The Modules package is a tool that simplify shell initialization and lets users easily modify their environment during the session with modulefiles.
Each modulefile contains the information needed to configure the shell for an application. Once the Modules package is initialized, the environment can be modified on a per-module basis using the module command which interprets modulefiles. Typically modulefiles instruct the module command to alter or set shell environment variables such as PATH, MANPATH, etc. modulefiles may be shared by many users on a system and users may have their own collection to supplement or replace the shared modulefiles.
Modules can be loaded and unloaded dynamically and atomically, in an clean fashion. All popular shells are supported, including bash, ksh, zsh, sh, csh, tcsh, fish, as well as some scripting languages such as tcl, perl, python, ruby, cmake and r.
Modules are useful in managing different versions of applications. Modules can also be bundled into metamodules that will load an entire suite of different applications.
Here is an example of loading a module on a Linux machine under bash.
$ module load gcc/6.1.1
$ which gcc
$ /usr/local/gcc/6.1.1/linux-x86_64/bin/gcc
Now we'll switch to a different version of the module
$ module switch gcc gcc/6.3.1
$ which gcc
/usr/local/gcc/6.3.1/linux-x86_64/bin/gcc
And now we'll unload the module altogether
$ module unload gcc
$ which gcc
gcc not found
Now we'll log into a different machine, using a different shell (tcsh).
% module load gcc/6.3.1
% which gcc
/usr/local/gcc/6.3.1/linux-aarch64/bin/gcc
Note that the command line is exactly the same, but the path has automatically configured to the correct architecture.
To learn how to install modules see INSTALL.txt
for Unix system or
INSTALL-win.txt
for Windows
To have things running efficiently you will need a lot of additional setup.
For an example take a look at doc/example.txt
which explains how things
have been setup at the University of Minnesota computer science department.
- Tcl >= 8.4
Modules is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL
v2). Read the file COPYING.GPLv2
for details.
Look at NEWS
for summarized information regarding the changes brought
by each released version. Look at ChangeLog
for detailed information
regarding changes.
The doc
directory contains both the paper and man pages describing the
user's and the module writer's usage. To generate the documentation files,
like the man pages (you need Perl podlators to build the documentation),
just type:
$ ./configure
$ make -C doc all
The following man pages are provided:
module(1), modulefile(4)
Regression testing scripts are available in the testsuite
directory (you
need dejagnu to run the test suite):
$ ./configure
$ make test
Once modules is installed after running make install
, you have the
ability to test this installation with:
$ make testinstall
Web site:
http://modules.sourceforge.net
GitHub source respository:
https://github.com/cea-hpc/modules
GitHub Issue tracking system:
https://github.com/cea-hpc/modules/issues
SourceForge project page:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/modules/
Current core developers and maintainers are:
- Xavier Delaruelle xavier.delaruelle@cea.fr
- R.K. Owen rk@owen.sj.ca.us
- Kent Mein mein@cs.umn.edu
The following people have notably contributed to Modules and Modules would not be what it is without their contributions:
- Mark Lakata
- Harlan Stenn
- Leo Butler
- Robert Minsk
- Jens Hamisch
- Peter W. Osel
- John L. Furlani