Small inconsistency in the workflow output definitions preview

[nvnieuwk]

Bug report

Expected behavior and actual behavior

While trying out the workflow output definitions, I noticed some small inconsistencies on how the actual publishing happens between the different methods.

This will publish to the $launchDir or $projectDir (not sure which one it is in this case) location instead of publishing relative to the output directory:

'test' { 
    path { txt -> "dir/${txt.name}" }
}

While this will publish relative to the output directory:

'test2' { 
    path { _txt -> { file -> "dir/${file}" } }
}

So when I executed both at the same time, the result was this:

.
├── dir
│   └── test.txt
│       └── test.txt -> /home/nvnieuwk/Documents/nextflow/issues/workflow-output-inconsistency/work/26/f7361be58d416641ec7e2226210613/test.txt
├── main.nf
├── results
│   └── dir
│       └── test2.txt -> /home/nvnieuwk/Documents/nextflow/issues/workflow-output-inconsistency/work/26/f7361be58d416641ec7e2226210613/test2.txt
└── work
    └── 26
        └── f7361be58d416641ec7e2226210613
            ├── test2.txt
            └── test.txt

I think it would be better if this behaviour would be consistent between both methods. Where all relative paths are published relative to the output directory and all absolute paths will be published to the absolute path instead.

Steps to reproduce the problem

Execute the MRE in the dropdown menu below

MRE

nextflow.preview.output = true

process TEST {
    output:
    path("test.txt"), emit: test
    path("test2.txt"), emit: test2

    script:
    """
    touch test.txt
    touch test2.txt
    """
}

workflow {
    main:
    TEST()

    publish:
    TEST.out.test >> 'test'
    TEST.out.test2 >> 'test2'
}

output {
    'test' { 
        path { txt -> "dir/${txt.name}" }
    }
    'test2' { 
        path { _txt -> { file -> "dir/${file}" } }
    }
}

Environment

• Nextflow version: 24.10.0
• Java version: 17.0.3
• Operating system: Ubuntu