HEPrpms

HEPrpms is a collection of .spec files that enable creation of RPM packages for some widely used the HEP software. The binary packages build from HEPrpms spec files are available at

HEPrpms https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/HEPrpms/

and

HEPrpmsSUSE https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/HEPrpmsSUSE/

repositories. Most of the packages in these repositories are related to the High Energy Physics experiment/theory/phenomenology.

As of December 2023, the packages are built for Fedora 38, Fedora 39, Fedora rawhide, CentOS8, CentOS9 and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. The packages are built on COPR https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/ service, however, other build platforms can be used as well.

	HEPrpms	HEPrpmsSUSE
apfel
applgrid
ariadne
binder
blackhat
cascade
cernlib
CGAL
ginac
chaplin
clhep
COCOA
collier
cuba
Delphes
EvtGen
f90cache
fastjet
fastnlo
FeynHiggs
fjcontrib
form
geant4
ginac
golem95
gosam
gosam-contrib
HepPDT
Herwig
hevea
HJets
hoppet
hztool
iminuit
JetVHeto
LCIO
lhapdf-sets-Herwig
lhapdf-sets-whizard
LoopTools
MCFM
MC-TESTER
MG5_aMC
njet
nlojet++
noweb
openloops
PHOTOS
Professor
PTL
pythia6
python-uproot4
qcdloop
qcdnum
qd
qgraf
rapgap
recola
recola2
recola2-SM
Rivet
SHERPA-MC
TAUOLA
TheP8I
ThePEG
tmdlib
topdrawer
ugs
VBFNLO
whizard
xbae
YODA

Using the software repositories

To enable and use the software repositories on

CentOS8/9 and other RH-compatible distros:

• Install EPEL (as root)

  yum install epel-release
  

• Install copr plugin for yum and enable the HEPrpms (as root)

  yum install yum-plugin-copr
  yum copr enable averbyts/HEPrpms
  

• Run yum to install the needed software, e.g. (as root)

  yum install Herwig 
  

There are no known conflicts between the EPEL/CentOS8 and HEPrpms repositories. However, if needed, the software can be black/whitelisted in /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo files using the exclude= or installonlypkgs= directives. See https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/7/html/system_administrators_guide/ch-yum for details.

Fedora:

• Enable HEPrpms with dnf (as root)

  dnf copr enable enable averbyts/HEPrpms 
  

• Run yum to install the needed software, e.g. (as root)

  yum install Herwig 
  

There are no known conflicts between the Fedora and HEPrpms repositories. However dnf supports the same functionality as yum and black/whitelisting is possible, see https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/dnf/ for details.

SUSE Tumbleweed:

• Add science repository (as root)

  zypper addrepo https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/science/openSUSE_Tumbleweed/science.repo
  

• Download the repository file of HEPrpmsSUSE

  wget https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/HEPrpmsSUSE/repo/opensuse-tumbleweed/averbyts-HEPrpmsSUSE-opensuse-tumbleweed.repo
  
  

• Replace the $basearch in the repository with x86_64
• Install the repository file (as root)

  zypper addrepo averbyts-HEPrpmsSUSE-opensuse-tumbleweed.repo 
  

• Install the needed software with (as root)

  zypper install Herwig
  

zypper uses another mechanism than yum or dnf to blacklist/whitelist packages. To exclude some conflicting packages one has to use zypper locks. Because the science repository has some packages with the same names as in HEPrpmsSUSE, it is recommended to add the following locks when using the HEPrpmsSUSE repository:

zypper al -r science  *YODA*
zypper al -r science  *Rivet*
zypper al -r science  *Herwig*
zypper al -r science  *ThePEG*
zypper al -r science  *fastjet*
zypper al -r science  *fjcontrib*
zypper al -r science  *SHERPA*
zypper al -r science  *geant4*
zypper al -r science  PTL*
zypper al -r science  form*
zypper al -r oss  *ginac*

Using the software repositories w/o root privileges

Installation of some packages in user mode is also possible, however, it is a bit more complicated and is, basically, requires copying and unpacking the RPM packages into a specific directory.

