# Building a spack community in Australia

**URL:** <https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833>\
**Category:** spack\
**Tags:** spack, community, eresearch\
**Created:** [24 October 2024 04:47 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833 "2024-10-24T04:47:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [24 October 2024 04:47 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/1 "2024-10-24T04:47:51Z")

</div>

# TL;DR

We want to grow a community of spack users in Australia.

# Introduction

ACCESS-NRI (@harshula, @Aidan, @TommyGatti, @paulleopardi) is using spack heavily in climate model build, test and deployment infrastructure.

We’re collaborating with NCI (@rui.yang @yxs900) and the Bureau of Meteorology (@Scott) who are also utilising spack for their own needs.

This has been a fruitful collaboration because spack is such a versatile and powerful tool, each of us is using it in different ways, but we can effectively share the configurations, packages and tooling.

We would like to expand this collaboration into the wider Australian research community (and beyond?).

# eResearch 2025

We have a shared Birds of a Feather session at [eResearch 2025](https://conference.eresearch.edu.au) to try and connect and collaborate with a wider community.

If you’re interested in building scientific software, particularly but not exclusively on HPC, then please come to our session in the Element Room.

> **Modernising building of bespoke software environments for eResearch and sustaining global community engagement**
>
> **Starts:** 22 October 2025 14:15 (Australia/Brisbane)\
> **Ends:** 22 October 2025 15:15 (Australia/Brisbane)\
> **Location:** eResearch: Boulevard B2
>
> Do you build and deploy complex customised software at HPC centres? Are you a researcher that develops and builds software with complex dependencies that may need to be run at multiple HPC centres? What do Amazon, AMD, CERN, Fermilab, Google, INTEL, LLNL, Microsoft, NOAA, NVIDIA, Riken have in common with ACCESS-NRI, the Bureau of Meteorology and Pawsey?
>
> The answer is Spack! A leading international Spack expert and core-developer, Greg Becker, will describe the Spack 1.0 release, its benefits for users, strategies for seamlessly upgrading to Spack 1.0 and upcoming features. This will be followed by a discussion to elicit feedback from the community.
>
> Additionally, we will discuss the successful community engagement practices undertaken by the Spack project to facilitate and support ACCESS-NRI and Pawsey to meet their objectives.

Slide: [Final Slide.pdf](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/uploads/short-url/z0zXo44L61vPW2eqbl9LYCrG8cP.pdf) (188.4 KB)

> **2024 BoF details**
>
> # Birds of a Feather @ eResearch 2024
> 
> We have a shared Birds of a Feather session at [eResearch 2024](https://conference.eresearch.edu.au) to try and connect and collaborate with a wider community.
> 
> If you’re interested in building scientific software, particularly but not exclusively on HPC, then please come to our session in the Element Room.

# Follow up

If you came to the BoF and are interested in persuing it more, or if you can’t make it but are interested in collaborating please reply in this topic and we can start to organise some information sharing.

We look forward to hearing from you.

# Self-referential QR code

To show others on a smartphone so they can find this post.

 ![spack_community_qr](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/access1/original/2X/a/a966a0435129aba7d489fc7cb2b9302e4c2a8233.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [29 October 2024 22:31 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/2 "2024-10-29T22:31:01Z")

</div>

**EPILOGUE**

Slide 13 contains an example from a Spack Package Recipe with the snippet:

```auto
self.define("CMAKE_C_COMPILER", self.spec["mpi"].mpicc),
self.define("CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER", self.spec["mpi"].mpicxx),
self.define("CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER", self.spec["mpi"].mpifc)

