.. Copyright 2013-2023 Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC and other Spack Project Developers. See the top-level COPYRIGHT file for details. SPDX-License-Identifier: (Apache-2.0 OR MIT) .. _configuration: =================== Configuration Files =================== Spack has many configuration files. Here is a quick list of them, in case you want to skip directly to specific docs: * :ref:`compilers.yaml ` * :ref:`concretizer.yaml ` * :ref:`config.yaml ` * :ref:`mirrors.yaml ` * :ref:`modules.yaml ` * :ref:`packages.yaml ` * :ref:`repos.yaml ` You can also add any of these as inline configuration in the YAML manifest file (``spack.yaml``) describing an :ref:`environment `. ----------- YAML Format ----------- Spack configuration files are written in YAML. We chose YAML because it's human readable, but also versatile in that it supports dictionaries, lists, and nested sections. For more details on the format, see `yaml.org `_ and `libyaml `_. Here is an example ``config.yaml`` file: .. code-block:: yaml config: install_tree: $spack/opt/spack build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage Each Spack configuration file is nested under a top-level section corresponding to its name. So, ``config.yaml`` starts with ``config:``, ``mirrors.yaml`` starts with ``mirrors:``, etc. .. _configuration-scopes: -------------------- Configuration Scopes -------------------- Spack pulls configuration data from files in several directories. There are six configuration scopes. From lowest to highest: #. **defaults**: Stored in ``$(prefix)/etc/spack/defaults/``. These are the "factory" settings. Users should generally not modify the settings here, but should override them in other configuration scopes. The defaults here will change from version to version of Spack. #. **system**: Stored in ``/etc/spack/``. These are settings for this machine, or for all machines on which this file system is mounted. The site scope can be used for settings idiosyncratic to a particular machine, such as the locations of compilers or external packages. These settings are presumably controlled by someone with root access on the machine. They override the defaults scope. #. **site**: Stored in ``$(prefix)/etc/spack/``. Settings here affect only *this instance* of Spack, and they override the defaults and system scopes. The site scope can can be used for per-project settings (one Spack instance per project) or for site-wide settings on a multi-user machine (e.g., for a common Spack instance). #. **user**: Stored in the home directory: ``~/.spack/``. These settings affect all instances of Spack and take higher precedence than site, system, or defaults scopes. #. **custom**: Stored in a custom directory specified by ``--config-scope``. If multiple scopes are listed on the command line, they are ordered from lowest to highest precedence. #. **environment**: When using Spack :ref:`environments`, Spack reads additional configuration from the environment file. See :ref:`environment-configuration` for further details on these scopes. Environment scopes can be referenced from the command line as ``env:name`` (to reference environment ``foo``, use ``env:foo``). #. **command line**: Build settings specified on the command line take precedence over all other scopes. Each configuration directory may contain several configuration files, such as ``config.yaml``, ``compilers.yaml``, or ``mirrors.yaml``. When configurations conflict, settings from higher-precedence scopes override lower-precedence settings. Commands that modify scopes (e.g., ``spack compilers``, ``spack repo``, etc.) take a ``--scope=`` parameter that you can use to control which scope is modified. By default, they modify the highest-precedence scope. .. _custom-scopes: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Custom scopes ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In addition to the ``defaults``, ``system``, ``site``, and ``user`` scopes, you may add configuration scopes directly on the command line with the ``--config-scope`` argument, or ``-C`` for short. For example, the following adds two configuration scopes, named ``scopea`` and ``scopeb``, to a ``spack spec`` command: .. code-block:: console $ spack -C ~/myscopes/scopea -C ~/myscopes/scopeb spec ncurses Custom scopes come *after* the ``spack`` command and *before* the subcommand, and they specify a single path to a directory full of configuration files. You can add the same configuration files to that directory that you can add to any other scope (``config.yaml``, ``packages.yaml``, etc.). If multiple scopes are provided: #. Each must be preceded with the ``--config-scope`` or ``-C`` flag. #. They must be ordered from lowest to highest precedence. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Example: scopes for release and development """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Suppose that you need to support simultaneous building of release and development versions of ``mypackage``, where ``mypackage`` -> ``A`` -> ``B``. You could create The following files: .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/myscopes/release/packages.yaml packages: mypackage: version: [1.7] A: version: [2.3] B: version: [0.8] .