CSAID Policy and Spack Updates

Spack Minor Version Updates

When a new minor version of Spack is released CSAID will test the new release for backward compatibility with the distributed software built with the previous release of Spack.

If the new release of spack produces a build that is consistent with that produced by the previous version of Spack, CSAID will:

  1. Update the CSAID-provided tools to ensure they work using the new Spack release.

  2. Make public in CSAID’s fork the new Spack release

  3. Recommend that experiments and projects upgrade to the new Spack release, and update their Spack instances to the new version

  4. CSAID will upgrade the installed Spack instances to the new version of Spack

  5. CSAID will begin using the new version of the creation of new releases of supported software

If the new release is not compatible, CSAID will not update the tools or the fork. We will pursue with the Spack developers a resolution to the issue. If the issue can not be resolved, we will treat it as if it were a major release version.

Spack Major Version Updates

A new major version of Spack will require consultation with the experiment and project community to plan a way forward.