Home

Hashdist

We want to solve the problem of distributing scientific Python software.

Many attempts already exists, mostly in the form of source or binary distributions shipping a self-contained silo of Python and non-Python software: EPD, SAGE, Python(x,y), FEMHub, qsnake, python-hpcmp, and numerous in-house solutions in research institutions.

A common pattern currently is that when none of the existing options fit, one starts from scratch and creates a new one. This is particularly the case in HPC, where customization for a specific cluster is vital. The reason for this pattern is that the current distributions, while

We believe current distributions lack a single important feature:

• Make your software stack branchable. Jumping between different customizations of your software stack, or go back in time or replicate somebody else's environment, should be as simple (and quick!) as jumping around in git branches.

We intend to make this happen not by simply providing the 15th source distribution to rule them all. Each distribution was created for a specific use-case, and we can have no hope of understanding them all well enough. Instead, we want to develop standalone backend tools that can improve the state of the art in user-space source distributions in general. Ourselves we will indeed focus on refactoring two different source distributions, qsnake and python-hpcmp (with different package formats), in order to make them use a common tool stack.

• Python