EasyBuild

What is EasyBuild?

EasyBuild is a software build and installation framework written in Python that allows you to install software in a structured, repeatable and robust way.

It was developed by the High-Performance Computing team at Ghent University and was motivated by the need for a system that would allow to:

• install multiple versions of a software package side-by-side
• support multiple compilers and libraries for building a software package
• keep package configuration simple
• divert from standard configure / make / make install with custom procedures (which is often necessary for scientific packages)
• use environment modules for dependency resolution and making the software available to users in a transparent way
• keep record of the installation logs
• keep track of installation configuration in version control

Some key properties of EasyBuild:

• installation configuration is done using a (very concise) .eb specification file
• custom behaviour is described in easyblocks, which are Python classes that can be plugged into the EasyBuild framework
• module files are generated to make the software easily available to users
• dependencies for installation are resolved using environment modules and can be automatically installed using the robot feature
• after installation the specification files can be sent to a repository for archiving

For more information on EasyBuild, see the documentation wiki on github.