Paths to use in your job scripts

As of January 31, 2020, we have released a new module called ccs/lcc-user that is automatically loaded for all users. It sets up some environment variables that point to some important paths on the system. It is vital that you use these environment variables instead of hard-coding paths in your job scripts. These environment variables allow our system to be storage-agnostic so that we can move users between different storage appliances based on performance or other factors.

You should update all of your existing job scripts using the following guide, or you may find your jobs breaking in the future.

For the following exemplary table, assume your username is user123 and that you are in a project called pi456_uksr.

DON'T USEDO USECommand  to show the actual path
/home/user123$HOME echo $HOME
/scratch/user123$SCRATCHecho $SCRATCH
/share$SHAREecho $SHARE
/project/pi456_uksr$PROJECT/pi456_uksrecho $PROJECT/pi456_uksr
/pscratch/pi456_uksr$PSCRATCH/pi456_uksrecho $PSCRATCH/pi456_uksr

If you run module list you'll notice the ccs/lcc-user module is loaded with an (S) next to it. The (S) means sticky so that the module won't be unloaded when you run module purge which a lot of users do at the beginning of their job scripts. This helps ensure that this module stays loaded and that your environment is configured correctly.

[jdch223@login001 ~]$ module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) autotools   2) prun/1.3   3) intel/19.0.4.243   4) impi/2019.4.243   5) ohpc   6) ccs/lcc-user (S)

  Where:
   S:  Module is Sticky, requires --force to unload or purge



[jdch223@login001 ~]$ module purge
The following modules were not unloaded:
  (Use "module --force purge" to unload all):

  1) ccs/lcc-user
[jdch223@login001 ~]$ module list

Currently Loaded Modules:
  1) ccs/lcc-user (S)

  Where:
   S:  Module is Sticky, requires --force to unload or purge

 

*Note:  command "echo $SCRATCH"  will point to your scratch space or the command "cd $SCRATCH ; pwd " will point to your scratch.

Center for Computational Sciences