Containerization of scientific applications has done a lot to make software more portable and reproducible. Unfortunately, most HPC clusters have been left out of this movement because of kernel requirements and security policy. In collaboration with Björn Grüning representing BioContainers and Vanessa Sochat from the Singularity project, we are bringing thousands of science apps to any cluster that can run Singularity.

1. Containeriza*on of scien*fic applica*ons has done a lot to make
so6ware more portable and reproducible. Unfortunately, most
high performance compu*ng (HPC) clusters have been le6 out
of this movement because of kernel requirements and security
policy. In collabora*on with Björn Grüning represen*ng
BioContainers and Vanessa Sochat from the Singularity project,
we are bringing thousands of science apps to any cluster that
can run Singularity.
BioContainers for supercomputers:
2,000+ accessible, discoverable Singularity apps
John M. Fonner, Rion Dooley,
Jacquelyn Turcinovic, MaWhew W. Vaughn
Introduc)on
Singularity Hub
singularity-hub.org
BioConda
bioconda.github.io
BioContainers
biocontainers.pro
Key Capabili)es
• All TACC HPC systems now support
Singularity images and BioContainers
• Cyverse supports BioContainers via
Docker on their cloud resources and
now via Singularity on HPC resources
• Convert your own Docker containers
to Singularity for use at TACC using
github.com/TACC/docker2singularity
Future Work
• Con*nuous integra*on from BioConda
to TACC / Singularity Hub
• Enroll as a Singularity Registry on
Singularity Hub
• Explore GPUs/co-processors support
and custom writable directories
• On-demand conversion of Docker
containers to Singularity
BioConda has over 2,400 recipes for bioinforma*cs apps thanks
to the contribu*ons of many researchers and developers. The
Cyverse project has adopted Conda recipes as the primary
method for integra*ng new apps into their infrastructure.
BioContainers has automated the process of conver*ng Conda
recipes into so6ware containers and has woven their framework
directly into BioConda. All Docker containers are con*nuously
registered with a Quay.io repository.
Singularity-Hub supports integra*on with GitHub to generate
Singularity images based on git commits. They are extending
their code-base to support ins*tu*onal repositories of images.
TACC has installed Singularity run*me support on its HPC
systems, has converted all BioContainer apps to Singularity
images, and has made them available to XSEDE, TACC, and
Cyverse users. Public, unauthen*cated download will be
available as soon as possible through Singularity Hub.
Summary
Get involved
• Contribute your bioinforma*cs apps to
BioConda and join the community
• Try out Singularity at TACC through
either xsede.org or tacc.utexas.edu
• Chime in on our development effort:
github.com/TACC/docker2singularity
singularityhub.github.io/singularity-
registry/