AFRL DSRC Modules Guide
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
Software modules are a very convenient way to set needed environment variables and include necessary directories in your path so that commands for particular applications can be found. Our systems use modules to initialize your environment with COTS application software, system commands and libraries, compiler suites, environment variables, and PBS batch system commands.
Module information is stored in specially formatted files called modulefiles or simply modules. These files can be loaded and unloaded to tailor your shell environment to specific needs. Several modules are loaded automatically as soon as you log in. You can modify your default environment manually using the module command.
In addition to modules that we provide, you can also create your own modules to share with other users or to supplement or replace the existing shared modules if you wish.
2. Module Commands
The module command is the primary means of managing the modules that are loaded in your environment. There are a number of subcommands to the module command that allow you to see what is available and what is currently loaded and to modify your selections as needed.
Print the usage of each subcommand. If an argument is given, print the
module-specific help information for that module.
module help [module...]
Load module into the shell environment. If you are attempting to replace a module
that is currently loaded, use the swap (or switch) subcommand instead of load.
module load module [module...]
Remove module from the shell environment.
module unload module [module...]
Unload module1 and load module2. The swap subcommand
is synonymous with the switch subcommand, which you may see in
some documentation.
module swap module1 module2
The show subcommand will list the full path of the module and all
(or most) of the environment changes the module will make if loaded. The
show subcommand is synonymous with the display command,
which you may see in some documentation.
module show module [module...]
List the modules that are currently loaded.
module list
List all available modules in the current $MODULEPATH. All directories
in the $MODULEPATH are recursively searched for modules. If the
path argument is given, then only the modules available within that specific
directory tree are listed.
module avail [path...]
By default, this subcommand prepends the directory to the $MODULEPATH
environment variable. If the -a or --append argument
is used, then the directory will be appended to $MODULEPATH.
module use [-a |--append] directory [directory...]
Remove the directory from the $MODULEPATH environment variable.
module unuse directory [directory...]
Unload all loaded modules.
module purge
3. Types of Modules Available
We provide two types of modules on our systems: system and application modules. In general, module names consist of a base name + a version number. For example: intel_mkl_10.0, crystal.2009, Espresso/4.1. Sometimes, there may be multiple versions of the same module available for use. In such cases, one version will always be designated as the default. To see these, use the module avail command and note the modules with (default) at the end of the module name. If there is only one version of a particular module available, then (default) may not be present in the module name, but it is still treated as the default version. To load the default version of a module, use the module load command and simply omit the version number from the module name. For example: module load pgi.
3.1. System Modules
System modules are provided by the system vendor and include programming environments, libraries, debuggers, profiling tools, system support, and PBS. In the output of the module avail command, these modules are usually grouped under /p/app/modulefiles/devel and /opt/scyld/modulefiles for Raider and under /opt/cray/pe/modulefiles for Warhawk.
3.2. Application Modules
Application modules are created by our support staff to configure your environment to run specific applications. These are grouped under /p/app/modulefiles/apps. As a rule-of-thumb, we provide at least two versions of each application module: the current and previous default versions. In some cases we also provide the latest release, although it may not yet be the default.
4. Creating Your Own Modules
In addition to the modules that we provide, you may also create your own custom modules. A thorough explanation of module creation is beyond the scope of this document, but the following information may help you get started.
First, you will need to create your module file. Module files are written in the Tool Command Language (TCL) using a simple text editor such as vi or notepad. For a discussion of the TCL syntax and available TCL commands, see the modulefile man page.
The following is an example of a simple module file:
#%Module
proc ModulesHelp { } {
puts stderr "This modulefile defines the system paths and"
puts stderr "environment variables needed to use the"
puts stderr "APP software package"
puts stderr ""
}
set APP_CURPATH /my_home_directory/my_modules/app
setenv APP_HOME $APP_CURPATH
prepend-path PATH $APP_CURPATH/bin
Once your module file is completed, you will need to modify the
$MODULEPATH environment variable to include the path to the directory
containing your module files. For example, you could run one of the following:
module use ${HOME}/my_modules
module use ${HOME}/my_modules -a
Your modules should then show up in the output of the module avail command and be available for your use.
To remove your module's path from the $MODULEPATH environment variable,
do the following:
module unuse ${HOME}/my_modules