Software

R and Python Virtual Environments

Users can install R or Python packages through the internal web proxy. Once authentication is successful with UChicago credentials, users can install research software in their virtual environments.

module load proxy
proxy 2h

The proxy command will prompt for authentication. Users can also specify a time limit to avoid repeated authentication prompts.

Spack Package Manager

Spack is an HPC package manager that can be used to build scientific software with complex dependency chains.

module load spack                           # activate Spack
module use /software/spack-modules          # add Spack modules to MODULEPATH
module avail                                # see available spack modules next to the system modules
module load gdal                            # load GDAL and all its dependencies

Installed packages are stored in /software/spack-apps/ with 7-character hash suffixes. Only explicitly installed packages appear in module avail; implicit dependencies are hidden but loaded automatically. Users are encouraged to create Spack virtual environments to ensure project reproducibility and isolation.