Modules System

Multiple versions of the same software are accessible using the Lmod environment module system.

The module system makes it easy to specify which version you want to use and keeps everything consistent. There are also circumstances where one software program will have some environment setting or file that conflicts with a different program, and in many cases the module system can also help solve this problem.

Access modules

Most software packages available on the system can be found as a module. To see a list of available software run the command:

[user@frontend ~]$ module spider

Tip


The following is a list of the modules and extensions currently available:

ATK: ATK/2.38.0

ATK provides the set of accessibility interfaces that are implemented by other toolkits and applications. Using the ATK interfaces, accessibility tools have full access to view and control running applications.

Anaconda3: Anaconda3/2022.05

Built to complement the rich, open source Python community, the Anaconda platform provides an enterprise-ready data analytics platform that empowers companies to adopt a modern open data science analytics architecture.

Autoconf: Autoconf/2.71

Autoconf is an extensible package of M4 macros that produce shell scripts to automatically configure software source code packages. These scripts can adapt the packages to many kinds of UNIX-like systems without manual user intervention. Autoconf creates a configuration script for a package from a template file that lists the operating system features that the package can use, in the form of M4 macro calls.


To learn more about a package execute:

$ module spider Foo

where “Foo” is the name of a module.

To find detailed information about a particular package you must specify the version if there is more than one version:

$ module spider Foo/11.1


Note that the above list is not updated automatically. To get an updated list, rerun the command on the frontend node. You can optionally specify a module name, and it will show you all available versions of module package, as shown in the example above.

Note

You can also use the command module avail to get the list of available packages in a different format.

Load a module

To load a module, use the command: module load <module_name>. The default version will automatically be loaded.

If you want a particular version, use instead: module load <module_name>/<module_version>. For example:

[user@frontend ~]$ module list

Tip

No modules loaded

[user@frontend ~]$ module load GCCcore/10.2.0

Tip

Currently Loaded Modules:    1) GCCcore/10.2.0

Check active modules

You can print the list of currently loaded modules with the command:

[user@frontend ~]$ module list

Unload a module

To unload a module, use the command: module unload <module_name>. This command will automatically unload all the dependencies as well.

To unload everything, use:

[user@frontend ~]$ module purge

Examine a module file

If you want to see what the module command is doing to your environment, you can run module show <module_name>/<module_version>. For example:

[user@frontend ~]$ module show GCCcore/11.3.0

Tip


/opt/sys/easybuild/modules/all/Core/GCCcore/11.3.0.lua:

help([[ Description =========== The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++, libgcj,…).

More information ================ - Homepage: https://gcc.gnu.org/ ]]) whatis(“Description: The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as libraries for these languages (libstdc++, libgcj,…).”) whatis(“Homepage: https://gcc.gnu.org/”) whatis(“URL: https://gcc.gnu.org/”) conflict(“GCCcore”) prepend_path(“MODULEPATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/modules/all/Compiler/GCCcore/11.3.0”) prepend_path(“CMAKE_LIBRARY_PATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/lib64”) prepend_path(“CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0”) prepend_path(“LD_LIBRARY_PATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/lib64”) prepend_path(“MANPATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/share/man”) prepend_path(“PATH”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/bin”) prepend_path(“XDG_DATA_DIRS”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/share”) setenv(“EBROOTGCCCORE”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0”) setenv(“EBVERSIONGCCCORE”,”11.3.0”) setenv(“EBDEVELGCCCORE”,”/opt/sys/easybuild/software/GCCcore/11.3.0/easybuild/Core-GCCcore-11.3.0-easybuild-devel”)

Use modules in script

The module command can also be used in scripts, such as Slurm batch scripts, as shown in the following example:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH -N 1 -n 64
#SBATCH -p fat
#SBATCH -t 01:00:00

module purge
module load <list_of_modules>

# Add below some commands depending on the modules

Further reading