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/myscopes/develop/packages.yaml packages: mypackage: version: [develop] A: version: [develop] B: version: [develop] You can switch between ``release`` and ``develop`` configurations using configuration arguments. You would type ``spack -C ~/myscopes/release`` when you want to build the designated release versions of ``mypackage``, ``A``, and ``B``, and you would type ``spack -C ~/myscopes/develop`` when you want to build all of these packages at the ``develop`` version. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Example: swapping MPI providers """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Suppose that you need to build two software packages, ``packagea`` and ``packageb``. ``packagea`` is Python 2-based and ``packageb`` is Python 3-based. ``packagea`` only builds with OpenMPI and ``packageb`` only builds with MPICH. You can create different configuration scopes for use with ``packagea`` and ``packageb``: .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/myscopes/packgea/packages.yaml packages: python: version: [2.7.11] all: providers: mpi: [openmpi] .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/myscopes/packageb/packages.yaml packages: python: version: [3.5.2] all: providers: mpi: [mpich] .. _platform-scopes: ------------------------ Platform-specific Scopes ------------------------ For each scope above (excluding environment scopes), there can also be platform-specific settings. For example, on most platforms, GCC is the preferred compiler. However, on macOS (darwin), Clang often works for more packages, and is set as the default compiler. This configuration is set in ``$(prefix)/etc/spack/defaults/darwin/packages.yaml``. It will take precedence over settings in the ``defaults`` scope, but can still be overridden by settings in ``system``, ``system/darwin``, ``site``, ``site/darwin``, ``user``, ``user/darwin``, ``custom``, or ``custom/darwin``. So, the full scope precedence is: #. ``defaults`` #. ``defaults/`` #. ``system`` #. ``system/`` #. ``site`` #. ``site/`` #. ``user`` #. ``user/`` #. ``custom`` #. ``custom/`` You can get the name to use for ```` by running ``spack arch --platform``. The system config scope has a ```` section for sites at which ``/etc`` is mounted on multiple heterogeneous machines. .. _config-scope-precedence: ---------------- Scope Precedence ---------------- When spack queries for configuration parameters, it searches in higher-precedence scopes first. So, settings in a higher-precedence file can override those with the same key in a lower-precedence one. For list-valued settings, Spack *prepends* higher-precedence settings to lower-precedence settings. Completely ignoring higher-level configuration options is supported with the ``::`` notation for keys (see :ref:`config-overrides` below). There are also special notations for string concatenation and precendense override. Using the ``+:`` notation can be used to force *prepending* strings or lists. For lists, this is identical to the default behavior. Using the ``-:`` works similarly, but for *appending* values. :ref:`config-prepend-append` ^^^^^^^^^^^ Simple keys ^^^^^^^^^^^ Let's look at an example of overriding a single key in a Spack file. If your configurations look like this: .. code-block:: yaml :caption: $(prefix)/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml config: install_tree: $spack/opt/spack build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml config: install_tree: /some/other/directory Spack will only override ``install_tree`` in the ``config`` section, and will take the site preferences for other settings. You can see the final, combined configuration with the ``spack config get `` command: .. code-block:: console :emphasize-lines: 3 $ spack config get config config: install_tree: /some/other/directory build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage .. _config-prepend-append: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ String Concatenation ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Above, the user ``config.yaml`` *completely* overrides specific settings in the default ``config.yaml``. Sometimes, it is useful to add a suffix/prefix to a path or name. To do this, you can use the ``-:`` notation for *append* string concatenation at the end of a key in a configuration file. For example: .. code-block:: yaml :emphasize-lines: 1 :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml config: install_tree-: /my/custom/suffix/ Spack will then append to the lower-precedence configuration under the ``install_tree-:`` section: .. code-block:: console $ spack config get config config: install_tree: /some/other/directory/my/custom/suffix build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage Similarly, ``+:`` can be used to *prepend* to a path or name: .. code-block:: yaml :emphasize-lines: 1 :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml config: install_tree+: /my/custom/suffix/ .. _config-overrides: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Overriding entire sections ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Above, the user ``config.yaml`` only overrides specific settings in the default ``config.yaml``. Sometimes, it is useful to *completely* override lower-precedence settings. To do this, you can use *two* colons at the end of a key in a configuration file. For example: .. code-block:: yaml :emphasize-lines: 1 :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml config:: install_tree: /some/other/directory Spack will ignore all lower-precedence configuration under the ``config::`` section: .. code-block:: console $ spack config get config config: install_tree: /some/other/directory ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ List-valued settings ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Let's revisit the ``config.yaml`` example one more time. The ``build_stage`` setting's value is an ordered list of directories: .. code-block:: yaml :caption: $(prefix)/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage Suppose the user configuration adds its *own* list of ``build_stage`` paths: .. code-block:: yaml :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml build_stage: - /lustre-scratch/$user/spack - ~/mystage Spack will first look at the paths in the defaults ``config.yaml``, then the paths in the user's ``~/.spack/config.yaml``. The list in the higher-precedence scope is *prepended* to the defaults. ``spack config get config`` shows the result: .. code-block:: console :emphasize-lines: 5-8 $ spack config get config config: install_tree: /some/other/directory build_stage: - /lustre-scratch/$user/spack - ~/mystage - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage As in :ref:`config-overrides`, the higher-precedence scope can *completely* override the lower-precedence scope using ``::``. So if the user config looked like this: .. code-block:: yaml :emphasize-lines: 1 :caption: ~/.spack/config.yaml build_stage:: - /lustre-scratch/$user/spack - ~/mystage The merged configuration would look like this: .. code-block:: console :emphasize-lines: 5-6 $ spack config get config config: install_tree: /some/other/directory build_stage: - /lustre-scratch/$user/spack - ~/mystage .. _config-file-variables: --------------------- Config File Variables --------------------- Spack understands several variables which can be used in config file paths wherever they appear. There are three sets of these variables: Spack-specific variables, environment variables, and user path variables. Spack-specific variables and environment variables are both indicated by prefixing the variable name with ``$``. User path variables are indicated at the start of the path with ``~`` or ``~user``. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Spack-specific variables ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Spack understands over a dozen special variables. These are: * ``$env``: name of the currently active :ref:`environment ` * ``$spack``: path to the prefix of this Spack installation * ``$tempdir``: default system temporary directory (as specified in Python's `tempfile.tempdir `_ variable. * ``$user``: name of the current user * ``$user_cache_path``: user cache directory (``~/.spack`` unless :ref:`overridden `) * ``$architecture``: the architecture triple of the current host, as detected by Spack. * ``$arch``: alias for ``$architecture``. * ``$platform``: the platform of the current host, as detected by Spack. * ``$operating_system``: the operating system of the current host, as detected by the ``distro`` python module. * ``$os``: alias for ``$operating_system``. * ``$target``: the ISA target for the current host, as detected by ArchSpec. E.g. ``skylake`` or ``neoverse-n1``. * ``$target_family``. The target family for the current host, as detected by ArchSpec. E.g. ``x86_64`` or ``aarch64``. * ``$date``: the current date in the format YYYY-MM-DD Note that, as with shell variables, you can write these as ``$varname`` or with braces to distinguish the variable from surrounding characters: ``${varname}``. Their names are also case insensitive, meaning that ``$SPACK`` works just as well as ``$spack``. These special variables are substituted first, so any environment variables with the same name will not be used. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Environment variables ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ After Spack-specific variables are evaluated, environment variables are expanded. These are formatted like Spack-specific variables, e.g., ``${varname}``. You can use this to insert environment variables in your Spack configuration. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ User home directories ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Spack performs Unix-style tilde expansion on paths in configuration files. This means that tilde (``~``) will expand to the current user's home directory, and ``~user`` will expand to a specified user's home directory. The ``~`` must appear at the beginning of the path, or Spack will not expand it. .. _configuration_environment_variables: ------------------------- Environment Modifications ------------------------- Spack allows to prescribe custom environment modifications in a few places within its configuration files. Every time these modifications are allowed they are specified as a dictionary, like in the following example: .. code-block:: yaml environment: set: LICENSE_FILE: '/path/to/license' unset: - CPATH - LIBRARY_PATH append_path: PATH: '/new/bin/dir' The possible actions that are permitted are ``set``, ``unset``, ``append_path``, ``prepend_path`` and finally ``remove_path``. They all