5.0.0-alpha

• Remove deprecated createmodule.sh and createmodule.py tools as shell script to modulefile conversion is now achieved with the sh-to-mod sub-command.
• Remove mention of the init* sub-commands in module usage message to put focus on the collection handling sub-commands.
• Do not declare anymore the chdir, module, module-trace, module-verbosity, module-user and module-log commands under the modulerc Tcl interpreter as no-op commands. A clear error message is obtained if these commands are still used in modulerc files instead of silently ignoring them.
• Return by default an empty string rather _UNDEFINED on getenv modulefile command if passed environment variable is not defined.
• Align empty directory name error message obtained on use sub-command with message obtained when module or collection name is empty.
• Accept non-existent modulepath on use sub-command.
• Install: installation option --enable-auto-handling is set on by default which enables the automated module handling mode (see MODULES_AUTO_HANDLING).
• Install: installation option --enable-extended-default is set on by default which allows partial module version specification (see MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT).
• Install: installation option --enable-advanced-version-spec is set on by default which activates the Advanced module version specifiers
• Install: installation option --enable-color is set on by default which enables the auto output color mode (see MODULES_COLOR).
• Install: installation option --with-icase is set to search by default to activate case insensitive match on search contexts (see MODULES_ICASE).
• Install: installation option --enable-new-features has been reset following major version change as all the options it implied are now enabled by default.
• Install: installation option --enable-set-shell-startup is set off by default but could be enabled once installed through the initrc configuration file.
• Install: installation option --with-initconf-in is set to etcdir by default to locate configuration files in the directory designated by the --etcdir option. Therefore the initialization configuration file is named initrc in this directory, and the modulepath-specific configuration file is named modulespath.
• Only look at configuration files found in the location designated by the --etcdir or --initdir option (depending on the value of --with-initconf-in option). Configuration files were previously searched in both locations.
• Install: remove installation option --enable-compat-version. Compatiblity version co-installation is discontinued. switchml shell function and MODULES_USE_COMPAT_VERSION are thus removed as well.
• Testsuite: introduce the non-regression quick test mode. When the QUICKTEST environment variable is set to 1, only the main tests from the non-regression testsuite are run. When first argument of the mt script is quick, tests are run in quick mode.
• Install: run non-regression testsuite in quick mode in RPM spec file.
• Rename the environment variables that are used by Modules to track loaded environment state (variables whose name starts with MODULES_LM). A __ prefix is added to the name of these variables to indicate that they are intended for internal use only.
• Rename the environment variables used to indirectly pass to modulecmd.tcl the value of variables set in quarantine (variables whose name finishes with _modquar). A __MODULES_QUAR_ prefix is applied to the name of these variables instead of the _modquar suffix to indicate they are intended for Modules internal use of only.
• Update Tcl requirement to version 8.5 as Tcl 8.4 is deprecated since a long time and this version is not available anymore on recent OS distributions. Update internal code of modulecmd.tcl to take benefit from the features brought by Tcl 8.5.

