Reference Operating Systems

• Scientific Linux 7.2
• Debian 8 Jessie
• Scientific Linux 6.1 (to be deprecated)
• Debian 7 Wheezy (to be deprecated)

Philosophy of Reference Environment for LSCDataGrid

LSC software developers need to know what environments to target for their software. LSC computing centers need to know which environments to support.

The grid concept, toward which we are working, is heterogeneous. More immediately, the computing marketplace is so dynamic, particularly with regard to operating systems, that one cannot plan for continuity in environments. Future purchases and upgrades may require changes. Software must be built with this heterogenity in mind so that it can be readily ported when required. However, supporting an uncontrolled, large number of operating systems simultaneously is a burden the LSC cannot bear.

The LSC Computing Committee has addressed these conflicting considerations and has determined that at any one time there will be a limited list of Reference Operating Systems on which code should be tested. This list will be reconsidered annually. At this time it includes specific Sun and Linux environments.

At a minimum, software developed by the LSC must be shown capable of being run and producing correct results when deployed in the primary reference environments. Because of the extremely dynamic situation in the Linux world, it is particularly important that code be built portably in the Linux context, and so, if at all possible, it should be tested on both the primary and secondary Linux reference environment.

Obligations of Software Developers and LSC Data Grid Centers

Through the MOU process, developers will commit to this requirement. Institutions running the computer centers will commit to supporting certain reference environments and the users who are running on them. Centers that operate environments not on the current list will commit to assisting users in code porting issues. The reference O/S schedule will be reviewed on a regular basis to ease deployment of infrastructure and scientific software across the LSC Data Grid

Supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF)

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