The Modules package is a tool that simplify shell initialization and lets users easily modify their environment during the session with modulefiles. Modules-Tcl is the full Tcl rewrite of the Modules package.

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 perl and python.

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.

Quick examples

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.

Motivation for this Tcl version

The Modules package was originally written in C. This version is referred as Modules C or C version. Modules-Tcl is a complete rewrite of the Modules package aiming at the following goal:

Written in pure TCL, so that there are no porting issues
Faster, smaller (implements most common features of the application)
100% compatibility with existing modulefiles
Some new command line features
Path variable counters, to allow shared usage of particular path elements. I.e. modules can append /usr/bin, which is not unloaded until all the modules that loaded it unload too.
Support for "deep" modules.

Getting things running

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.

Requirements

Tcl >= 8.4

License

Modules-Tcl is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPL v2). Read the file `COPYING.GPLv2' for details.

Documentation

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)

Test suite

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

Links

Web site:

http://modules.sourceforge.net

SourceForge source respository:

https://sourceforge.net/p/modules/modules-tcl/

SourceForge Issue tracking system:

https://sourceforge.net/p/modules/_list/tickets

SourceForge project page:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/modules/

Authors

This project was started by Mark Lakata. Current developers/maintainers are:

Kent Mein mein@cs.umn.edu
Xavier Delaruelle xavier.delaruelle@cea.fr

Languages

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M4 11.1%

Roff 6.4%

Shell 4.8%

Makefile 4.5%

Other 4.6%