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Conference call notes 20260520

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Alex Domingo edited this page May 20, 2026 · 1 revision

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Notes on the 294rd EasyBuild conference call, Wednesday 20 May 2026 (09:00 UTC / 10:00 CEST)

Attendees

List of attendees (16):

  • Adam Huffman (University of Oxford, UK)
  • Alex Domingo (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
  • Alexander Grund (ZIH, Dresden, Germany)
  • Ake Sandgren (Umeå University, Sweden)
  • Bart Verheyde (UCB)
  • Cintia Willemyns (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
  • Jan Reuter (JSC, Germany)
  • Jarne Renders (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
  • Jasper Grimm (University of York, UK)
  • Jörg Saßmannshausen (Imperial College London, UK)
  • Jorge Delgado Guerrero (University of Luxembourg)
  • Jurij Pečar (EMBL, Germany)
  • Kurt Lust (LUMI)
  • Leonardo Honfi Camilo (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands)
  • Mikael Öhman (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden)
  • Sam Moors (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)

Agenda

  • overview of recent developments
  • update of common toolchains
  • Q&A

Recent developments

  • latest EasyBuild release: EasyBuild v5.3.0 (10 April 2026)
  • next (stable) EasyBuild release: v5.3.1 (?)
    • ETA: end of May'26?
  • ETA for EasyBuild 6.0: spring 2027

News

Merge sprints

  • future easyconfigs merge sprints planned:
    • Mon 15 Jun 2026
    • Mon 17 Aug 2026
    • Mon 19 Oct 2026
    • Mon 21 Dec 2026
    • Mon 15 Feb 2026
    • aiming for semi-fixed schedule every other month: 3rd Monday in even months
  • at some point a sprint to revise & close outdated open issues across different EasyBuild repos

Merged PRs

(changed made in PRs marked with * are included latest EasyBuild stable release)

  • blog/docs (merged PRs)

    • bug fixes
      • * Fix non-plural group names (PR#379)

  • framework (merged PRs)

    • bug fixes
      • ...
    • enhancements
      • ...
    • changes
      • ...
    • code cleanup
      • ...
    • CI/test suite
      • ...
    • other
      • ...

  • easyblocks (merged PRs)

    • bug fixes
      • Add CUDNN_HOME and CUDNN_PATH as extra variables to the cuDNN easyblock (PR #4130)
    • enhancements
      • add Arm support to NAMD easyblock (PR #3348)
      • Update Boost sanity checks for versions 1.89 and newer (PR #4088)

    • updates

    • changes
      • ...

    • new

    • code cleanup
      • ...
    • CI
      • ...

  • easyconfigs (merged PRs)

    • 30 easyconfig PRs were merged since last conf call
    • bug fixes/reports
      • add missing Simple-DFTD3 dependency for CREST 3.0.2 w/ foss/2023a (PR #25935)
    • enhancements
      • ...
    • (noteworthy) new software
      • {lib}[gompi/2025a] CUDA-wheel-bundle v12.8.0 w/ CUDA 12.8.0 (PR #25266)
      • {lib}[GCC/15.2.0,intel-compilers/2025.3.3,llvm-compilers/21.1.8] Kokkos v5.1.1 (PR #25938)
    • noteworthy software updates
      • {bio}[foss/2024a] Rapids-SingleCell v0.10.11, RAPIDS v24.10.0, ucx-py v0.40.0, CUDA-wheel-budle-12.6.0 w/ CUDA 12.6.0 (PR #25558)
      • {bio}[foss/2025b] GROMACS v2026.2 (PR #25879)
    • cleanup
    • changes
      • ...

Open (active) PRs

  • blog/docs (open PRs + issues)

    • LSP for easyconfigs (WIP) (PR #16)
      • Language Server Protocol
    • Blog post on slurm job builds (PR #14)
    • Add documentation for generating exts_list for a JuliaBundle (PR #377)
    • document EasyBuild governance (PR #376)

  • framework (open PRs + issues)

    • bugs
      • Fix non-interactive cmd.sh (PR #5187)
      • Fix fake_module dependencies for ExtensionsEasyblock with --sanity-check-only (PR #5182)
        • Alexander has some comments, w.r.t. potential overlap with PR #5185, see discussion in PR.
      • Fix duplicate counting of progress in obtain_file (PR #5174)
      • Fix slow dep_graph when only generating source .dot files (PR #5171)
      • Use obtain_file to get file for test_cases_step (PR #5162)
    • enhancements
      • Remove redundant work in sanity check of extensions (PR #5185)
      • Do not duplicate sanity checks in each extension (PR #5184)
      • Allow overwriting the CUDA sanity check CLI arguments in an EasyConfig (PR #5189)
      • format extension names in module files with exts_formatter function (PR #5186)
      • Add options --include-job-backends and --avail-job-backends (PR #5178)
      • Improved Slurm backend for job submission (PR #5177)
      • Allow using ec.dependency_names inside parse_hook (PR #5176)
      • Improve --bwrap to work with r/o filesystems (overlayfs) and --subdir-{modules,software} (PR #5173)
      • Add customizable Themes and Highlighters for rich colors in print_msg (PR #5169)
      • New experimental eb2 CLI using click (PR #4961)
        • reviewed by KH, needs a bit more work...
        • should be opt-in (via $EB_CLI_CLICK)
        • eb --version is broken with Click-based CLI, should be fixed
      • Add support for non-path variables in module_load_environment (PR #5138)
      • Document where architecture dicts are allowed in easyconfig parameters & fix version templates for removed dependencies (PR #5150)
      • Lift fallback for PyPI package names to obtain_file (PR #5159)
    • code cleanup
    • changes
      • Sort values for cuda_compute_capabilities templates (PR #5144)
    • CI/test suite
      • Use assert(Not)Regex instead of assertTrue or assertFalse in tests (PR #5188)
      • Fix C&P error in test_toy_cuda_sanity_check and simplify (PR #5183)
      • remove hound (PR #5175)

