That's a good point, but rather than say "don't use conda at all" - that's
more reason to have custom channels where conda is set up to comply with
those needs.  Conda need not be mutually exclusive with these things, but
it does take some setup to get them working together.

Saying "don't use conda at all" is ignoring the work that has to happen
either way.  Either you have to reproduce what conda is providing somehow,
or you have to make conda use the part on the system side.  That's
definitely a case-by-case scenario for everyone, and we need to document
both paths.

For your example of MPI, conda packages are setup to explicitly require
some MPI implementation where necessary.  That package can come from an
actual conda MPICH package, or it can come from a known binary compatible
system installation that has a conda package setup to reference it.  Conda
is not dogmatic about being hermetic (unlike, say, bazel).  Binary
compatibility with external libraries can be pretty tricky, though.

On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 9:48 AM Maxime Boissonneault <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi,
> How about including a part about when *not* to use Conda ?
>
> In particular, if they are going to be computing on a supercomputer, they
> should consult with your cluster specialists first.
> Conda works well on somebody's desktop, but it creates a lot of problems
> on supercomputers, because it does crazy stuff like installing MPI by
> itself instead of relying on staff-installed modules and software packages.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Maxime
>
>
> On 2019-06-12 9:49 AM, David Pugh wrote:
>
> All,
>
> I have developed a Software Carpentry style lesson for Conda and would be
> keen to get feedback from the community!
>
> Website:
>
> https://kaust-vislab.github.io/introduction-to-conda-for-data-scientists/
>
> Repo:
>
> https://github.com/kaust-vislab/introduction-to-conda-for-data-scientists
>
> Thanks and look forward to hearing from you!
>
> David
>
>
> *The Carpentries <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/latest>* / discuss /
> see discussions <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss> +
> participants <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/members> + 
> delivery
> options <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription>
> Permalink
> <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/Tb12fc97e5ee621f2-M3bf5ece417a2cb1b32686e63>
>

------------------------------------------
The Carpentries: discuss
Permalink: 
https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/Tb12fc97e5ee621f2-M1342d710fc4e431e3998ff41
Delivery options: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription

Reply via email to