4.8.0

• Introduce the edit sub-command that opens modulefile passed as argument in a text editor. Modulefile can be specified like with any other sub-command, leveraging defined symbolic versions, aliases or using advanced version specifiers.
• Add the editor configuration option to select the text editor to use with edit sub-command. When this option is set through the config sub-command, the MODULES_EDITOR environment variable is set. The --with-editor installation option controls the default value of editor configuration option. If not set at installation time, vi is set as default editor.
• Default value of editor configuration option is overridden by the VISUAL or the EDITOR environment variables, which are both in turn overridden by the MODULES_EDITOR environment variable.
• Doc: fix modulecmd.tcl internal state check in recipes example codes. (fix issue #396)
• The Advanced module version specifiers mechanism now allows the use of version range in version list (for instance mod@:1.2,1.4:1.6,1.8:). Such specification helps to exclude specific versions. (fix issue #397)
• Install: fix installation scripts to allow building Modules when its repository is set as a git submodule. (fix issue #398)
• Doc: demonstrate in the source-script-in-modulefile recipe how to use the source-sh command when software provide a specific initialization script for each shell it supports. (fix issue #399)
• When defining a shell function with the set-function modulefile command, only export this function when using the Bash shell (using the export -f shell command) to make it available in sub-shell contexts. Shell function export is not supported on other kind of sh shell (sh, ksh and zsh). (fix issue #401)
• Doc: add variants design notes.
• Add the variant modulefile command that enables to pass down arguments, specified when designating the module to evaluate, within modulefile evaluation context. This command defines a variant name and a list of allowed values. When evaluated, variant instantiates an element in the ModuleVariant array whose name equals variant name and value is set with value specified for variant when module is designated. If specified value does not correspond to an allowed value or if no value is specified for variant an error is raised.
• Enhance the Advanced module version specifiers to handle variant specification following Spack_'s syntax (e.g., name=value). When the advanced_version_spec configuration is enabled, variant could be specified anywhere a module can be specified.
• Add the --default option to the variant modulefile command to indicate the default value of the variant to apply when the designation of the evaluating module does not mention this variant.
• Add the --boolean option to the variant modulefile command to indicate that the variant defined is of the Boolean type, thus no list of accepted value is expected.
• Enhance the Advanced module version specifiers to handle Boolean variant specification following Spack_'s syntax (e.g., +name, ~name and -name). The -name syntax is not supported on ml(1) command as the minus sign already means to unload designated module.
• Accept any minus argument (-word) set after the sub-command name when the advanced_version_spec configuration is enabled and if sub-command accepts Advanced module version specifiers (like load or unload sub-commands). A false value may be set to Boolean variant this way.
• Add the variant_shortcut configuration option to define shortcut characters that could be used to specify and report module variants. Default value for this option could be set at installation time with the --with-variant-shortcut option. No variant shortcut is defined by default. This value could be superseded by setting up the variant_shortcut option with config sub-command. Which sets the MODULES_VARIANT_SHORTCUT environment variable.
• Enhance the Advanced module version specifiers to handle variant shortcut specification (e.g., value).
• Record in user loaded environment, with MODULES_LMVARIANT environment variable, the value specified for the variants defined in the loaded modulefiles and their properties (if it is a Boolean variant and if the value set is the default one).
• Add the variant element in the allowed value list of the list_output and list_terse_output configuration options. Set this new element in the default value list of the list_output option. When set, the variant defined for loaded modules are reported on module list command output.
• Add the va color key in default light and dark color palettes to graphically enhance the report of variant value.
• Update the key section to explain on list sub-command output the reported variant elements (name=value, +name, -name or value)
• Record variant specification of loaded modules when saving collections and reload specified variants when restoring these collections.
• When collection_pin_version configuration is disabled, only record in collections the variants whose value is not the default one.
• Update module designation in error, warning or informational messages to report variant specification enclosed in curly braces ({}), enclose module name and version or variant specification in single quotes ('') if they contain a space character and highlight the module designation in report message if configured.
• Introduce the getvariant modulefile command to query for currently evaluating module the value of a given variant name.
• When translating the @loaded version specifier also retrieve the variant specified for corresponding loaded module.
• Update hide, forbid and tag mechanisms to apply them only if they match selected module variant.
• Any variant defined in module specification passed as argument to search sub-commands (avail, whatis, is-avail, path and paths) is ignored.
• Raise an error if a variant named version is declared in a modulefile to let room for the future implementation of this specific variant.
• Doc: describe in the diff_v3_v4 document argument handling change on setenv since v3.2. (fix issue #402)
• Introduce the try-load sub-command which like load sub-command tries to load the modulefile passed as argument, but does not complain if this modulefile cannot be found. (fix issue #392)
• Init: fix stderr redirection in fish shell initialization script, now that use of the ^ character to redirect stderr is disabled by default (fish >=3.3).
• Protect quarantine mechanism code from rcexpandparam Zsh option when initializing the module command on this shell. (fix issue #403)

4.7.1

• Doc: clarify the license terms used by the project. (fix issue #389)
• Align all files from the Modules project under the GPLv2+ license. Scripts and libraries that were previously licensed with GPLv3+ have been moved to GPLv2+ with the consent of their respective copyright holders. (fix issue #389)
• Revert "Install: have configure script assume the . dot directory when invoked without the prepended ./" as consent was not obtained from author to relicense the contribution to GPLv2+.
• Doc: fixes few typos in module(1) and modulefile(4).
• Update the sh-to-mod mechanism to support version 3.2 of the fish shell. Fish 3.2 introduces the . builtin command that should be regexp-escaped when determining the shell functions or aliases defined by the script analyzed by sh-to-mod.
• Vim: update addon files to highlight modulefile variables ModuleTool, ModuleToolVersion and ModulesCurrentModulefile.
• Doc: update the description and default value of the --with-dark-background-colors and --with-light-background-colors installation options.
• Doc: add description of changes that occurred on versions 4.6 and 4.7 for the --with-dark-background-colors and --with-light-background-colors installation options and for the MODULES_COLORS environment variable.
• Doc: correct the default value of the --with-tag-abbrev installation option.
• Doc: add Sticky modules cookbook recipe.

