Unity software overview
Means of installing packages
apt
package manager
The Ubuntu system package manager apt
downloads its packages pre-compiled from the Ubuntu repository. These are placed in standard locations like /usr/bin
so that they are always found in your $PATH
. This can only be done by administrators. To avoid conflicts, most software is only available in one version. These packages will change with an (inevitable) operating system update. The admin team is trying to avoid apt
installs for research computing software.
Environment modules
There are a wide variety of modules available with the module
/modules/apps/
or in /modules/spack/opt/spack/
.
Relevant documentation:
Conda environments
The conda package manager allows users to compile software easily and without admin privileges. Conda environments can be created for any software set, and can be enabled/disabled dynamically not unlike modules.
Relevant Documentation:
Virtual environments in Python
The venv module in Python creates a light virtual environment that allows users to isolate specific versions of the Python interpreter and software libraries for their projects. It comes with the standard library of Python and does not require a separate installation. Venv is ideal for project-based workflows.
Relevant documentation:
R package manager
Coming soon!
Docker (Singularity)
Coming soon!