Easyconfig format two

Note: this documentation is for a feature in development, and is thus preliminary and subject to change.

This page describes the v2.0 format for easyconfig files in detail. This format is supported since EasyBuild v1.9 (FIXME), and will become the only supported format starting with EasyBuild v2.0.

Format outline

The easyconfig format consists of three parts, which are described below: a header consisting solely of comments, a Python header that is

Header

• first line: format version specification
• comments

Python header

• docstring: author, maintainer, ...
• common parameters in (PEP8) Python syntax (exec'ed, with limited capabilities, i.e. only certain builtins are allowed)

Sections

• set of version- or toolchain-specific sections
• customizations that depend on particular version/toolchain
• sections are indicated by section markers, e.g. [section1]
• each section contains key-value statements, e.g. version = 1.2.3 (note: no quotes!)

Comparison with easyconfig format v1.0

• specification of format version
• structured documentation in docstring
• exec'ed part in Python syntax is significantly limited w.r.t. use of builtins (e.g., no 'import')
• sections are properly parsed, as opposed to v1.0 where the whole easyconfig file is 'parsed' by exec'ing it as Python code