4.7.0

• Doc: simplify TOC of MIGRATING document
• Add the ModuleTool and ModuleToolVersion Modules variables to determine during modulefile or modulerc evaluation the name and version of the module implementation currently in use.
• Introduce the versioncmp modulefile command to compare two version strings passed as argument.
• Enable the use of wildcard character to designate multiple directories at once in modulespath configuration file. (fix issue #125)
• Distinguish aliases from symbolic versions in MODULES_LMALTNAME environment variable. Prefix these alias entries with the al| string.
• Fetch modulefile modification time only if required by list sub-command display format.
• Use symbolic versions recorded in environment, with MODULES_LMALTNAME variable, to report the symbols applying to loaded modules on list sub-command. Modulerc files are not evaluated anymore when performing a module list.
• Move the definition of the FPATH environment variable for Modules initialization on ksh shell from the initialization script of this shell to the resulting output of the autoinit sub-command.
• Introduce the shells_with_ksh_fpath configuration option to define a list of shell where to ensure that any ksh sub-shell will get the module function defined by use of the FPATH environment variable. When the shells_with_ksh_fpath option is set through the config sub-command, the MODULES_SHELLS_WITH_KSH_FPATH environment variable is set. Accepted values are a list of shell among sh, bash, csh, tcsh and fish separated by colon character (:).
• Add the implicit_requirement configuration option to control whether a prereq or a conflict requirement should be implicitly set onto modules respectively specified on module load<module> or module unload<module> commands in modulefile. Default value for this option could be set at configure time with the --enable-implicit-requirement option (enabled by default). This value could be superseded by setting up the implicit_requirement option with config sub-command. Which sets the MODULES_IMPLICIT_REQUIREMENT environment variable. (fix issue #260)
• Add the --not-req option to the module modulefile command to inhibit for its load and unload sub-commands the definition of a prereq or conflict requirement onto specified modules.
• Add the lpopState and currentState procedures to respectively remove or return the last entry from the list of values of a given state.
• Add the topState and depthState procedures to respectively return the first element from or the number of elements in the list of values of a given state.
• Remove the pre-definition of runtime states with no specific property. These basic states are defined on-the-fly which implied they are not reported on a module config --dump-state<config> command unless if instanciated.
• Introduce the loaded symbolic version among advanced version specifiers (e.g. foo@loaded) to designate the currently loaded version of specified module. (fix issue #366)
• Doc: add Module tags design notes.
• Report tags applying to the modules returned by the avail sub-command. Adapt the regular, terse and JSON output styles to report these tags along the module they are attached to (enclosed in <>). Reported tags currently are states that apply to modules: auto-loaded, forbidden, hidden, loaded, nearly-forbidden, sticky and super-sticky.
• Record tags applying to each loaded module in the MODULES_LMTAG environment variable to make this information persist after module being loaded.
• Report tags applying to the loaded modules returned by the list sub-command. Adapt the regular and JSON output styles to report these tags along the module they are attached to (enclosed in <>). Reported tags currently are states applying to loaded modules: auto-loaded, hidden-loaded, nearly-forbidden, sticky and super-sticky.
• Introduce the module-info tags<module-info> modulefile command to query the tags that apply to the currently evaluated modulefile.
• Add the module-tag modulefile command to associate tag to designated modulefile. Those tags are reported on avail and list sub-commands along the module they are attached to. module-tag supports the advanced module version specifier syntax.
• Add the tag_abbrev configuration option to define abbreviated strings for module tags and use these abbreviations instead of tag names when reporting tags on avail and list command results. Default value for this option could be set at configure time with the --with-tag-abbrev option. By default the following abbreviations are set: aL for auto-loaded, F for forbidden, H for hidden, H for hidden-loaded, L for loaded, nF for nearly-forbidden, S for sticky, sS for super-sticky. This value could be superseded by setting up the tag_abbrev option with config sub-command. Which sets the MODULES_TAG_ABBREV environment variable.
• A Select Graphic Rendition (SGR) code can be associated to module tag names or abbreviation strings in the color palette to graphically render these tags over the module name they are associated to. The default light and dark color palettes have been updated to set a color code for all basic module tags. When a color code is set for a tag, it is then graphically rendered over the module names and not reported along module name by its tag name or abbreviation. When multiple colored tags apply to a given module, each tag is graphically rendered over a sub-part of the module name.
• Add the tag_color_name configuration option to designate module tags whose graphical rendering should be applied to their own name or abbreviation rather than over the module name they are attached to. Default value for this option could be set at configure time with the --with-tag-color-name option (empty by default). This value could be superseded by setting up the tag_color_name option with config sub-command. Which sets the MODULES_TAG_COLOR_NAME environment variable.
• Add the --hidden-loaded option to the module-hide modulefile command that indicates module should be hidden once loaded. When set, the hidden-loaded module tag applies to module specification set on module-hide command.
• Do not report on list sub-command results the loaded modules associated with the hidden-loaded tag, unless if the --all option is set.
• Doc: add an hidden-loaded example in the Hide and forbid modules cookbook recipe.
• Introduce the verbose2 verbosity level between verbose and trace levels. Verbose2 mode can be enabled by setting the verbosity config to the verbose2 value or by using the -v command-line switch twice.
• Do not report the load, unload or switch of modules set hidden-loaded if these modules have been loaded, unloaded or switched automatically. Unless the verbosity mode is set to verbose2 or any higher level or if any specific messages have to be reported for these module evaluations.
• Report when trying to load a module which is already loaded or when trying to unload a module which is not loaded in case the verbosity mode is set to verbose2 or any higher level. (fix issue #187)
• Doc: improve readability of version 4 improvements in diff_v3_v4 document.
• Introduce stickyness: module tagged sticky with module-tag command cannot be unloaded unless if the unload is forced or if the module is reloaded. (fix issue #269)
• Introduce super-stickyness: module tagged super-sticky with module-tag command cannot be unloaded even if the unload is forced unless if the module is reloaded. (fix issue #269)
• Allow swap of sticky or super-sticky modules by another modulefile version if stickyness definition applies to module parent name. E.g., foo/1.0 can be swapped by foo/2.0 if sticky tag applies to foo.
• When forcing purge with a purge --force<purge> sub-command, also unload the modules that are depended by unloadable modules.
• Doc: improve readability of Modules installation configuration in INSTALL document and enable hypertext reference to these elements.
• Doc: improve readability of module command configuration option in module(1) document and enable hypertext reference to these elements.
• Doc: describe in HTML documentation when installation options, module command configuration options and options of modulefile command or module sub-command were introduced.
• Doc: update HTML documentation Table Of Content.
• Doc: improve markup of module sub-commands, modulefile commands, installation option, module configuration option across documentation.
• Doc: colorize terminal output examples in MIGRATING document.
• Abort modulefile read if first file content chunk does not start with the #%Module magic cookie. (fix issue #375)
• Install: add installation option --enable-new-features that enables all at once the installation options that are disabled by default due to the substantial behavior changes they imply.
• Add a Key section at the end of avail and list sub-commands to explain the meaning of graphical renditions or of elements set in parentheses or chevrons along module name.
• Fix output of avail and list sub-commands on very small termminal width. (fix issue #378)
• Add mcookie_version_check configuration to define if version set in modulefile magic cookie should be checked against module current version to determine if modulefile can be evaluated. The new configuration, which is enabled by default, can be set at installation time with configure option --enable-mcookie-version-check or can be superseded later on with the MODULES_MCOOKIE_VERSION_CHECK environment variable. (fix issue #377)
• Fix output of modulefile evaluation error stack trace on very small terminal width. (fix issues #379 and #381)
• Correct config sub-command to set nearly_forbidden_days configuration. (fix ...

