Spack in shared course folder

HUIT Open OnDemand comes with Spack already installed, and we try to make sure that all of the software that instructors request is available from that global Spack installation. However, there may be cases where teaching staff want flexibility during the semester to install Spack packages on their own, while still sharing those installations with students. For this, it's possible to set up a Spack installation in the course shared folder provisioned by default for each course.

Each shared course folder comes with a script, setup_spack.sh, which sets up a new Spack installation in the shared course folder and connects it to the global installation as an upstream source. This new Spack installation can be managed by course staff, without having to reinstall packages that are already installed globally.

The way to activate the global installation is by sourcing a script from that global installation, like so:

. /shared/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh

For a spack installation in a shared course folder, anyone with access can activate it by following the link in their home directory. For a class with course ID 000000, that would look like this:

. ~/000000/spack/share/spack/setup-env.sh

You should test the command to make sure it works first, but you can add a line like that one to your ~/.bashrc file so that the Spack installation in your shared course folder is activated whenever you log in. Just be sure that it works, because problems with your ~/.bashrc file can also cause problems with other interactive apps.

Anyone on the teaching staff should have permission to modify the spack installation, including by installing new packages and creating new environments.

For more on managing a Spack installation and Spack environments, see our Spack package management docs.