Why not a master list of allowed compset-resolution combinations?

[rljacob]

One "feature" of CIME is that you can create a case with any available compset and gridset even if has never been tried or validated and you would only get an error if an initial condition file for the specified resolution was missing.

Why did CIME never implement some kind of list of allowed combinations of compset and gridset that would flag an error at create_newcase stage if it wasn't found?

[jedwards4b]

I think it's because we would constantly find that list to be out of date and need revision. Attempting to do something similar, cesm introduced a --run-unsupported flag to create_newcase and maintains a list of supported compsets and resolutions (based on the list of tested configurations). However this usefulness of this flag is debatable since many users, once they learn of the flag, always use it.