Proposed way to add breakpoints to easybuild #5036

Crivella · 2025-10-30T15:42:49Z

Feature proposed during the 2025-10-22 EB confcall

Adds a new --breakpoints option that takes a comma-separated list of breakpoint names.
The names should be the same as those for available hooks (with or without the trailing _hook suffix).

EB will drop you into an interactive shell with the same environment (before the corresponding hook would be ran)

TODO

Tests
BP name validation

Maybe

Customizable prompt / coloring

How does this look

(easybuild-dev) crivella@crivella-desktop:~$ eb --installpath=$(mktemp -d) -d --rebuild --breakpoints start,post_configure zlib-1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0.eb 
== Temporary log file in case of crash /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/logs/easybuild-fuaw57ut.log
easybuild-breakpoint> printenv | grep '^EB'
EB_SCRIPT_PATH=/home/crivella/.virtualenvs/easybuild-dev/bin/eb
easybuild-breakpoint> exit 
exit

WARNING: Index for /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs is no longer valid (too old), so ignoring it...


WARNING: Index for /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs is no longer valid (too old), so ignoring it...

== processing EasyBuild easyconfig /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs/z/zlib/zlib-1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0.eb
== building and installing zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0...
  >> installation prefix: /tmp/tmp.bcDeYVNMdv/software/zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0
== fetching files and verifying checksums...
  >> sources:
  >> /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/sources/z/zlib/zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz [SHA256: 9a93b2b7dfdac77ceba5a558a580e74667dd6fede4585b91eefb60f03b72df23]
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== creating build dir, resetting environment...
  >> build dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.3.1/GCCcore-14.3.0
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== unpacking...
  >> running shell command:
	tar xzf /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/sources/z/zlib/zlib-1.3.1.tar.gz
	[started at: 2025-10-30 16:36:18]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.3.1/GCCcore-14.3.0]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-jjxd16gl/run-shell-cmd-output/tar-y7er46cw]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in < 1s
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== patching...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== preparing...
  >> loading toolchain module: GCCcore/14.3.0
  >> loading modules for build dependencies:
  >>  * binutils/2.44
  >> (no (runtime) dependencies specified)
  >> defining build environment for GCCcore/14.3.0 toolchain
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== configuring...
  >> running shell command:
	./configure --prefix=/tmp/tmp.bcDeYVNMdv/software/zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0
	[started at: 2025-10-30 16:36:18]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.3.1/GCCcore-14.3.0/zlib-1.3.1]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-jjxd16gl/run-shell-cmd-output/configure-uwljw6s5]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in 00h00m01s
easybuild-breakpoint> printenv | grep '^EB'
EBVARLDFLAGS=-L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/lib64 -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/lib -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0/lib64 -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0/lib
EBVARCXX=g++
EBVERSIONBINUTILS=2.44
EBROOTBINUTILS=/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44
EBVARF90=gfortran
EBVARFC=gfortran
EBDEVELGCCCORE=/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0/easybuild/GCCcore-14.3.0-easybuild-devel
EBVAROPTFLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native
EBVARCC=gcc
EBVARFCFLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native -fno-math-errno -fPIC
EBVARPRECFLAGS=-fno-math-errno
EBVARLIBS=-lm -lpthread
EBVARFFLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native -fno-math-errno -fPIC
EBVARCXXFLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native -fno-math-errno -fPIC
EBROOTGCCCORE=/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0
EBVARCPPFLAGS=-I/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/include
EBVARFLIBS=-lgfortran
EBVARF77=gfortran
EBDEVELBINUTILS=/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/easybuild/binutils-2.44-easybuild-devel
EB_SCRIPT_PATH=/home/crivella/.virtualenvs/easybuild-dev/bin/eb
EBVERSIONGCCCORE=14.3.0
EBVARCFLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native -fno-math-errno -fPIC
EBVARF90FLAGS=-O2 -ftree-vectorize -march=native -fno-math-errno -fPIC
easybuild-breakpoint> echo $LDFLAGS 
-L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/lib64 -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/binutils/2.44/lib -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0/lib64 -L/home/crivella/.local/easybuild/software/GCCcore/14.3.0/lib
easybuild-breakpoint> exit
exit
== ... (took 25 secs)
== building...
  >> running shell command:
	make  -j 8
	[started at: 2025-10-30 16:36:44]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.3.1/GCCcore-14.3.0/zlib-1.3.1]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-jjxd16gl/run-shell-cmd-output/make-jj82nypl]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in 00h00m01s
== ... (took 1 secs)
== testing...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== installing...
  >> running shell command:
	make install
	[started at: 2025-10-30 16:36:45]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.3.1/GCCcore-14.3.0/zlib-1.3.1]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-jjxd16gl/run-shell-cmd-output/make-7rahlsi6]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in < 1s
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== taking care of extensions...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== restore after iterating...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== postprocessing...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== sanity checking...
  >> file 'include/zconf.h' found: OK
  >> file 'include/zlib.h' found: OK
  >> file 'lib/libz.a' found: OK
  >> file 'lib/libz.so' found: OK
  >> loading modules: zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== cleaning up...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== creating module...
  >> generating module file @ /tmp/tmp.bcDeYVNMdv/modules/all/zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0.lua
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== permissions...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== packaging...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== COMPLETED: Installation ended successfully (took 28 secs)
== Results of the build can be found in the log file(s) /tmp/tmp.bcDeYVNMdv/software/zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0/easybuild/easybuild-zlib-1.3.1-20251030.163646.log
== Build succeeded for 1 out of 1
== Summary:
   * [SUCCESS] zlib/1.3.1-GCCcore-14.3.0
== Temporary log file(s) /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/logs/easybuild-fuaw57ut.log* have been removed.
== Temporary directory /tmp/eb-jjxd16gl has been removed.

hattom · 2025-11-06T13:10:59Z

Is there any benefit to having the option to jump into a python prompt? (Would that already be possible somehow with pdb?)

