touched once.

Problem

QUBO.jl v0.6 requires QUBODrivers = "0.6" / QUBOTools = "0.13". PySA.jl's current compat is:

QUBODrivers = "0.3, 0.4, 0.5"
QUBOTools   = "0.10, 0.11, 0.12"

The intersection with QUBO.jl v0.6 (and with the QUBOLib-served QOBLib benchmarking stack) is empty — this package cannot be installed alongside the rest of the ecosystem. A scheduled ecosystem-resolution canary is being added to QUBO.jl that will stay red until this lands.

Package-specific work

• Parameter naming is inconsistent with the rest of the ecosystem: n_reads, n_sweeps, n_replicas vs the conventional num_reads etc. Keep the existing raw keys for compatibility but add the standard attribute aliases; document the mapping.
• PySA currently exposes no seed — the underlying pysa solver accepts one; plumb it through as the standard RandomSeed attribute. Without it PySA cannot participate in reproducible sweeps.
• Temperature schedule attributes (MinimumTemperature, MaximumTemperature) are exactly the kind of parameters the campaign will sweep — make sure they are settable via MOI.RawOptimizerAttribute string keys too (harness sets params generically from TOML).
• PythonCall = "0.9.23" pin: align with DWave/CIMOptimizer (see DWave issue note).

Common work (all drivers in the wave)

1. Bump compat: QUBODrivers = "0.6" (drop pre-0.5 entries unless there's a reason to keep them) and QUBOTools = "0.13" where it is a direct dependency. Fix any breakage from the upgrade.
2. Adopt the QUBODrivers metadata schema: metadata["time"]["effective"] (backend solve time) always set; seeds recorded under metadata["seeds"]; backend name/version under metadata["backend"].
3. Declare capability traits honestly (supports_seed, honors_final_reads, enforces_time_limit).
4. Adopt the standard RandomSeed attribute where the backend supports seeding (alias any existing seed attribute to it; keep the old one as deprecated).
5. CI runs the upgraded QUBODrivers.test(Optimizer) with benchmark_conformance = true.
6. Tag a release and verify it registers (General registry compat must match).

Checkpoints (anti-drift)

• Before starting: wait for the reference driver run posted on the epic (first wave driver, suggested MQLib.jl) and use its conformance output as the template — deviations should be deliberate, not accidental.
• Mid-PR: post the conformance-suite output here (all sets, including which are trait-skipped and why).
• Before merge: resolve a temp environment with QUBO@0.6 + this branch via Pkg.develop — the actual coexistence check, not just compat-file edits.

Acceptance criteria

• Registered release with QUBODrivers 0.6 / QUBOTools 0.13 compat, conformance suite green in CI, package resolves alongside QUBO.jl v0.6.

[bernalde]

Reference driver checkpoint is ready enough to start this package's wave PR.

MQLib status:

• Add QUBODrivers 0.6 benchmark conformance MQLib.jl#27 merged into main.
• Reference checkpoint posted on the epic: Epic: Benchmark-ready JuliaQUBO ecosystem for the QOBLib campaign QUBO.jl#40.
• MQLib release-prep PR Prepare v0.7.0 release MQLib.jl#28 is open, CI-green, and bumps the release to v0.7.0; registration is still pending.
• Final reference stack uses QUBODrivers = "0.6.1" and QUBOTools = "0.13".
• Reference conformance result: supports_seed=true, honors_final_reads=true, enforces_time_limit=true, Benchmark Conformance 14/14, no trait-skipped benchmark sets.

Implementation guidance for PySA.jl:

• Target QUBODrivers = "0.6.1" and QUBOTools = "0.13".
• Add the standard RandomSeed attribute and plumb it to the pysa backend seed.
• Keep existing raw keys such as n_reads, n_sweeps, and n_replicas, but add/document standard aliases where appropriate.
• Keep temperature schedule parameters settable through raw string attributes so the benchmark harness can sweep them from TOML.
• Verify PythonCall/CondaPkg compatibility alongside DWave and CIMOptimizer before release.

Use MQLib.jl#27/#28 as the reference shape: compat bump, metadata schema, trait declarations, unconditional QUBODrivers.test(...; benchmark_conformance = true), conformance transcript, QUBO v0.6 coexistence check, then release/registration.

[bernalde]

Conformance update for PR #27: #27

Local checks:

• julia --project=. -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.test()'
  • Passed with QUBODrivers v0.6.1, QUBOTools v0.13.1, and PythonCall v0.9.35.
  • Result summaries: Package metadata 22/22, Solver attributes 21/21, README JuMP workflow 8/8, QUBODrivers 139/139.
  • Benchmark Conformance: 13/13.
• julia --project=/tmp/pysa-issue26-qubo-resolve -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.activate("/tmp/pysa-issue26-qubo-resolve"; shared=false); Pkg.add(Pkg.PackageSpec(name="QUBO", version="0.6")); Pkg.develop(path=pwd()); Pkg.status()'
  • Passed; resolved QUBO v0.6.0 with this PySA branch, QUBODrivers v0.6.1, and QUBOTools v0.13.1.

Traits:

• supports_seed=true
• honors_final_reads=true
• enforces_time_limit=false

CI at bounded watch cutoff:

• Julia 1.10 - ubuntu-latest - x64 - pull_request: passed.
• Julia 1 - ubuntu-latest - x64 - pull_request: passed.
• Julia 1.10 - windows-latest - x64 - pull_request: pending.
• Julia 1 - windows-latest - x64 - pull_request: pending.

[bernalde]

Closing as complete.

• [codex] Add QUBODrivers 0.6.1 conformance #27 merged the QUBODrivers 0.6.1 / QUBOTools 0.13 compat work, seed support, metadata updates, traits, and benchmark conformance coverage.
• PR CI passed on Ubuntu and Windows.
• v0.4.0 was tagged/released on 2026-06-13.
• The 2026-06-17 QUBO ecosystem canary matrix now shows registered PySA v0.4.0 resolving with QUBODrivers 0.6.1 - 0.6 and QUBOTools 0.13.

The canary is still red overall, but PySA is no longer the blocker; the current Tier 2 conflict is from CIMOptimizer still requiring QUBODrivers 0.2.