require a dictionary of variable names mapped to the values used for the modification. The only exception is ``unset`` that requires just a list of variable names. No particular order is ensured on the execution of each of these modifications. ---------------------------- Seeing Spack's Configuration ---------------------------- With so many scopes overriding each other, it can sometimes be difficult to understand what Spack's final configuration looks like. Spack provides two useful ways to view the final "merged" version of any configuration file: ``spack config get`` and ``spack config blame``. .. _cmd-spack-config-get: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ``spack config get`` ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ``spack config get`` shows a fully merged configuration file, taking into account all scopes. For example, to see the fully merged ``config.yaml``, you can type: .. code-block:: console $ spack config get config config: debug: false checksum: true verify_ssl: true dirty: false build_jobs: 8 install_tree: $spack/opt/spack template_dirs: - $spack/templates directory_layout: {architecture}/{compiler.name}-{compiler.version}/{name}-{version}-{hash} build_stage: - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage - ~/.spack/stage - $spack/var/spack/stage source_cache: $spack/var/spack/cache misc_cache: ~/.spack/cache locks: true Likewise, this will show the fully merged ``packages.yaml``: .. code-block:: console $ spack config get packages You can use this in conjunction with the ``-C`` / ``--config-scope`` argument to see how your scope will affect Spack's configuration: .. code-block:: console $ spack -C /path/to/my/scope config get packages .. _cmd-spack-config-blame: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ``spack config blame`` ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ``spack config blame`` functions much like ``spack config get``, but it shows exactly which configuration file each preference came from. If you do not know why Spack is behaving a certain way, this can help you track down the problem: .. code-block:: console $ spack --insecure -C ./my-scope -C ./my-scope-2 config blame config ==> Warning: You asked for --insecure. Will NOT check SSL certificates. --- config: _builtin debug: False /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:72 checksum: True command_line verify_ssl: False ./my-scope-2/config.yaml:2 dirty: False _builtin build_jobs: 8 ./my-scope/config.yaml:2 install_tree: /path/to/some/tree /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:23 template_dirs: /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:24 - $spack/templates /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:28 directory_layout: {architecture}/{compiler.name}-{compiler.version}/{name}-{version}-{hash} /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:49 build_stage: /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:50 - $tempdir/$user/spack-stage /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:51 - ~/.spack/stage /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:52 - $spack/var/spack/stage /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:57 source_cache: $spack/var/spack/cache /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:62 misc_cache: ~/.spack/cache /home/myuser/spack/etc/spack/defaults/config.yaml:86 locks: True You can see above that the ``build_jobs`` and ``debug`` settings are built in and are not overridden by a configuration file. The ``verify_ssl`` setting comes from the ``--insecure`` option on the command line. ``dirty`` and ``install_tree`` come from the custom scopes ``./my-scope`` and ``./my-scope-2``, and all other configuration options come from the default configuration files that ship with Spack. .. _local-config-overrides: ------------------------------ Overriding Local Configuration ------------------------------ Spack's ``system`` and ``user`` scopes provide ways for administrators and users to set global defaults for all Spack instances, but for use cases where one wants a clean Spack installation, these scopes can be undesirable. For example, users may want to opt out of global system configuration, or they may want to ignore their own home directory settings when running in a continuous integration environment. Spack also, by default, keeps various caches and user data in ``~/.spack``, but users may want to override these locations. Spack provides three environment variables that allow you to override or opt out of configuration locations: * ``SPACK_USER_CONFIG_PATH``: Override the path to use for the ``user`` scope (``~/.spack`` by default). * ``SPACK_SYSTEM_CONFIG_PATH``: Override the path to use for the ``system`` scope (``/etc/spack`` by default). * ``SPACK_DISABLE_LOCAL_CONFIG``: set this environment variable to completely disable **both** the system and user configuration directories. Spack will only consider its own defaults and ``site`` configuration locations. And one that allows you to move the default cache location: * ``SPACK_USER_CACHE_PATH``: Override the default path to use for user data (misc_cache, tests, reports, etc.) With these settings, if you want to isolate Spack in a CI environment, you can do this:: export SPACK_DISABLE_LOCAL_CONFIG=true export SPACK_USER_CACHE_PATH=/tmp/spack