Backing up of existing modules (--backup-modules)¶
While regenerating existing module files, you may want to preserve the existing module files to compare and assess that the changes in the newly generated module file match expectations.
Backing up of existing modules can be enabled with --backup-modules.
Backups are stored in the same directory as where the module file was located,
and the files are given an additional extension of the form .bak_<year><month><day><hour><min><sec>.
- With module files in Tcl syntax, the backup module file is hidden by adding a leading dot to the filename;
this is done to avoid that it is displayed as a normal module in
module avail. - With module files in Lua syntax, the backup module file is not made hidden (unless Lmod 6.x is used),
since the additional
.bak_*extension prevents from picking it up as a valid module file; only files ending in.luaare considered to be module files by Lmod 7+ .
The location of the backed up module file will be printed, as well as a “unified diff” comparison
(very similar to what diff -u produces) between the backed up module file and the newly generated module file
(or a message mentioning that no differences were found).
Disabling automatic backup of modules¶
When --skip or --module-only is used, backing up of existing modules is enabled automatically.
This can be disabled with --disable-backup-modules.
Example¶
Suppose existing modules in both Tcl & Lua syntax are present (bzip2/1.0.6).
Both these module files are missing an update statement for $PATH
because the /bin subdirectory was missing in the installation,
for the purpose of this example:
$ ls -la $EASYBUILD_PREFIX/modules/all/bzip2
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 2 example example 136 Aug 24 10:20 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 example example 102 Aug 24 10:18 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1256 Aug 24 10:19 1.0.6
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1303 Aug 24 10:18 1.0.6.lua
Using --force and --backup-modules, we can reinstall the bzip2/1.0.6 modules
and get a clear view on what has changed.
To reinstall the bzip2/1.0.6 module in Lua syntax while retaining a backup of the existing module:
$ eb bzip2-1.0.6.eb --module-syntax=Lua --force --backup-modules
...
== creating build dir, resetting environment...
== backup of existing module file stored at /example/modules/all/bzip2/1.0.6.lua.bak_20170824102603
...
== creating module...
== comparing module file with backup /example/modules/all/bzip2/1.0.6.lua.bak_20170824102603; diff is:
--- /example/modules/all/bzip2/1.0.6.lua.bak_20170824102603
+++ /example/modules/all/bzip2/1.0.6.lua
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@
prepend_path("LD_LIBRARY_PATH", pathJoin(root, "lib"))
prepend_path("LIBRARY_PATH", pathJoin(root, "lib"))
prepend_path("MANPATH", pathJoin(root, "man"))
+prepend_path("PATH", pathJoin(root, "bin"))
setenv("EBROOTBZIP2", root)
setenv("EBVERSIONBZIP2", "1.0.6")
setenv("EBDEVELBZIP2", pathJoin(root, "easybuild/bzip2-1.0.6-easybuild-devel"))
...
Equivalently, we can reinstall the module in Tcl syntax using:
$ eb bzip2-1.0.6.eb --module-syntax=Tcl --force --backup-modules
Afterwards, both the newly generated modules and the backups are in place:
$ ls -la $EASYBUILD_PREFIX/modules/all/bzip2
total 32
drwxr-xr-x 2 example example 204 Aug 24 10:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 example example 102 Jul 11 10:18 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1227 Aug 24 10:24 .1.0.6.bak_20170824102412
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1256 Jul 11 01:24 1.0.6
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1303 Jul 11 01:26 1.0.6.lua
-rw-r--r-- 1 example example 1259 Aug 24 10:26 1.0.6.lua.bak_20170824102603
Cleaning up the backup module files can be done with the following command (for example):
$ find $EASYBUILD_PREFIX/modules/all/bzip2 -name '*.bak*' | xargs rm -v
/example/modules/all/bzip2/.1.0.6.bak_20170824102412
/example/modules/all/bzip2/1.0.6.lua.bak_20170824102603
