Frequently Asked Questions¶

How do I register for Merlin?¶

How do I get information about downtimes and updates?¶

See Get updated through the Merlin User list!

How can I request access to a Merlin project directory?¶

Merlin projects are placed in the /data/project directory. Access to each project is controlled by Unix group membership. If you require access to an existing project, please request group membership as described in Requesting Unix Group Membership.

Your project leader or project colleagues will know what Unix group you should belong to. Otherwise, you can check what Unix group is allowed to access that project directory (simply run ls -ltrhd for the project directory).

Can I install software myself?¶

Most software can be installed in user directories without any special permissions. We recommend using /data/user/$USER/bin for software since home directories are fairly small. For software that will be used by multiple groups/users you can also request the admins install it as a module.

How to install depends a bit on the software itself. There are three common installation procedures:

binary distributions. These are easy; just put them in a directory (eg /data/user/$USER/bin) and add that to your PATH.
source compilation using make/cmake/autoconfig/etc. Usually the compilation scripts accept a --prefix=/data/user/$USER directory for where to install it. Then they place files under <prefix>/bin, <prefix>/lib, etc. The exact syntax should be documented in the installation instructions.

Note

The following is based on merlin6, but should still be valid for merlin7.

conda environment. This is now becoming standard for python-based software, including lots of the AI tools. First follow the initial setup instructions to configure conda to use /data/user instead of your home directory. Then you can create environments like:
Bash
```
module load anaconda/2019.07
# if they provide environment.yml
conda env create -f environment.yml

# or to create manually
conda create --name myenv python==3.9 ...

conda activate myenv
```

Something doesn't work¶

Check the list of known problems to see if a solution is known. If not, please contact the admins.