[Beowulf] Thoughts on EasyBuild?

[Jörg Saßmannshausen]

Dear all,

we are using Easybuild at work. Like most projects, you mileage will vary. I 
am using it since October last year so my experiences might be a bit limited 
here. What I found is that in most cases it really does what it says on the 
tin. You can simply say 'build cp2k with the Intel compiler' which is a rather 
big build if you put in all its dependencies, and it does it. You issue one 
command and when you come back from lunch it has done it all for you. I 
recently noticed it even downloads the Intel compiler it needs, next to all 
the dependencies, installed them and created the necessary modules. 
Like most things, I had a few issues with it as well. Some where around 
downloading the source code. If the URL changed or there is a network problem, 
then it obviously fails. That can be easily corrected. 
I did run in some more complicated problems but I have to say the people on 
the Slack channel are very helpful, friendly and responsive. 

I guess is it depends on what you want to do. If you only have a small 
software stack, it might be a bit of an overkill. If you happen to support a 
large institution with big demands, it helps. Due to the use of modules, you 
can provided different versions of one software as well. They are providing a 
large set of Easybuild files and you can modify and create your owns as well. 
We are not using the Python ones for one reason or another, here we are using 
the conda environment. Else everything is done in Easybuild. 
We also have a few different versions of Easybuild in our software stack, next 
to some home brew Easybuild build files. 

I would say give it a go, install a few complex systems you need on a test 
machine, see how you find it, and decide. 

My $2.00 here.

All the best from a cold London

Jörg

Am Donnerstag, 17. Januar 2019, 08:32:36 GMT schrieb Faraz Hussain:
> Some folks I work with are using EasyBuild but I am not sure what to
> make of it. I am little skeptical of tools that promise one-command
> installations of complex software. On the other hand I can see its
> benefits by saving a lot of "re-inventing the wheel".
> 
> What do people think? Like everything, the answer is probably it
> depends on what you use it for? Or is it another layer of complexity
> that just makes everything more complex?
> 
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