4.6.1

• Lib: implement initStateClockSeconds as a Tcl command in libtclenvmodules to provide an optimized way to retrieve current Epoch time.
• Lib: implement parseDateTimeArg as a Tcl command in libtclenvmodules to provide an optimized way to convert a datetime string into an Epoch time.
• When full module specification is equal to @, raise an error as no module name is provided. (fix issue #362)
• Optimize internal recording of hidden module and tag specification when parsing modulerc files in order to reduce the time taken to test if a given module is hidden or if a given tag applies to it.
• Script: add the ability to select the benchmark test to perform on mb utility.
• Doc: add Use new features without breaking old module command cookbook recipe
• Doc: rework option description for module-hide and module-forbid commands in modulefile(4) document.
• Doc: describe in diff_v3_v4 document that shell special characters like backticks are escaped when used in values starting Modules 4.0. (fix issue #365)
• Doc: make the ENVIRONMENT section from modulefile(4) man page point to the ENVIRONMENT section of module(1) man page.
• Fix clear sub-command to unset the MODULES_LMSOURCESH environment variable. (fix issue #367)
• Correctly return on avail sub-command a symbolic version defined in a global RC file when specifically searched. (fix issue #368)
• Fix module hiding resolution for symbolic versions defined in a global RC file when module-hide statements are set in the modulepath where the modulefiles targeted by these symbols are located. (fix issue #369)
• When a module fails to unload during a purge sub-command, preserve loaded the modules it requires to keep environment consistent. (fix issue #370)
• Doc: add Hide and forbid modules cookbook recipe.

