Environment Modules (software)

The Environment Modules system is a tool to help users manage their Unix or Linux shell environment, by allowing groups of related environment-variable settings to be made or removed dynamically.

Modules has been around since the early 1990s and is used at some of the largest computer centers to deploy multiple versions of different software tools to users. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) reports that they use Environment Modules to manage nearly all software. Environment Modules is specified as a Baseline Configuration requirement of the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Project Baseline Configuration team for participating DoD Supercomputing Resource Centers (DSRCs).