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Modern Scientific Software Management Using EasyBuild and Lmod

Geimer, Markus and Hoste, Kenneth and McLay, Robert

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HPC user support teams invest a lot of time and effort in installing scientific software for their users. A well-established practice is providing environment modules to make it easy for users to set up their working environment. Several problems remain, however: user support teams lack appropriate tools to manage a scientific software stack easily and consistently, and users still struggle to set up their working environment correctly. In this paper, we present a modern approach to installing (scientific) software that provides a solution to these common issues. We show how EasyBuild, a software build and installation framework, can be used to automatically install software and generate environment modules. By using a hierarchical module naming scheme to offer environment modules to users in a more structured way, and providing Lmod, a modern tool for working with environment modules, we help typical users avoid common mistakes while giving power users the flexibility they demand.


@inproceedings{geimer-hust2014,
  author = {Geimer, Markus and Hoste, Kenneth and McLay, Robert},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the First International Workshop on HPC User Support Tools},
  date-added = {2020-11-16 00:24:42 -0800},
  date-modified = {2020-11-16 00:24:50 -0800},
  doi = {10.1109/HUST.2014.8},
  isbn = {9781467367554},
  location = {New Orleans, Louisiana},
  numpages = {11},
  pages = {41--51},
  publisher = {IEEE Press},
  series = {HUST '14},
  title = {Modern Scientific Software Management Using EasyBuild and Lmod},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/HUST.2014.8},
  year = {2014},
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  bdsk-url-1 = {https://doi.org/10.1109/HUST.2014.8}
}
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