4.6.0

• Rework internal state handling to gather all state definitions in a global array and use the same initialization and retrieval procedure, named getState, for all these states.
• Add the setState, unsetState, lappendState, isStateDefined and isStateEqual procedures to provide unified ways to set or check the value of state.
• Introduce the sh-to-mod sub-command, to evaluate shell script and determine the environment changes it does. Corresponding modulefile content is outputted as a result. Changes on environment variables, shell aliases, shell functions and current working directory are tracked. The following shells are supported: sh, dash, csh, tcsh, bash, ksh, ksh93, zsh and fish.
• Doc: add Source shell script in modulefile design notes.
• Introduce the source-sh modulefile command, to evaluate shell script and apply resulting environment changes through modulefile commands. When a modulefile using source-sh modulefile command is loaded, the modulefile commands resulting from shell script evaluation are recorded in the :envvar:MODULES_LMSOURCESH environment variable to be able to undo these environment changes when modulefile is unloaded and to report the modulefile commands used when modulefile is displayed. The same kind of environment changes than the sh-to-mod sub-command are tracked. The same list of shells than sh-to-mod sub-command are supported. (fix issue #346)
• Doc: add Source shell script in modulefile cookbook recipe.
• Doc: embed new Modules logo on website, online README and documentation portal.
• Install: disable by default the build of Modules compatibility version. From now on, option --enable-compat-version has to be set to trigger this build.
• Introduce the username sub-command to the module-info modulefile command to get the username of the user currently running modulecmd.tcl or to test a string passed as argument corresponds to this username.
• Introduce the usergroups sub-command to the module-info modulefile command to get all the groups of the user currently running modulecmd.tcl or to test a string passed as argument corresponds to one of these groups.
• Doc: improve markup of NEWS and MIGRATING documents starting from this 4.6 version to enable references to module sub-commands, command line switches, environment variables and modulefile Tcl commands.
• Use inclusive terminology to eliminate master and slave terms as much as possible from code source and documentation.
• Doc: use a versioned magic cookie in examples that demonstrate new modulefile features. (fix issue #349)
• Introduce the --enable-multilib-support configure option to add mechanism in modulecmd.tcl to look at an alternative location to find the Modules Tcl extension library in case this library cannot be found at its main location.
• Lib: remove fetch_hidden argument from getFilesInDirectory procedure of Modules Tcl extension library.
• Doc: add Hide or forbid modulefile design notes.
• Add the module-hide modulefile command, to dynamically hide modulefile, module alias or symbolic version matching passed specification. When hidden, a modulefile, an alias or a symbolic version is not reported nor selected unless referred by its exact name, like for module whose name or version starts with a dot character. module-hide supports the advanced module version specifiers. (fix issue #202)
• Add option --soft to the module-hide modulefile command to introduce a soften level of camouflage: modules targeted by such hide directive are made visible as soon as their root name is part of search query.
• Add option --hard to the module-hide modulefile command to introduce a hardened level of camouflage: modules targeted by such hide directive keep being hidden even if they are fully matched by search query.
• Do not report among whatis search result the modulefiles with version name prefixed by a dot character and targeted by a symbolic version unless if they are precisely searched.
• When a loading module has hidden alternative names (hidden due to their name or version starting with a dot character or because they match a module-hide statement), these alternative names are not recorded in environment unless if they are not hard-hidden and if they have been used in query to select loading module.
• On avail sub-command, remove hidden symbolic versions from the list to display along modulefile or directory they target, unless these symbols are not hard-hidden and are used in query to search modules.
• When the g--default filter of avail sub-command is set, unhide all the default symbolic versions or modules targeted by these symbols unless if they are hard-hidden.
• Define the default and latest automatic symbolic versions only if relative module name matches search query to ensure all elements for this module have been processed prior assigning the symbols.
• In case a symbolic version is transitively applied toward a modulefile, like for instance when this symbol is first set onto a directory, record the resolution of each transitively applied symbol. By doing so, a module load tentative using the transitively applied symbolic version will now correctly resolve to the modulefile targeted by symbol.
• Fix use of the advanced version specifiers in arguments to the is-avail modulefile command.
• Introduce the g--all/-a option for avail, aliases, whatis and search sub-commands, to include in the search process all hidden modulefiles, module aliases or symbolic versions. Hard-hidden modules stay hidden even if --all/-a option is used.
• Add the module-forbid modulefile command, to dynamically forbid evaluation of modulefile matching passed specification. When forbidden, a module cannot be loaded and an access error is obtained when trying to evaluate them. module-forbid supports the advanced module version specifiers.
• Add --not-user and --not-group options to module-hide and module-forbid modulefile commands to ignore hiding or forbidding definition if current user is respectively part of specified username list or member of one of specified group list.
• Add --before and --after options to module-hide and module-forbid modulefile commands to ignore hiding or forbidding definition respectively after and before a specified date time. Accepted date time format is YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM].
• Add --message option to module-forbid modulefile command to supplement the error message obtained when trying to evaluate a forbidden module.
• When a module that will soon be forbidden (as the date limit specified on the --after option of a matching module-forbid command is near) is evaluated, warn user this module access will soon be denied.
• The range of time the above warning appears can be controlled with the nearly_forbidden_days configuration option, whose value equals to the number of days prior the module starts to be forbidden. This configuration is set to 14 (days) by default and this value can be controlled at configure time with --with-nearly-forbidden-days option. When the nearly_forbidden_days configuration is set through the config sub-command, the :envvar:MODULES_NEARLY_FORBIDDEN_DAYS environment variable is set.
• Add --nearly-message option to module-forbid modulefile command to supplement the warning message obtained when evaluating a nearly forbidden module.
• Add the debug2 verbosity level, to report each call of modulecmd.tcl internal procedures in addition to debug messages. Debug2 mode can be enabled by setting the verbosity config to the debug2 value or by using the g-D command-line switch twice.
• Install: look for make rather gmake on MinGW and build library with a .dll extension on this platform.
• Add the trace verbosity level, to report details on module searches, resolutions, selections and evaluations. Trace mode can be enabled by setting the verbosity config to the trace value or by using the g-T/--trace command-line switches.
• Introduce the tr key in the color palette to specifically render trace messages. Default value for tr key is 2 (decreased intensity).
• When trying to set an environment variable to an empty value on the Windows platform, unset this environment variable instead to cope with the underlying OS behavior.