For RHEL8/9-compatible systems, the process can be simplified a bit using the yumdownloader script.

• Copy the system yum.conf into some user directory.

  cp /etc/yum.conf ./myyum.conf
  

• Get the .repo file for HEPrpms

   wget https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/fastjet/repo/epel-8/averbyts-HEPrpms-epel-8.repo
  

• Append averbyts-HEPrpms-epel-8.repo to the to the end of the myyum.conf:

cat averbyts-HEPrpms-epel-8.repo >> myyum.conf

• Download the needed packages with yumdownloader command. Note: the dependencies will be downloaded as well.

  yumdownloader  --resolve  --downloadonly --config=./myyum.conf  --downloaddir=/my/download/directory    SHERPA-MC
  

• Extract the content of downloaded RPMs, e.g.

 rpm2cpio /my/download/directory/SHERPA-MC-2.2.8-14.el8.x86_64.rpm  | cpio -idmv   /place/where/you/want/to/install/it

The usage of software installed in this way will require adjustments of $PATH, $LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and potentially other environment variables.

Building the packages locally

It is possible to build packages locally if the following conditions are satisfied:

• all the build-time requirements for the specific package are installed
• the system has installed rpmdevtools and wget
• internet connection is available

To build a package named mypackagename, run from the top directory of the source code

sh srpmsbuild.sh mypackagename mypackageversion --build

The .spec file located in mypackagename/mypackageversion will be parsed, the sources will be downloaded, source and binary packages will be built. If only SRPMS files are needed, the --build should be omitted. The whole build process will happen in mypackagename/mypackageversion/rpmbuild directory so multiple parallel builds of different packages/versions are possible. To build multiple packages in parallel, a wrapper script alllocal.sh can be used.

When invoked, srpmsbuild.sh script checks for the presence of file do.sh in the mypackagename/mypackageversion directory. If the file is present, it will be executed. This is a simple and reliable way to produce some small patches or manipulate the sources.

Contributing to HEPrpms

If you have suggestions on how to improve the repositories please don't hesitate to create an issue or a merge request. A lot of useful documentation on the RPM packaging can be found https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/packaging-guidelines/

Dependencies and features

The packages are compiled with the maximal set of features. Some exceptions are listed at https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/HEPrpms/

Patches for the packages

For most packages the sources are taken from their upstream repositories and only some patches that allow for the builds are applied. However some packages contain an extended functionality of a larger amount of added codes, or even created from scratch. See details at https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/averbyts/HEPrpms/. All the patches are available in the repository.

Creating own spin-off repositories in COPR

It is quite easy to create own repository in COPR using just the web GUI and build the packages using "custom method". However, if there is a need, one can easily automate the process using the copr command-line client. The script below demonstrates a way to add multiple packages to myREPOSITORY for opensuse-tumbleweed-x86_64 using the command-line interface. Please note that copr command-line utilities and copr access token are needed.

#!/bin/bash
declare -a BUILDLIST=( applgrid:1.5.46 YODA:1.8.5 )
mkdir -p log
for a in "${BUILDLIST[@]}" 
do
export name=$(echo $a | cut -f1 -d: )
export version=$(echo $a | cut -f2 -d: )
envsubst <<EOF > temp.sh
#!/bin/bash
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/andriish/HEPspecs.git
cd HEPspecs
sh srpmsbuild.sh  $name $version
EOF
copr add-package-custom myREPOSITORY \
        --name $name \
        --script temp.sh \
        --script-resultdir HEPspecs/$name/$version/rpmbuild/SOURCES/ \
        --script-builddeps 'git rpmdevtools wget' \
        --script-chroot opensuse-tumbleweed-x86_64
mv temp.sh log/$name$version
done