Providing A Standard Set Of Modules for all Users

Users can be provided with an initial set of modulefiles as part of the login procedure. Once a list of modulefiles has been installed, please create a file called StdEnv.lua and place it in the $MODULEPATH list of directories, typically /opt/apps/modulefiles/Core/StdEnv.lua. The name is your choice, the purpose is provide a standard list of modules that get loaded during login. In StdEnv.lua is something like:

load("name1","name2","name3")

Using the /etc/profile.d directory system described earlier to create a file called z01_StdEnv.sh

if [ -z "$__Init_Default_Modules" ]; then
   export __Init_Default_Modules=1;

   ## ability to predefine elsewhere the default list
   LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES=${LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES:-"StdEnv"}
   export LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES
   module --initial_load --no_redirect restore
else
   module refresh
fi

Similar for z01_StdEnv.csh:

if ( ! $?__Init_Default_Modules )  then
  setenv __Init_Default_Modules 1
  if ( ! $?LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES ) then
    setenv LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES "StdEnv"
  endif
  module --initial_load restore
else
  module refresh
endif

The z01_Stdenv.* names are chosen because the files in /etc/profile.d are sourced in alphabetical order. These names guarantee they will run after the module command is defined.

The z01_Stdenv.sh now includes --no_redirect. This option prevents sites that configure Lmod to write messages to stdout to write them to stderr instead. This is important as any messages written to stdout during shell startup causes scp copies to fail. Csh/tcsh cannot write messages to stdout due to limitations in that shell.

The first time these files are sourced by a shell they will set LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES to StdEnv and then execute module restore. Any subshells will instead call module refresh. Both of these statements are important to get the correct behavior out of Lmod.

The module restore tries to restore the user’s default collection. If that doesn’t exist, it then uses contents of the variable LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES to find a colon separated list of Modules to load.

The module refresh solves an interesting problem. Sub shells inherit the environment variables of the parent but do not normally inherit the shell aliases and functions. This statement fixes this. Under a “refresh”, all the currently loaded modules are reloaded but in a special way. Only the functions which define aliases and shell functions are active, all others functions are ignored.

The above is an example of how a site might provide a default set of modules that a user can override with a default collection. Sites are, of course, free to set up Lmod any way they like. The minimum required setup (for bash with z01_StdEnv.sh ) would be:

if [ -z "$__Init_Default_Modules" ]; then
   export __Init_Default_Modules=1;

   module --initial_load restore
else
   module refresh
fi

The module restore command still depends on the environment variable LMOD_SYSTEM_DEFAULT_MODULES but that can be set somewhere else.

Lmod, LD_LIBRARY_PATH and screen

In general, it is probably better to NOT use screen and use tmux instead. The problem with screen is that it is a set-group-id (SGID) program (tmux is not). That means it uses the group associated with the executable and not the user’s group. The main consequence of this is that the operating system removes LD_LIBRARY_PATH from the environment. This is a security feature built into the operating system.

A site could change z01_StdEnv.sh to have:

if [ -z "$__Init_Default_Modules" -o -z "$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" ]; then
   export __Init_Default_Modules=1;

   module --initial_load restore
else
   module refresh
fi

to help with the situation. This will force Lmod restore the initial set of modules (or the user’s default collection). This works fine as long as the initial set of modules actually sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH. If it doesn’t every interactive sub-shell will do a module restore, which is probably not what you want. For example, if you see the following then you probably want to remove the test for an empty LD_LIBRARY_PATH:

$ module list
Currently Loaded Modules:
   1) git/2.7     2) StdEnv

$ module load bowtie
$ bash
$ module list
Currently Loaded Modules:
   1) git/2.7     2) StdEnv

Running the bash shell caused the module restore to run which unloaded all modules and restored the modules back to the initial set.