4.5.3

• Install: take into account the --build, --host, --target, --enable-dependency-tracking and --disable-dependency-tracking configure options to transmit them to the configure scripts of Modules Tcl extension library and Modules compatibility version. (fix issue #354)
• Install: ignore some regular options of an Autoconf configure script that are useless for this project but usually implied in build macros (like RPM %configure macro).
• Install: ignore unsupported --enable-* and --with-* options on configure script rather raise an error and add support to define environment variable and build system type as configure script arguments to comply with GNU configuration recommendations.
• Install: fix modulecmd pre-alternatives check in RPM spec file.
• Install: use %make_build and %make_install macros in RPM spec file.
• When module switch command is used in modulefile, do not state when processing it a conflict over switched-off module if its specification on the module switch command also matches switched-on module's specification. Allow this way the replacement of any loaded version of a module for a specific one required by currently loading module. (fix issue #355)
• Correctly report failed attempts to load module requirements expressed with advanced version specifiers. (fix issue #356)

4.5.2

• Init: list and source sub-commands do not take available modules as argument in fish completion script.
• Init: fix option list for search sub-command in bash completion script.
• Fix double error counter increase when modulefile evaluation breaks.
• Install: adapt configure script to pass to the configure script of Modules compatibility version only a subset of the options it supports (most commonly used options).
• Install: raise an error when an unknown option is passed to configure script rather silently ignore it. (fix issue #348)
• Install: enable the definition of installation directory options of configure script with the --option value syntax in addition to the --option=value syntax. (fix issue #348)
• Doc: alphabetically sort sub-commands of module-info modulefile Tcl command in modulefile(4) document.
• Script: clean previously built environment-modules RPMs in mrel.
• Clearly separate quarantine variable definition from tclsh binary on modulecmd.tcl evaluated command call in _module_raw function for sh, bash, ksh and zsh shells. (fix issue #350)
• Doc: clarify in documentation index that Environment Modules should not be confused with language-specific modules. (contribution from Rob Hurt)
• Adapt conflict detection tests to ensure a module loaded by its full pathname will not detect itself as a conflict when declaring a reflexive conflict. (fix issue #352)
• Adapt the mrel and mpub commands to produce new Modules release from a vZ.Y.x git branch rather than from the repository main branch.