```

This was added to workaround Gadi’s openmpi directory layout. It is not required, on Gadi, if Spack’s `packages.yaml` configuration file contains:

```auto
    - spec: openmpi@4.1.5 %intel
      prefix: /apps/openmpi/4.1.5
      modules: [openmpi/4.1.5]
      extra_attributes:
        environment:
          prepend_path:
            CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH: /apps/openmpi/4.1.5/include/Intel
    buildable: false

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2024 22:36 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/3 "2024-11-03T22:36:43Z")

</div>

Good news! Spack upstream have set a meeting during Australian business hours (AEDT 11:30am-12:30pm on Wednesday):

- [Telcon: 2024 11 05 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2024-11-05)
- [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/eE5H0R9YNGs](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/eE5H0R9YNGs)

It was great to meet at eResearch 2024, see you all at the Spack meeting!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [27 November 2024 23:18 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/4 "2024-11-27T23:18:39Z")

</div>

Pinned today in the [Spack Slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C5W7NKZJT/p1732733308751879)

[@everyone](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/groups/everyone) we will be having a general meeting on Tuesday December 3rd at 4:30pm PT (UTC-8) - AKA 11:30am Wednesday in AEDT.

This is for Q&A, and is intended to be convenient for folks in the AEDT timezone

Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2024 12 03 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2024-12-03)

Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/L4P1Jt51YFY](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/L4P1Jt51YFY)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [2 January 2025 20:58 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/5 "2025-01-02T20:58:14Z")

</div>

Pinned today in the [Spack slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C5W7NKZJT/p1735837713129189)

we will be having a general meeting on January 7th at 4:30pm PT (UTC-8) - AKA 11:30am Wednesday in AEDT.

This is for Q&A, and is intended to be convenient for folks in the AEDT timezone

Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 01 07 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-01-07)

Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/xRvwPKOyUlc](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/xRvwPKOyUlc)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [3 February 2025 23:52 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/6 "2025-02-03T23:52:58Z")

</div>

Pinned today in the [Spack slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C5W7NKZJT/p1738605486681319)

[W]e will be having a general meeting on February 4th at 4:30pm PT (UTC-8) - AKA 11:30am Wednesday February 5th in AEDT.  
This is for Q&A, and is intended to be convenient for folks in the AEDT timezone  
Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 02 04 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-02-04)  
Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/IhiSjTyOcuY](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/IhiSjTyOcuY)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [4 March 2025 06:31 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/7 "2025-03-04T06:31:11Z")

</div>

Pinned today in the [Spack slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C5W7NKZJT/p1741026821633779)

[W]e will be having a general meeting on Tuesday March 4th at 4:30pm PT (UTC-8) - AKA 11:30am Wednesday March 5th in AEDT.  
This is for Q&A, and is intended to be convenient for folks in the AEDT timezone

Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 03 04 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon%3A-2025-03-04)  
Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/A2bgqcAAJdI](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/A2bgqcAAJdI)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [31 March 2025 23:59 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/8 "2025-03-31T23:59:06Z")

</div>

Pinned today in the [Spack slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C5W7NKZJT/p1743187238275979)

Hi all, we will be having a general meeting on Tuesday April 1st at 5:30pm PT (UTC-7) - AKA 11:30am Wednesday April 2nd in AEDT.

This is for Q&A, and is intended to be convenient for folks in the AEDT timezone  
(this is occurring after USA DST but before Australia DST, so it is shifted one hour later in USA time compared to prior meetings)

Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 04 01 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-04-01)  
Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/U\_AANm1P2RI](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/U_AANm1P2RI)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [6 May 2025 00:04 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/9 "2025-05-06T00:04:00Z")

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Pinned in [Spack slack channel](https://spackpm.slack.com/archives/C08PN3XVC9M/p1746047768673939)

Hi all, the next general meetings will be on May 13th at 5pm PT (UTC-7): i.e. 10am May 14 in AEST (UTC+10) timezone:

Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 05 13 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-05-13)  
Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/ewfDgTXN0Zg](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/ewfDgTXN0Zg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [20 May 2025 02:30 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/10 "2025-05-20T02:30:42Z")

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Hi All,

There was a Spack User Meeting held in May, in Chicago, as part of [High Performance Software Foundation conference](https://events.linuxfoundation.org/hpsf-conference/):

> **[The schedule is live for the first Spack User Meeting!](https://spack.io/sum25-schedule/)**
