Conference call notes 20180103

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Notes on the 93rd EasyBuild conference call, Wednesday January 3rd 2018 (5pm - 6pm CET)

Attendees

Alphabetical list of attendees (8):

• Fotis Georgatos (Illumina, UK)
• Kenneth Hoste (HPC-UGent, Belgium)
• Adam Huffman (Big Data Institute, University of Oxford)
• Teo Ioannis (CSCS, Switserland)
• Bart Oldeman (McGill University, Canada)
• Rafael Alejandro Sarmiento Perez (CSCS, Switserland)
• Åke Sangren (Umeå University, Sweden)
• Davide Vanzo (Vanderbilt University)

Agenda

• outlook to EasyBuild v3.5.1
• 2018a toolchains
  • PRs for foss/2018a and intel/2018a definitions
  • test results (rebuilding *-2017b easyconfigs with */2018a)
  • stricter policy w.r.t. software versions (one per toolchain) to try and increase adoption?
• Q&A

Notes

Outlook to EasyBuild v3.5.1

• ETA: mid January 2018
• framework (https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/milestone/52)
  • no changes worth mentioned merged yet compared to v3.5.0
  • planned to go in for v3.5.1:
    • support for Modules v4 (https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2365)
    • maybe some additional (very minor) bug fixes
• easyblocks (https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyblocks/milestone/44)
  • already merged: updated to existing easyblocks to support recent software versions + some minor bug fixes
    • https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyblocks/milestone/44?closed=1
  • may still make it in for v3.5.1:
    • TensorFlow easyblock? https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyblocks/pull/1287
      • Åke is interested in this
      • some open issues need to be fixed first, e.g. build with CUDA support does not work yet
• easyconfigs (https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/milestone/47)
  • various software updates & support for new software already merged
  • see https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/milestone/47?closed=1
  • planned to go in for v3.5.1:
    • foss/2018a and intel/2018a toolchain definitions
    • • additional easyconfigs for software built with these toolchains
    • more updates & new software, whatever is ready

2018a toolchains

• foss/2018a and intel/2018a toolchain definitions

  • intel/2018a https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/5577
  • foss/2018a https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/5578
  • sticking GCCcore/6.4.0 as base toolchain, which allows recycling a lot of existing easyconfigs

• test results

  • building *-2017b easyconfigs with */2018a toolchains
  • HDF5 1.10.1 needs a patch to build with Intel compilers 2018 update 1
    • patch was already added by @reedts in https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/5310
    • https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/5582
  • some builds fail because (hardcoded) -openmp is no longer recognised (should be -qopenmp or -fopenmp)
    • BLAST+
    • ESMF
  • LLVM 5.0.0 fails to compile due to error: expression must have a constant value

• stricter policy w.r.t. software versions (one per toolchain) to try and increase adoption?

  • should be checked automatically or it won't be enforced at all...
  • in some cases there are good reasons to have multiple versions, so we need a way to bypass the policy
    • flex, HDF5, ...
  • only warn through comments in PR via @boegelbot?
  • stick to one for everything or only for common dependencies?
  • have a way to hard specify that a specific version of a dep is required?
    • currently usually done via a clear comment, good enough?

Other

• update binutils in GCCcore/5.4.0?

  • binutils 2.26 is used now is annoying since you need to remember to change it
  • --try-toolchain should be enhanced to also also tweak binutils version
  • relevant bug report: https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/issues/2342
    • @boegel has half a fix (locally) for this...

• site presentations at EasyBuild User Meeting:

  • CSCS (by Teo), including integration with Jenkins
  • Illumina (by Fotis)
  • people interested in giving a site presentation should pick a slot in the EUM agenda & contact Kenneth/John
    • see https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild/wiki/3rd-EasyBuild-User-Meeting#agenda

• Teo: update on having support for running EasyBuild on top of Python 3?

  • should start with vsc-base, cfr. https://github.com/hpcugent/vsc-base/pull/142
  • less easy to have Py2/Py3 compatible codebase when Python 2.6 also needs to be supported
    • probably too early to drop Python 2.6, see also Todd's poll on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tgamblin/status/947254477160988672
  • Spack already support Python 3, cfr. https://github.com/spack/spack/pull/3395/files
  • expected effort:
    • shouldn't be too much work for framework (easy to test thanks to extensive unit test suite)
    • less effort for easyblocks, but harder to test
  • will be discussed further during EasyBuild User Meeting

• Davide: eb --install-latest-eb-release installed EasyBuild update in Core/ rather than in 'neutral' zone

  • maybe try with eb --install-latest-eb-release --try-amend=moduleclass=neutral?

• hotel for EasyBuild User Meeting?

  • nice to be in same hotel for logistical reasons
  • CSCS is at https://www.q-factory-hotel.nl/en/locatie.html
  • another option may be https://www.booking.com/hotel/nl/botel-lisa-marleen.en-gb.html
  • close to train station (but a bit noisy): https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-1556-ibis-amsterdam-centre/index.shtml