anaconda cookbook

Chef cookbook for installing Continuum Analytic's Anaconda: "completely free Python distribution for large-scale data processing, predictive analytics, and scientific computing". Specifically:

• Anaconda 2.2 or 2.3, or 4.4.0
  • python2 or python3
  • x86 or x86_64
• Miniconda
  • python2 or python3
  • x86 or x86_64
• Usage tested on Ubuntu, unittested on Debian, CentOS, and RedHat. See rspec tests and kitchen tests for the full list.

This also serves as an example for developing and testing Chef cookbooks. It uses:

• ChefDK; 0.8.1
  • chef-client 12.4.4
  • Berkshelf for dependency resolution; 3.3.0
  • Test Kitchen for comprehensive testing across multiple platforms, with tests written in serverspec; 1.4.2
    • Docker, with kitchen-docker integration
  • Foodcritic for style checking; 5.0.0
• RSpec/Chefspec for rapid testing; 3.3.2

Note that the release process uses Chef 11 because of chef/chef#3888

In addition:

• Vagrant to provide an out-of-the-box working example; 1.7.4

Requirements

If you want to just have a working Anaconda VM, install:

• Vagrant

For the full experience (e.g. running the test suite), also install:

• ChefDK
  • vagrant-omnibus
  • vagrant-berkshelf
• Docker
  • Don't forget Docker Machine if you're on OSX; installing this via homebrew is highly recommended.

Quickstart

The sample Vagrantfile will build you an Anaconda VM with no changes necessary; note it might take a few minutes to download the Anaconda installer itself.

$> vagrant up --provision
...

# the sample image includes `recipe[anaconda::shell_conveniences]`, which
# means conda is already in PATH via /etc/profile.d
$> vagrant ssh
$vagrant> conda --version
conda 3.14.1

# or you add it to PATH manually
$> vagrant ssh
$vagrant> export PATH=/opt/anaconda/2.3.0/bin:${PATH}
$vagrant> conda --version
conda 3.14.1

It includes a Jupyter (IPython) notebook server accessible at http://33.33.33.123:8888

Lastly, to use it in a cookbook:

include_recipe 'anaconda::default'

Warning! If you're also using the python cookbook...

You MUST include recipe[anaconda::python_workaround], otherwise subsequent chef runs will fail. See the issue for details.

Usage, recipes, attributes, and resources

The main recipe is anaconda::default. Include it in your runlist, and it will install the package as well as any necessary dependencies.

The following are user-configurable attributes. Check attributes/default.rb for more details.

• anaconda
  • version: the Anaconda version to install. Valid values are:
    • 2.2.0
    • 2.3.0
    • latest (for miniconda only)
  • python: which version of Python to install for. Valid values are:
    • python2
    • python3
  • flavor: what architecture the instance is. Valid values are:
    • nil (will autodetect)
    • x86 (32-bit)
    • x86_64 (64-bit)
  • install_type: which Anaconda distribution to install. Valid values are:
    • anaconda
    • miniconda
  • install_root: the parent directory of all anaconda installs. note that individual installs go into #{install_root}/#{version}
  • accept_license: must be explicitly set to the string yes (there are no defaults); any other value will reject the license.
  • owner: the user who owns the install
  • group: the group who owns the install
  • system_path: adds the bin path to the system's profile.d directory

recipe[anaconda::shell_conveniences]

Include this to have the environment set for all users (login shells) via /etc/profile.d. Useful for development.

resource anaconda_package

You can use the anaconda_package resource to install new packages into the Anaconda environment:

# I don't know what 'astroid' is, just using it as a sample package
anaconda_package 'astroid' do
  # the other supported action is `:remove`
  action :install
end

See the resource definition for additional options; in general, all it does is present the same options as conda install/conda remove.

resource anaconda_nbservice

This only works with a full Anaconda installation! I.e. the notebook service will not work out-of-the-box if installed with miniconda.

The anaconda_nbservice will run a Jupyter notebook server as a runit service:

anaconda_nbservice 'notebook-server' do
  # listen on all interfaces; there will be a warning since security is
  # disabled
  ip '*'
  port '8888'

  install_dir '/opt/ipython/server'

  service_action [ :enable, :start ]
end

The standard configuration should be good enough, but you might need to write your own run service template:

anaconda_nbservice 'server-with-custom-template' do
  user ipython_user
  group ipython_group

  install_dir install_dir

  template_cookbook 'your_cookbook'
  # note that if your template name is TEMPLATE, then this value should be
  # 'TEMPLATE", but the file should be 'sv-TEMPLATE-run.erb'
  run_template_name 'your_template_name'
  run_template_opts({
    ...
  })

  service_action [ :enable, :start ]
end

Tests

To run the full test suite:

# this will take a while, especially the first time
$> script/cibuild
...

# check the final result; bash return codes: 0 is good, anything else is not
$> echo $?

• to run just the chefspecs:

  $> rspec

• to run just the test kitchen serverspec integration tests:

  # this is done via docker/kitchen-docker
  # the list of OSes is defined in .kitchen.yml
  $> kitchen verify
  
  # test a specific OS; `kitchen list`
  $> kitchen verify default-ubuntu-1204

• check for style issues with Foodcritic

  $> foodcritic

Releases and issues

Standard stuff:

• master is the active version in development
• releases are made with Github, and git tag'ed
• issues should be opened in the Github issue tracker

TODO

• add a pre-provision for kitchen tests to avoid redownloading the installer on every test (really slows down the tests)
• https://github.com/poise/python is now deprecated, in favor of https://github.com/poise/poise-python; see if the python workaround is still necessary
  • the supermarket version (https://supermarket.chef.io/cookbooks/python) looks like it also points to the deprecated one

Author

Author:: Matt Chu (matt.chu@gmail.com)