4.5.1

• Install: consistently output Makefile warning messages on stderr.
• Script: add the mrel script, that automates build of the Modules release files and performs tests over these distribution files to guaranty their correctness.
• Script: add the mpub script, that automates Modules new release publishing over git repositories and websites.
• Install: remove project-specific tools from git repository export thus from release distribution files.
• Disable pager when clear sub-command is called from ml shortcut command. (fix issue #338)
• In case a modulefile evaluation fails, environment context prior this failed evaluation is restored. Fix environment variable restoration mechanism to keep the link that monitors and updates environment variable array env in every Tcl sub-interpreters. (fix issue #340)
• Ensure environment variable change at the Tcl interpreter level is propagated to every sub-interpreters used to evaluate modulefiles or modulercs. (fix issue #342)
• Use absolute path to load Modules Tcl extension library. (fix issue #344 with contribution from Roy Storey)
• Fix formatting of error stack trace not to look for internal commands to withdraw if start-up stack pattern cannot be matched.

4.5.0

• Doc: fix typos and grammar mistakes on module(1), modulefile(4) and diff_v3_v4 documents. (contribution from Colin Marquardt)
• Doc: update cookbook recipes to highlight code of the Tcl scripts included. (contribution from Colin Marquardt)
• Doc: improve markup of module(1), modulefile(4) and diff_v3_v4 documents to enable references to module sub-commands, command line switches, environment variables and modulefile Tcl commands. (contribution from Colin Marquardt)
• Doc: alphabetically sort module sub-commands, command-line switches, environment variables and modulefile Tcl commands in module(1) and modulefile(4) documents.
• Introduce the ml command, a handy frontend to the module command. ml reduces the number of characters to type to trigger module. With no argument ml is equivalent to module list, ml mod corresponds to module load mod and ml -mod means module unload mod. Multiple modules to either load or unload can be combined on a single command. ml accepts all command-line switches and sub-commands accepted by module command. ml command is defined by default. Its definition can be controlled at ./configure time with --enable-ml option or later on with ml configuration option (which defines MODULES_ML environment variable when set).
• Fix module sub-command abbreviation match to ensure passed abbreviated form fully match sub-command, not only its minimal abbreviated form. As an example, lod or loda do not match anymore the load sub-command, lo or loa still do.
• Add the -j/--json command line switches to the avail, list, savelist, whatis and search module sub-commands to render their output in JSON format. (fix issue #303)
• Script: remove need to build project management-specific tools (mtreview, mb, mlprof and playdemo) prior using them.
• Script: gather all distributed and maintained scripts in a script directory at the root of the project repository tree.
• Install: provide Windows-specific batch files when ./configure option --enable-windows-support is set. module command wrapper module.cmd is installed in bindir and initialization script cmd.cmd in initdir. Those batch files are relocatable and expect modulecmd.tcl in ..\libexec directory. (fix issue #272 with contribution from Jacques Raphanel)
• Install: add ml command wrapper ml.cmd and install it in bindir when ./configure option --enable-windows-support is set.
• Install: introduce envml command wrapper envml.cmd for Windows cmd shell and install it in bindir when ./configure option --enable-windows-support is set. (contribution from Jacques Raphanel)
• Doc: improve documentation portal index.
• Install: add dist-win target to Makefile in order to build a distribution zipball containing the required files to run Modules on a Windows platform. INSTALL.bat and UNINSTALL.bat Windows batch files are introduced and shipped in the zipball to automate installation and basic configuration of Modules on the Windows platform.
• Doc: update INSTALL-win document to describe how to install Modules with newly provided Windows-specific distribution zipball.
• Install: enable build of Modules from git archive tarball or zipball exports (like download source archives automatically provided on GitHub project)
• Install: ship reStructuredText and MarkDown source documents at the root of Modules distribution tarball rather their built txt counterpart.
• Script: fix createmodule.sh script to correctly analyses environment when shell functions are found defined in it.
• Script: inhibit output generated by scripts evaluated by createmodule.sh and createmodule.py to ensure these outputs will not get in the way when analyzing the environment changes. (fix issue #309)
• Correctly handle symbolic version target including a whitespace in their name.
• Testsuite: output test error details whatever the testsuite run verbose mode.
• Install: adapt configure script and Makefile to detect python command location and set it as shebang for createmodule.py and gitlog2changelog.py. If python command is not found, python3 then python2 are searched.
• Install: enable to pass a specific Python interpreter command name or location at configure step with --with-python option. Specified command name or location should be found on build system only if building from git repository.
