Important Announcement – New `analysis3-26.03` Conda Environment

ACCESS-NRI Releases
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Dear ACCESS community,

The new analysis3-26.03 conda environment is now available.

Highlights

  • Major stack upgrades: Python 3.12, NumPy 2, OpenMPI 5.0.8
  • ANTS packages removed due to tight dependency constraints
  • regional-mom6 temporarily removed due to compatibility constraints
  • analysis3-edge environments discontinued

Core stack upgrades

This release includes several major upgrades to the core scientific stack:

  • Python 3.12
  • NumPy 2
  • OpenMPI 5.0.8 (aligned with the MPI libraries available on Gadi)

These updates keep the ACCESS analysis environments aligned with the current scientific Python ecosystem and the NCI software stack.

Move to Python 3.12

The environment now uses Python 3.12, which is the current stable Python version widely supported by the scientific Python ecosystem.

While Python 3.11 is still supported, it is moving toward the later stages of its lifecycle. Moving to Python 3.12 ensures the ACCESS analysis environments remain based on a modern and well-supported Python version.

Following SPEC0 compatibility

When ACCESS-NRI took over maintenance of the community conda environments, we committed to following the SPEC0 compatibility standard used across the scientific Python ecosystem.

SPEC0 defines a shared policy for supported versions of Python and core scientific libraries such as NumPy. Following this standard helps ensure:

  • compatibility with the broader scientific Python ecosystem
  • interoperability between packages built against NumPy
  • fewer dependency conflicts across the environment

Adhering to this policy sometimes requires coordinated upgrades of core packages, which is why this release includes several major updates.

Packages not included

A small number of packages could not be included in this release.

The following UK Met Office packages are not present in analysis3-26.03:

  • mule
  • um-packing
  • mule-utils
  • mule-base
  • um-spiral-search
  • um-ppibm
  • shumlib

Versions supporting Python 3.12 and NumPy 2 exist, but their dependency requirements are pinned to exact package versions, which places too many constraints on the environment and risks breaking compatibility with the wider analysis stack.

For this reason, these packages were not included in analysis3-26.03.

They remain available in earlier analysis3 environments, which will continue to be accessible while we work on solutions for affected users. As previously communicated, older environments will be gradually deprecated.

Temporary removal of regional-mom6

The regional-mom6 package has been temporarily removed.

Work is ongoing to support NumPy 2, and the package is expected to return in a future environment update.

Changes to analysis3-edge

The analysis3-edge environments were originally introduced to provide access to newer versions of the scientific Python stack ahead of the main analysis3 releases.

With the major upgrades in analysis3-26.03 — including Python 3.12 and NumPy 2 — the main environment is now much closer to the latest versions of the scientific stack.

As a result, the analysis3-edge environments are now largely redundant, and no new edge environments will be released.

Reporting issues

If you encounter problems with the ACCESS analysis3 environments, please report them on the ACCESS Hive Forum.

Thank you for your understanding and continued feedback.

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