Re: RKO modules

[Mark M. <mar...@me...>]

 * The Locating Modulefiles section states that every directory is searched to find modulefiles and can have an arbitrary number of sub-directories.  This works as described.  However, the 'module list' and 'module avail' commands do not support reporting any more than the last two levels of this sub-directory structure.  As such, these two commands are broken.

I agree with this comment about 3.0.2 too; this is inconsistent with 2.2beta and the main reason we are still using 2.2beta.

I also have one change I would like to see.  It would be nice if a prepend path would remove and then prepend if the directory is already in the PATH.  I made this change in the 3.0.2 source that I downloaded, but if others agreed it would be nice to see it in the distributed source (maybe as a compile option).

Thanks,

- Mark

>>> "David C. Mores" <Dav...@lm...> 01/03/00 12:50PM >>>

"R.K. Owen Ph.D." wrote:

> Hello one & all:
> Being totally unaware that there is any organized effort to develop the modules
> software.  I've posted the following to the comp.os.linux.announce (c.o.l.a)
> news group announcing the availability of modules for linux.
>
> Anyways, I placed the sources under CVS and have been rewriting, fixing,
> adding to, and organizing the sources.  Once I figure out how
> to allow CVS server read-only access I'll announce that availibility
> to this list.
>
> I welcome any help & comments.
>         R.K.

 


     For many of you, two levels may be adequate, but our shop has been using three levels of modulefile directory structure for the past seven (7) years.   Modules 2.2beta handles this correctly.  We arrange this as the Package level, Release level, and local Revision level.  So for a package like Netscape, we have release 4.7, revision 'a' - module load netscape/4.7/a.  Any subsequent local changes setup environment to the initial release would be handled smoothly with a new module file
     revision 'b' - module load netscape/4.7/b.  Since a .version  file can be used to control the default at the release and revision levels, users can be isolated from changes to the default version (4.5, 4.6, 4.7...) and any local revisions (a,b,c...) when they simply 'module load netscape'.  Migration to new releases and levels is handled smoothy.  If trouble develops, this can be backed out smoothy too.

     So the bottom line here is that the modules 'list' and 'avail' need to be fixed to work with whatever number of sub-directories or levels exist to be in line with how the other module commands work.

   * The 'module -l list' command headings for 'Versions' is  incorrect in my opinion.  This is not really a column for the version, but the 'default' and other 'module-version' or 'module-alias' symbols defined in the modulefiles.  The source code (ModuleCmd_Avail.c in the print_aligned_files function) references this data as 'symbols'.  So 'Versions' should be changed to something more appropriate like 'Symbols'.
   * When the 'module list' and 'module avail' commands are fixed as recommended above, they must handle listing the 'default' flag or symbol appropriately at each level of module sub-directory structure.
   * The 'module-version' modulefile statement left me confused for some time with the words 'This command should be placed in one of the modulecmd rc files in order to provide shorthand invocations of frequently used module file names'.  I thought this would allow me to specify some 'alias_name' for a module file so that I could 'module load alias_name'.  Apparently, not so; these names only seem to apply within the context for the modulefiles.  So, aside from the special 'default'
     version-name, I am somewhat puzzled as to how to best take advantage of this modulefile statement.  I think some additional discussion and examples should be supplied in the man pages to further clarify the (intended) use of the module-version statement.
   * The 'module-alias' statement, as well, needs an expanded clarification of function, some discussion and examples of use.

That's enough for now.

Enjoy,
Dave