I just started learning about linux containers (docker and lxc). They seem
useful to publish results of calculations together with the programs,
data bases, libraries, etc. that were used. I was considering their
use to publish some of my own pdl programs together with the
environment that allows them to run: the first step is be to build a
self-contained container in which to run pdl. I am just learning the use of
lxc, docker and git, but anyway, I uploaded to github a fully running lxc-pdl
container with the packages that were mentioned in the recent emails
about strawberry-perl-pdl, in case anyone finds it useful. I don't
know if the idea has been discussed here before, but it is mainly
that installation basically becomes downloading the package and
copying some files to deploy a running pdl with all its prerequisites
installed but in an environment confined to the container, without
modifying the environment of the host. I'll appreciate your
comments. The container can be found at
https://github.com/wlmb/lxcpdl.git
and it's about 300M. It is a .tar.xz file split into small enough
pieces to fit github's size limitations. I attach a README.txt file.
Regards,
Luis
--
o
W. Luis Mochán, | tel:(52)(777)329-1734 /<(*)
Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, UNAM | fax:(52)(777)317-5388 `>/ /\
Apdo. Postal 48-3, 62251 | (*)/\/ \
Cuernavaca, Morelos, México | [email protected] /\_/\__/
GPG: 791EB9EB, C949 3F81 6D9B 1191 9A16 C2DF 5F0A C52B 791E B9EB
lxcpdl
======
[lxc](https://linuxcontainers.org/lxc/introduction/) container with a
full [pdl](http://pdl.perl.org/) environment
This is a full PDL installation within an LXC container running under
Debian/Wheezy that can be used within a host running a mostly arbitrary
linux flavor. The idea is that within the container, PDL and all the
packages required for its use are already installed, saving time and
effort and allowing new users to test a full pdl installation with
little effort.
This is my first attempt, so things may go wrong. Proceed with caution.
It has been tested on a Debian/stretch host.
Synopsis
--------
$ sudo lxc-start pdl
# pdl
pdl> use PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot
pdl> gplot(zeroes(50)->xlinvals(0,15)->sin)
pdl> q
$ perl -MPDL -E 'say zeroes(10)->xvals'
[0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
$
Installation
------------
To run it you need a working lxc. In debian
$ sudo install lxc
$
You would have to clone the repository
$ git clone https://github.com/wlmb/lxcpdl.git
$
(it will take a long time; it's size is about 300MB+). As github doesn't
allow very large files, and I don't know how to commit files owned by
root, I made a tar file and then split it in pieces. First join the
pieces of the tar file:
$ cd lxcpdl
$ cat pieces-* >pdl.tar.xz
$
As root untar the file pdl.tar.xz file under the lxc directory
$ cd /var/lib/lxc
$ sudo tar xfJv /path/to/lxcpdl/pdl.tar.xz --numeric-owner
$
It seems the `--numeric-owner` option is important. This should populate
the directory `/var/lib/lxc/pdl` with the container.
Usage
-----
To use it I do the following (I don't understand completely, but it has
worked so far): As an ordinary user running X, from an xterm run the
command
$ xhost +local:
$
to allow the container to use your X display. Then fire your container
as a daemon
$ sudo lxc-start -n pdl -d
$
and connect to it
$ sudo lxc-attach -n pdl
#
If no errors, that command will take you to the container and you will
be working within the container as superuser. Don't worry too much, as
you cannot damage your host. Anyway, there is an ordinary sudoer user
(login: user, initial password: user) if you want to drop privileges.
# su user
$
You have to initializa the DISPLAY environment variable, e.g.
$ export DISPLAY=:0
You can run pdl and try out the demos
$ pdl
pdl> demo 3d
pdl> demo prima
pdl> <control>-d
$
or run PDL in any other way you want
$ perl -MPDL -E 'say zeroes(10)->xvals'
[0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
$
The container is a debian installation running on top of your host, but
insulated from it, so you may run other debian programs such as apt-get
mostly without affecting the host.
$ sudo apt-get install ...
$
When done, you may leave your user and your root sessions, which takes
you back to your host
$ exit
# exit
$
where you can stop the container
$ sudo lxc-stop -n pdl
$
If you don't like it, you may remove it with
$ sudo lxc-destroy -n pdl
$
Configuration
-------------
You may have to modify the network settings `lxc.network.xxx` of the
container in the file `/var/lib/lxc/pdl/config` if they are incompatible
with your system. I set up my network following
<https://wiki.debian.org/LXC/LibVirtDefaultNetwork>.
The line
`lxc.mount.entry = /tmp/.X11-unix tmp/.X11-unix none bind,optional,create=dir`
allows the container to open X windows in the hosts display.
Package contents
----------------
Debian/Wheezy + deb-multimedia.org sources
Debian packages:
apt-utils aptitude cmake cpanminus deb-multimedia-keyring dialog
freeglut3-dev gfortran gnuplot-qt lapack-dev less libcfitsio3-dev
libfridi-dev libgd2-xpm-dev libgif-dev libgsl0-dev libgtk-3-dev
libhdf4-dev libhdf5-dev libnetpbm10 libproj-dev
libterm-readline-perl-perl libtiff4-dev libxft-dev libxi-dev libxmu-dev
libxrender-dev make nano netpbm openssh-server tmux pgplot5 sharutils
sudo wget xterm
CPAN packages:
Astro::FITS::Header Astro::FITS::CFITSIO Convert::UU Devel::CheckLib
Data::Dumper Devel::REPL ExtUtils::F77 ExtUtils::MakeMaker File::Map
File::Spec File::Temp Filter::Simple Filter::Util::Call Inline Inline::C
Module::Compile OpenGL PGPLOT Pod::Parser Pod::Select Prima Storable
Test::Exception Text::Balanced Text::Bidi
PDL PDL::Graphics::Gnuplot PDL::Stats PDL::LinearAlgebra
PDL::Graphics::Prima PDL::IO::CSV PDL::IO::DBI
and their dependencies.
Authors
-------
Victoria Domínguez del Angel and W. Luis Mochán <[email protected]>
License
-------
GPL v2.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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