Environment modules are used on HPC to allow multiple versions of any given piece of software to sit on the same OS, giving you the ability to choose a version of software.
To view software under environment modules control, use the command:
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module avail |
To list the environment modules you have loaded, use the command:JCU HPC uses environment modules to deliver multiple versions of software in a multi-user HPC cluster.
This page house a "cheat sheet" style glance at some environment modules functionality. You will need to replace any occurrence of <software-name> and/or <version> below with an appropriate name/value.
To list all available software
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module avail |
To list all versions of a given piece of software
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module avail <software-name> |
To display a brief summary for a given piece of software
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module help <software-name> |
To list environment modules that have already loaded
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module list |
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To load the
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default version of a piece of software
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module load <software-name> |
The default version of a piece of software will usually be a safe (rather than latest) version.
To load a specific version of a piece of software
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module load java/1.8.0-oracle |
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<software-name>/<software-version> |
HPC staff recommend this approach as default versions may change with time.
To switch to another version of the same piece of software
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module switch <software-name>/<software-version> |
To list changes that would be (or have been) made to your environment from loading a specific module
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module switchshow python/3.6.1 |
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<software-name>/<software-version> |
To unload a module you have loaded
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module unload java/1.8.0-oracle |
will backout changes made to your environment from a previous module load java/1.8.0-oracle command. To unload (purge) all modules you have loaded, use the command:
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module purge<software-name> |
Specification of a version shouldn't be required here.
To unload all of your currently loaded module
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module purge |
Information specific to JCU HPC configuration
Most module files, when loaded, will set an environment variable <SOFTWARE>_HOME which holds the installation home for the software. For example, try
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module load vcftools
echo $VCFTOOLS_HOME
ls -lR $VCFTOOLS_HOME |
The most common environment variable modified by the loading of an environment variable is PATH. This has been done for convenience.