>
> The schedule for SUM25, held at HPSFCon 2025, is online! We’ve got a great lineup with 34 contributed talks and updates on the Spack community and Spack v1.0.

The talks should appear on the HPSF Youtube channel:

> **[HPSF](https://www.youtube.com/@HPSF-community/videos)**
>
> The High Performance Software Foundation (HPSF) is a neutral hub for open source high performance software.
> HPSF supports projects that advance portable software for diverse hardware by increasing adoption, aiding community growth, and enabling...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [28 May 2025 02:32 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/11 "2025-05-28T02:32:26Z")

</div>

The Spack talks are now available on Youtube as a watch list:  
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mjcjK0JLPpo?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=PLRKq_yxxHw29-JcpG2CZ-xKK2U8Hw8O1t

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [3 June 2025 01:02 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/12 "2025-06-03T01:02:06Z")

</div>

General meeting: June 3rd at 5pm PT (UTC-7): i.e. 10am June 4th in AEST (UTC+10) timezone:  
Meeting access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/T7TVe1NFSZ8](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/T7TVe1NFSZ8)  
Meeting notes: [Telcon: 2025 06 03 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-06-03)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [30 June 2025 23:58 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/13 "2025-06-30T23:58:19Z")

</div>

General meeting: July 1st at 5pm PT (UTC-7): i.e. 10am July 2nd in AEST (UTC+10) timezone  
Access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/xE6iQYSLPag](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/xE6iQYSLPag)  
Notes: [Telcon: 2025 07 01 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-07-01)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [4 August 2025 23:57 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/14 "2025-08-04T23:57:50Z")

</div>

General meeting: August 5th at 5pm PT (UTC-7): i.e. 10am August 6th in AEST (UTC+10) timezone:

Access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/kYPV-MaI3AA](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/kYPV-MaI3AA)

Meeting notes (and agenda): [https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-06-05](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-06-05)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [1 September 2025 02:42 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/15 "2025-09-01T02:42:14Z")

</div>

General meeting: September 2nd at 5pm PT (UTC-7): i.e. 10am September 3rd in AEST (UTC+10) timezone:

Access: [https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/7i6xL5awhSI](https://groups.google.com/g/spack/c/7i6xL5awhSI)  
Notes: [Telcon: 2025 09 02 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-09-02)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [7 October 2025 23:14 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/16 "2025-10-07T23:14:38Z")

</div>

General meeting: Tuesday October 7th, 5:00pm PT (UTC -7:00) - This is AEDT 11:00am-12:00pm (UTC +11:00) on Wednesday October 8th, intended to be convenient for folks in that timezone:  
Access: [LFX Meetings](https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meeting/94850368992?password=78c0653f-6501-4a71-9867-318f4bcdb728)  
Notes: [Telcon: 2025 10 07 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-10-07)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [31 October 2025 03:09 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/17 "2025-10-31T03:09:37Z")

</div>

General meeting: Wednesday, 12pm November 5th in AEDT (UTC+11) timezone (Tuesday, November 4th at 5pm PT (UTC-8)):

ACCESS: [LFX Meetings](https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meeting/94850368992?password=78c0653f-6501-4a71-9867-318f4bcdb728)  
Notes: [Telcon: 2025 11 04 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-11-04)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [2 December 2025 02:06 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/18 "2025-12-02T02:06:37Z")

</div>

General meeting: 12pm, Wedendsay, December 3rd (AEDT (UTC+11) timezone) (December 2nd at 5pm PT (UTC-8)):

ACCESS: [LFX Meetings](https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meeting/94850368992?password=78c0653f-6501-4a71-9867-318f4bcdb728)  
Notes: [Telcon: 2025 12 02 · spack/spack Wiki · GitHub](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2025-12-02)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [6 January 2026 17:42 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/19 "2026-01-06T17:42:36Z")

</div>

General meeting: 12pm, Wednesday, January 7th in AEDT (UTC+11) timezone. (January 6th at 5pm PT (UTC-8)):

ACCESS: [LFX Meetings](https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meeting/94850368992?password=78c0653f-6501-4a71-9867-318f4bcdb728)  
Notes: [https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2026-01-06](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2026-01-06)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![harshula](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.access-hive.org.au/harshula/32/256_2.png) [@harshula](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/u/harshula)\
**Post date:** [2 February 2026 00:37 UTC](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833/20 "2026-02-02T00:37:05Z")

</div>

General meeting: 12pm, Wednesday, February 4th in ADST (UTC+11) timezone (February 3rd at 5pm PT (UTC-8)):  
Access: [LFX Meetings](https://zoom-lfx.platform.linuxfoundation.org/meeting/94850368992?password=78c0653f-6501-4a71-9867-318f4bcdb728)  
Notes: [https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2026-02-03](https://github.com/spack/spack/wiki/Telcon:-2026-02-03)

[Next page](https://forum.access-hive.org.au/t/building-a-spack-community-in-australia/3833.md?page=2)