Conference call notes 20190501

Notes on the 123rd EasyBuild conference call, Wednesday May 1st 2019 (17:00 - 18:00 CEST)

Alphabetical list of attendees (6):

ETA: mid May'19
framework:
- https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/milestone/63
- some 'important' bug fixes
  - fix for blindly overwriting existing .modulerc when installing Java/11 when Java/8 is already installed
    - https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2848
  - fix use of template values for extensions
    - https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2852
- open issues:
  - support installing TensorFlow multi-Python via multi_deps (2 issues)
    - requires being able to use %(pymajver)s for source of tensorboard
    - implies changing order of fetch step so it's included in list of steps being iterated over?
    - also required support for specifying list of alternatives for checksums of sources...
  - support for Lmod 8: disable Lmod's support for "extended defaults" when using EasyBuild
    - cfr. https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2849
  - %(pyver)s in build dep (SWIG), cfr. Mikael
easyblocks
- ldconfig in $PATH for CUDA:
- Mikael: update for QE easyblock update, related to changing top-level dir
easyconfigs
- easyconfigs merge sprint on May 8th
  - several maintainers will spend a couple of hours getting as many easyconfig PRs merged as possible
  - shortly after EasyBuild v3.9.1 should go out

ETA for EasyBuild 4.0 is (still) by summer 2019...
done: getting rid of strict requirement for setuptools dependency
- cfr. https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2836 + https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-framework/pull/2837
WIP: renaming of 'dummy' toolchain to 'system' toolchain (by @boegel)
- 'dummy' toolchain will be deprecated, using it will result in a big fat warning
- under the hood 'dummy' will be translated to 'system'
- dump easyconfigs (install dir, archive, etc.) will use 'system' rather than 'dummy'
- CLI option for 'eb' to fix use of 'dummy', to easy transition?
- support for toolchain = SYSTEM (to avoid need for toolchain = {'name': 'system', 'version': 'system'})
TODO: OpenMPI easyblock
- logic to do a better job at default configuration of OpenMPI
- conditional in case people already have site customizations (in easyconfig file or through hooks)
- using the OpenMPI easyblock will be opt-in, so shouldn't be a huge problem?
Mikael: 2019b toolchains only in EasyBuild 4.0 or not?
- related to request to join 'icc' & 'ifort' into a single 'iccfort' bundle...
minimal Python 3 version required is currently 3.5
- may be able to lower that to 3.4 with a bit more effort
- both Python 2.6 and 2.7 will also still be supported for EasyBuild 4.x...

Davide: CUDA easyblock requires ldconfig (to install the stubs)?
- see Åke's PR: https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyblocks/pull/1684
Davide: testing through containers
- being able to test on the cluster would help w.r.t. house electricity bill & providing more test reports
- standardize on container setup
- implement a bot that auto-tests PRs (failing test reports are not a huge issue)
- Fotis: see buildtest by Shahzeb?
  - he was using Singularity 2.5(?) which was working fine
- sharing (recipes for) container images
  - minimal vs fat
  - empty vs populated with toolchain/common deps (e.g. Python)
  - Fotis: orthogonal array testing (cfr. Markus)
  - starting point: minimal base container + standardizing mount points inside
- set up a SIG for this?
  - Slack channel + dedicated mailing list(?) + extra slot for calls (in between EB conf calls?)
- Davide & Kenneth will kickstart the effort & report back in (one of the) next conf call(s)

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