• Install: build createmodule.py script and install it in bindir.
• Install: update RPM spec file to explicitly define Python interpreter location.
• Script: fix createmodule.py script for Python3 (fix issue #315 with contribution from Armin Wehrfritz)
• Lift Perl variable strictness when defining _mlstatus variable in case modulecmd.tcl output is directly evaluated without use of the module sub-routine in Perl script. (with contribution from Andrey Maslennikov)
• Script: fix path de-duplication in createmodule.sh. (fix issue #316)
• Doc: add Handling Compiler and other Package Dependencies cookbook recipe, which discusses various strategies for creating modulefiles for packages with multiple builds depending on previously loaded compiler, MPI libraries, etc. (contribution from Tom Payerle)
• Init: test availability of compopt Bash builtin prior using it in Bash completion script to avoid error with versions of this shell older than 4.0. (fix issue #318)
• Install: adapt configure step to detect if sed option -E is supported and fallback to -r otherwise in shell completion scripts. (fix issue #317)
• Add support for the NO_COLOR environment variable (https://no-color.org/) which when set (regardless of its value) prevents the addition of ANSI color. When set, NO_COLOR prevails over CLICOLOR and CLICOLOR_FORCE environment variables. MODULES_COLOR overrides these three variables. (fix issue #310)
• Script: when analyzing environment variable changes in createmodule.sh applied by shell script passed as argument, produce a setenv modulefile statement for any variable found set prior script evaluation and for which value is completely changed after script evaluation. (fix issue #320)
• When an error message is composed of multiple lines, render it in the same way whether it is part of a block message or not: lines after the first one are prepended with a 2-space padding. As a result error messages appear clearly separated from each other.
• Append to the error message the error stack trace when a general unknown error occurs in modulecmd.tcl and provide a link to encourage users to report such error to the GitHub project.
• Add to the error message the error stack trace for errors occurring during site-specific configuration evaluation. Error stack is expunged from the modulecmd.tcl internals to only report information relevant to site-specific configuration file.
• When an error occurs during the evaluation of a modulefile or a modulerc, report associated error stack trace expunged from modulecmd.tcl internal references to only output useful information for users.
• GitHub: add issue templates to guide people submitting a bug report or a feature request.
• Doc: provide a link toward issues that have been fixed between versions 3.2 and 4.0 in diff_v3_v4 document.
• Script: introduce envml.cmd script for Windows platform providing similar behavior than envml Bash script. (contribution from Jacques Raphanel)
• Init: add Bash shell completion for the ml command. (contribution from Adrien Cotte)
• Fix Fish shell stderr redirection for newer Fish versions. (fix issue #325)
• Correctly handle modulefiles and modulepaths containing a space character in their name whether they are used from the command-line, in collections, within modulefiles or from loaded environment definitions.
• Doc: add Default and latest version specifiers design note.
• An avail search over a symbolic version targeting a directory now correctly returns the special modules (alias and virtual module) lying in this directory. (fix issue #327)
• whatis and paths searches only return special modules (symbolic version, alias and virtual modules) that fully match search query, not those that partially match it. (fix issue #328)
• alias and virtual module whose name mention a directory that does not exists are correctly handled. (fix issue #168)
• Hide special modules (aliases, symbolic versions and virtual modules) whose version name starts with a dot character (.) from avail, whatis and paths searches if their query does not fully match special module name. (fix issue #329)
• Filter-out from the output of the aliases sub-command all hidden aliases, symbolic versions or hidden modules targeted by a non-hidden symbolic version. (fix issue #330)
• Enable resolution of default module in module sub-directory when this default symbol targets a hidden directory (whose name starts with a dot character). (fix issue #331)
• Doc: clarify hidden module location in modulefile(4) man page.
• Install: define LD_PRELOAD as quarantine var along with LD_LIBRARY_PATH in RPM specfile.
• When implicit_default and advanced_version_spec configuration are enabled, automatically define a default and latest symbolic version for each module name (at each module depth for deep modules) if those version names does not already exist. (fix issue #210)
• Once a module is loaded, the automatically defined symbols associated to it are recorded in loaded environment in the MODULES_LMALTNAME environment variable. They are distinguished from the other alternative names applying to the module by a as| prefix, which qualifies their auto symbol type.
• When an advanced version specifier list contains symbolic version references, fix resolving to honor default version if part of the specified list. (fix issue #334)