  • easyblocks (open PRs + issues)

    • bug fixes/reports
      • Fix for running --sanity-check-only for a JuliaBundle (PR #4122)
      • call _test_step instead of test_step in Bundle easyblock (PR #4112)
    • enhancements
      • Add CUDNN_HOME as an extra variable (PR #4130)
      • Add PTX code for (highest) CUDA compute capability in PyTorch & torchvision (PR #4129)
      • Adapt easyblocks for HIP (draft PR #4128)
      • add exts_formatter param to allow formatting extension names in module files (PR #4125)
      • JuliaPackage: Allow running tests in a dedicated test_step (PR #4124)
      • Add functions to generate exts_list for a JuliaBundle starting from a Manifest.toml (PR #4121)
      • Configuremake config.guess update and support for multiple source urls (PR #4118)
      • add support for Pnetcdf and PIO to ESMF (PR #4117)
      • Support GPU aware MPI for the NVHPC toolchain in QuantumESPRESSO (PR #4116)
      • enable SVE for FFTW >= 3.3.11 (draft PR #4115)
      • enable 'runtest' and 'test_cmd' customization in MesonNinja easyblock (PR #4111)
      • print warning for mismatched python package names or versions (PR #4109)
      • enhance custom easyblock for intel-compilers to support sysroot + dynamic linker (PR #4098)
      • enhance JuliaPackage easyblock to avoid writing to $HOME & clean up JuliaBundle (PR #4102)
    • updates
      • ...
    • changes
      • ...
    • code cleanup
      • ...
    • new easyblocks
      • adding the gcc buildenv easyblock (PR #4120)
      • custom easyblock for ESPResSo (PR #4066)
      • add custom easyblock for DeepSpeed (PR #4082)

  • easyconfigs (open PRs + issues)

    • bug fixes/reports
      • Add missing depencies to jupyter-resource-usage (PR #25801)
      • Remove Dyninst dependency in Extrae for RISCV (PR #25798)
      • Checksum fix for msigdbr in R-bundle-Bioconductor-3.22-foss-2025a-R-4.5.1 (PR #25796)
      • Ignore warning about avx10.1 when configuring CMake (PR #25731)
      • Add graniterapids support to OpenBLAS-0.3.27 (PR #25730)
      • re-enable test_dep_graph (draft PR #25700)
    • enhancements
      • ...
    • (noteworthy) new software
    • software updates
      • PyTorch 2.9.1 w/ CUDA (multiple toolchains)
        • PyTorch performance benchmarking results by Alex: issue #931
    • changes
      • ...

Common toolchains

  • {foss/intel/lfoss}/2026.1
  • 2026.1 toolchain definitions:
    • included in EasyBuild 5.3.0!
    • foss/2026.1 component versions (all latest release)
      • GCC 15.2
      • FlexiBLAS 3.5.0 + OpenBLAS 0.3.32 + BLIS 2.0
      • OpenMPI 5.0.10 + UCX 1.20.0 + libfabric 2.5.0 + PMIx 6.1.0
      • FFTW 3.3.10
    • intel/2026.01 component versions
      • GCC 15.2
      • intel-compilers 2025.3.3
      • impi 2021.17.2
      • imkl 2025.3.1
    • lfoss/2026.01 component versions
      • like foss/2026.01, but with LLVM 21.1.8
      • needed to fix use of -march=native on Arm with LLVM, using -mcpu=native instead
  • For newer toolchains: GCC 16.1 has been released, GCC 15.3 planned for June 12th
  • probably worth waiting for CUDA 13.3
    • to avoid regression with C++20 in older CUDA 13.x. But we are not sure which regressions, maybe Jan Reuter knows?
  • working on main bundles on top of 2026.1: Python-PyPI-bundle, Perl-bundle-CPAN (https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/26037)

Q&A / other

  • Jorg: https://github.com/easybuilders/easybuild-easyconfigs/pull/24393
    • PR ready, reworked with PythonBundle
    • Ake: some easyconfigs use the same sources, could be improved to avoid double downloads
  • Jorg: working on VASP with GPU with NVHPC
    • Alex: there is already an easyconfig for VASP v6.5.0 with NVHPC
  • Jorg: are we sticking with OpenMPI in all toolchains? is any interest on MPICH toolchain?
    • Ake: OpenMPI/libfabric has been the default for a long time, MPICH could be offered as alternative just in case some software needs it; or for systems like Cray with Slingshot
    • Jan: OpenMPI is good default, many software expects it. Recent experience with GROMACS needing as specic option from OpenMPI
    • Jorg: support for the MPI5 standard could help here
    • Jan: not yet supported in OpenMPI, will probably come in version 5
  • Micket: we should try to push Boost down in the toolchain, as it depends on the compiler it can force recompilations for many packages; or duplicate the stack in multiple toolchains
    • since we already split the more difficult components like Boost.MPI, should be no such a big trouble
    • Jan: would be nice to have more of Boost at GCCcore level
  • Alex: there's been lots of activity in the security channel, any things to discuss there?
    • Ake: new NGINX vulnerability could affect OnDemand installations; it is related to some rewrite rules
    • Jorg: should we be worried about software that bundles AI stuff in them?
    • Alex: as long as it is on userland and does not affect the system, is not critical and it is impossible to control (users can downloadn and build any software)
    • micket: warp terminal is an example using LLM for everything, difficult to limit its use
    • Alex: regarding recent LPEs, there is bash script called ModuleJail that helps generate a blacklist of unused modules in your system. On rocky linux we have more than 2000 unused modules in the system.

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