Transition to running the cardinal build in the prebuild Makefile rule

Makefile

@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ include            $(FRAMEWORK_DIR)/app.mk
 ###############################################################################
 # Additional special case targets should be added here
 
+# Used in prebuild
+export MOOSE_JOBS=$(patsubst -j%,%,$(filter -j%,$(MAKEFLAGS)))
+
+# Adding to rule in moose.mk to prebuild cardinal and dependencies
+prebuild::
+	+@-bash $(CURDIR)/scripts/build_cardinal.sh
+
 CARDINAL_EXTERNAL_FLAGS := -L$(CARDINAL_DIR)/lib -L$(OPENMC_LIBDIR)  \
                            -Wl,-rpath,$(OPENMC_LIBDIR) -lopenmc -lhdf5_hl -ldagmc -lMOAB
 

scripts/build_cardinal.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#* This file is part of FENIX: Fusion ENergy Integrated multiphys-X,
+#* A multiphysics application for modeling plasma facing components
+#* https://github.com/idaholab/fenix
+#* https://mooseframework.inl.gov/fenix
+#*
+#* FENIX is powered by the MOOSE Framework
+#* https://www.mooseframework.inl.gov
+#*
+#* Licensed under LGPL 2.1, please see LICENSE for details
+#* https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
+#*
+#* Copyright 2024, Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC
+#* ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+#*
+
+# Colors for bash output
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
+NC='\033[0m' # No Color
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+echo "Running ${SCRIPT_DIR}/build_cardinal.sh..."
+FENIX_DIR=$(realpath $SCRIPT_DIR/..)
+
+if [ -n "$MOOSE_DIR" ]; then
+  echo "INFO: MOOSE_DIR set - ${MOOSE_DIR} will be used for both FENIX and Cardinal..."
+else
+  export MOOSE_DIR=${FENIX_DIR}/moose
+fi
+
+if [ -n "$CARDINAL_DIR" ]; then
+  echo "INFO: CARDINAL_DIR set - using ${CARDINAL_DIR}..."
+else
+  CARDINAL_DIR=${FENIX_DIR}/cardinal
+fi
+
+# Checking for HDF5 using HDF5_DIR (set via conda automatically). If this is not set,
+# throw an error code and request that the user set it!
+if [ -n "$HDF5_DIR" ]; then
+  export HDF5_ROOT=$HDF5_DIR
+else
+  echo -e "${RED}ERROR: HDF5 not found; please set HDF5_DIR in your environment!${NC}"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+cd ${CARDINAL_DIR}
+
+# Enable/Disable Cardinal contribs
+export ENABLE_NEK=no
+export ENABLE_DAGMC=yes # Also enables MOAB
+
+# Download all cardinal dependencies
+echo "INFO: Updating OpenMC, DAGMC, and MOAB submodules..."
+git submodule update --init --recursive contrib/openmc
+git submodule update --init contrib/DAGMC
+git submodule update --init contrib/moab
+
+if [[ -z "${OPENMC_CROSS_SECTIONS}" ]]; then
+  echo -e "${YELLOW}"
+  echo "If you are using OpenMC, remember that you need to set OPENMC_CROSS_SECTIONS to point to a cross_sections.xml file!"
+  echo "To get the ENDF/b-7.1 dataset, please run:"
+  echo ""
+  echo "$CARDINAL_DIR/scripts/download-openmc-cross-sections.sh"
+  echo -e "${NC}"
+fi
+
+# If using conda, set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to workaround linking issue for some systems.
+# Cardinal dev team is working on a more elegant fix, and this should be removed
+# when that occurs.
+if [ -n "$CONDA_PREFIX" ]; then
+  export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$CONDA_PREFIX/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+fi
+
+# Run make, letting the number of jobs be either MOOSE_JOBS or 1 if MOOSE_JOBS is not set.
+# MAKEFLAGS is used to make sure that CMake within Cardinal also uses the appropriate
+# number of jobs. 'sh -c' is used to invoke make since this script is used within a
+# Makefile, where it would be treated as a "submake". We want to de-couple this make
+# invokation with the parent process.
+sh -c make -j ${MOOSE_JOBS:-1} MAKEFLAGS=-j${MOOSE_JOBS:-1}