FAQ

How do I contribute my own easyconfig files?

If you want your own easyconfig files to be included with easybuild, you must fork the easybuild repo and send a pull request. Note: pull requests should be send to the develop branch instead of the master branch.

Can I build different numpy and scipy versions?

Yes, use the PythonPackageModule to build different version without rebuilding Python.

Can I create module files which just load a set of modules?

Yes, if you create an easyconfig file with no sources and only dependencies. You could ofcourse also just create the module file yourself.

I don't like the a-z/ directory structure, can I change it?

Easybuild tries to be smart about this and will look inside the $PYTHONPATH to find the required files. The a-z/ directory structure is entirely optional, but suggested as it keeps things organized.

Easybuild complains about an OS dependency, yet I am certain it is installed

Currently easybuild's support for OS dependencies is lacking. It will try to find it using rpm and dpgk, but this is not perfect. If you know what you are doing, you can remove the OS dependency from the easyconfig file, and then build it.

I cannot create a easyblock for 'r'

Because Easybuild follows the CapWords convention, this is indeed impossible. A work-around would be to create a 'R_' easyblock and specify this inside the easyconfig file with easyblock="R_".

Can I add a dependency on an os specific package (rpm, deb)

Yes, but better if you not, they are not really portable: A better way around is to actually create a .eb file for the dependency without a sources field.

You can add a sanitycheckcommand to check if the package is available (it would be nice if this is distribution independend)

This way a) a build will fail without the os dependency available. b) you can later override default tcsh with a custom build one when in need c) reduce dependencies on OS repositories and distro specific mechanisms d) actually report problems when there are exact version dependencies (otherwise a default yum/repo update can break a working HPC application).