fix: remove python shim for already removed codec files

docker/customizer/removals/files/nmp-automodel-training.txt

@@ -12,3 +12,7 @@
 /usr/local/lib/python*/dist-packages/nvidia/dali/.libs/libopus-*.so*
 /usr/local/lib/python*/dist-packages/nvidia/dali/.libs/libsndfile-*.so*
 /usr/local/lib/python*/dist-packages/nvidia/dali/.libs/libswscale-*.so*
+# The soundfile shim goes with its payload above. transformers gates `import soundfile` on
+# find_spec("soundfile"), so leaving the module behind makes that probe report an audio
+# backend that can no longer dlopen its library.
+/opt/venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py

docker/customizer/removals/files/nmp-rl-training.txt

@@ -5,3 +5,6 @@
 /opt/nemo_rl_venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so
 /opt/ray_venvs/*/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so
 /opt/uv_cache/archive-v0/*/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so
+/opt/nemo_rl_venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py
+/opt/ray_venvs/*/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py
+/opt/uv_cache/archive-v0/*/soundfile.py

docker/rl/Dockerfile.nmp-rl-training

@@ -87,7 +87,13 @@ RUN --mount=type=bind,source=docker/scripts/remove-listed-files.sh,target=/tmp/r
 # Point runtime uv writes at the per-user cache instead, which is already owned by USER_UID above.
 # The prefetched venvs are unaffected: their symlinks are absolute /opt/uv_cache paths resolved at
 # build time, so changing UV_CACHE_DIR only redirects FUTURE uv operations.
+# HOME must follow the runtime user. The base sets HOME=/home/nmp-build for its build user
+# (uid 2000) and that value survives into the published image, but this stage runs as
+# ${USER_UID}, which cannot write there. Anything resolving `~` at import time then dies:
+# swanlab, which nemo_rl.utils.logger imports unconditionally, calls os.mkdir("~/.swanlab")
+# from its module body, so the GRPO driver fails before reading a config.
 ENV PATH="/opt/nemo_rl_venv/bin:${PATH}" \
+    HOME=/home/${USERNAME} \
     UV_CACHE_DIR=/home/${USERNAME}/.cache/uv
 ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/venv/bin/python"]
 CMD ["-m", "nmp.rl.tasks.training", "--help"]

tests/smoke_gpu/test_customizer_automodel.py

@@ -21,7 +21,12 @@
 import pytest
 from python_package_versions import assert_python_package_min_versions
 
-SOUNDFILE_LIBSNDFILE_PATTERN = "/opt/venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so"
+SOUNDFILE_PATTERNS = (
+    "/opt/venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so",
+    # The shim is removed with its payload; see the removals file for why keeping it is
+    # worse than not shipping soundfile at all.
+    "/opt/venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py",
+)
 MINIMUM_PYTHON_PACKAGE_VERSIONS = {
     "bitsandbytes": "0.49.2",
     "mamba-ssm": "2.3.0",
@@ -68,10 +73,24 @@ def test_nmp_automodel_training_importable():
 
 @pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_automodel_training
 def test_soundfile_libsndfile_removed():
-    remaining = sorted(glob(SOUNDFILE_LIBSNDFILE_PATTERN))
+    remaining = sorted(path for pattern in SOUNDFILE_PATTERNS for path in glob(pattern))
     assert remaining == [], f"file cleanup left scanner-visible libsndfile files: {remaining}"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_automodel_training
+def test_transformers_audio_backend_probe_is_off():
+    """The payload and its shim must be removed together.
+
+    ``transformers.audio_utils`` runs ``if is_soundfile_available(): import soundfile``, and
+    that probe is ``find_spec("soundfile")`` -- file presence, not loadability. Removing only
+    the codec leaves the probe answering yes for a backend that then fails to dlopen, which
+    breaks ``from transformers import AutoProcessor`` and everything importing through it.
+    """
+    from transformers.utils.import_utils import is_soundfile_available
+
+    assert not is_soundfile_available()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_automodel_training
 def test_dali_still_importable_after_file_cleanup():
     import importlib.metadata

tests/smoke_gpu/test_rl_training.py

@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@
     "/opt/nemo_rl_venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so",
     "/opt/ray_venvs/*/lib/python3.*/site-packages/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so",
     "/opt/uv_cache/archive-v0/*/_soundfile_data/libsndfile_*.so",
+    # The shim is removed with the codec; see docker/rl/codec-file-removals.txt for why
+    # keeping it is worse than not shipping soundfile at all.
+    "/opt/nemo_rl_venv/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py",
+    "/opt/ray_venvs/*/lib/python3.*/site-packages/soundfile.py",
+    "/opt/uv_cache/archive-v0/*/soundfile.py",
 )
 BASE_VENV_MINIMUM_PYTHON_PACKAGE_VERSIONS = {
     "wandb": "0.28.2",
@@ -239,6 +244,27 @@ def test_soundfile_libsndfile_removed():
     assert remaining == [], f"file cleanup left scanner-visible libsndfile files: {remaining}"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_rl_training
+def test_transformers_audio_backend_probe_is_off():
+    """Removing the codec must also switch off the probe that guards its import.
+
+    ``transformers.audio_utils`` does ``if is_soundfile_available(): import soundfile``,
+    and that probe is ``find_spec("soundfile")`` -- file presence, not loadability. Delete
+    the codec but keep the module and the probe says yes to a backend that then fails to
+    dlopen, so ``from transformers import AutoProcessor`` raises. That import is at module
+    scope in ``nemo_rl.algorithms.grpo``, so the GRPO driver dies before it reads a config.
+    """
+    from transformers.utils.import_utils import is_soundfile_available
+
+    assert not is_soundfile_available()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_rl_training
+def test_grpo_driver_module_imports():
+    """The exact import the GRPO driver performs first, and the one the codec strip broke."""
+    from nemo_rl.algorithms.grpo import MasterConfig  # noqa: F401
+
+
 @pytest.mark.smoke_nmp_rl_training
 def test_no_git_directories_shipped():
     """The published image must not carry repository history.