install and cache NEST

.github/devops/install-nest.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+git clone https://github.com/nest/nest-simulator $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/nest
+cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/nest
+git checkout tags/v$1
+mkdir build
+cd build
+pip install cython cmake
+cmake .. \
+  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$2 \
+  -Dwith-mpi=ON
+make install

.github/workflows/main.yaml

@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ name: Test BSB NEST adapter
 
 on: [push, pull_request]
 
+env:
+  NEST_VERSION: 3.6
+
 jobs:
   build:
     if: github.event_name == 'push' || github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name != github.repository
@@ -22,6 +25,17 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt update
         sudo apt install openmpi-bin libopenmpi-dev
 
+    - name: Cache NEST
+      id: cache-nest
+      uses: actions/cache@v4
+      with:
+        path: /simulators/nest
+        key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.python-version }}-nest
+
+    - name: Install NEST
+      if: steps.cache-nest.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+      run: .github/devops/install-nest.sh ${NEST_VERSION} /simulators/nest
+
     - name: Install dependencies & self
       run: |
         pip install --upgrade pip