Crivella · 2025-11-07T09:12:36Z

You mean something like adding a --breakpoint-type to say if you want to drop in in a bash shell or a python one?
Might be interesting, but i feel like dropping into a python shell only when hooks are triggered might not give the granularity that one might desire.
Probably using a debugger for that as you suggested might be better.

My main usecase for this is to test stuff in a build environment at the start/end of a step when you don't have a cmd.sh that you can use to drop into a shell

hattom · 2025-11-07T14:36:04Z

Essentially yes. My thinking being that if you drop into a bash shell, you still can't understand why EB is doing what it's doing, and some way to interrogate the internal structures/variables might be useful.
I'm aware you can probably do this with pdb, but I wouldn't know how to do it without a lot of trial/error.

Your usecase makes perfect sense, I was just wondering if getting at the internal state might be useful as well?

Crivella · 2025-12-11T16:11:58Z

@hattom Added a way to gain a PDB shell at the hook which would in most cases allow to inspect and modify the state of an EasyBlock, by using --breakpoint=bash:STEP1,python:STEP2,... which will default to bash if no hook type is specified

820a464

Let's see what others think about this as well

(easybuild-dev) crivella@crivella-desktop:~$ eb --breakpoints=bash:start,python:pre_configure --rebuild zlib-1.2.11.eb --installpath=`eb_tmpdir`
== Temporary log file in case of crash /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/logs/easybuild-ds27mql7.log
easybuild-breakpoint> pwd
/home/crivella
easybuild-breakpoint> 
exit

WARNING: Index for /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs is no longer valid (too old), so ignoring it...

== processing EasyBuild easyconfig /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-easyconfigs/easybuild/easyconfigs/z/zlib/zlib-1.2.11.eb
== building and installing zlib/1.2.11...
  >> installation prefix: /tmp/eb_tmpdir-T3cAAiyq/software/zlib/1.2.11
== fetching files and verifying checksums...
  >> sources:
  >> /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/sources/z/zlib/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz [SHA256: c3e5e9fdd5004dcb542feda5ee4f0ff0744628baf8ed2dd5d66f8ca1197cb1a1]
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== creating build dir, resetting environment...
  >> build dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.2.11/system-system
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== unpacking...
  >> running shell command:
	tar xzf /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/sources/z/zlib/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz
	[started at: 2025-12-11 17:13:11]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.2.11/system-system]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-wwk_6913/run-shell-cmd-output/tar-ah6up1mv]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in < 1s
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== patching...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== preparing...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== configuring...
Python breakpoint reached, entering pdb shell...
You can inspect/modify the state of the program from here and use `continue` to proceed.
Arguments passed to this hook (will contain EasyBlock object to inspect/modify if available):
  args = (<easybuild.easyblocks.generic.configuremake.ConfigureMake object at 0x704a947e9510>,)
  kwargs = {}
--Return--
> /home/crivella/Documents/GIT/easybuild-framework/easybuild/tools/hooks.py(242)_python_breakpoint()->None
-> pdb.set_trace()
(Pdb) eb = args[0]
(Pdb) print(eb.cfg['configopts'])

(Pdb) eb.cfg.update('configopts', '# Just a comment')
(Pdb) continue
  >> running shell command:
	./configure --prefix=/tmp/eb_tmpdir-T3cAAiyq/software/zlib/1.2.11  # Just a comment
	[started at: 2025-12-11 17:14:55]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.2.11/system-system/zlib-1.2.11]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-wwk_6913/run-shell-cmd-output/configure-p7v94k6x]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in 00h00m01s
== ... (took 1 min 45 secs)
== building...
  >> running shell command:
	make  -j 4 CFLAGS="-O2 -fPIC"
	[started at: 2025-12-11 17:14:57]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.2.11/system-system/zlib-1.2.11]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-wwk_6913/run-shell-cmd-output/make-2ck0zw68]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in 00h00m01s
== ... (took 1 secs)
== testing...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== installing...
  >> running shell command:
	make install
	[started at: 2025-12-11 17:14:58]
	[working dir: /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/build/zlib/1.2.11/system-system/zlib-1.2.11]
	[output and state saved to /tmp/eb-wwk_6913/run-shell-cmd-output/make-9n70leb1]
  >> command completed: exit 0, ran in < 1s
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== taking care of extensions...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== restore after iterating...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== postprocessing...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== sanity checking...
  >> file 'include/zconf.h' found: OK
  >> file 'include/zlib.h' found: OK
  >> file 'lib/libz.a' found: OK
  >> file 'lib/libz.so' found: OK
  >> loading modules: zlib/1.2.11...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== cleaning up...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== creating module...
  >> generating module file @ /tmp/eb_tmpdir-T3cAAiyq/modules/all/zlib/1.2.11.lua
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== permissions...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== packaging...
== ... (took < 1 sec)
== COMPLETED: Installation ended successfully (took 1 min 48 secs)
== Results of the build can be found in the log file(s) /tmp/eb_tmpdir-T3cAAiyq/software/zlib/1.2.11/easybuild/easybuild-zlib-1.2.11-20251211.171459.log
== Build succeeded for 1 out of 1 (total: 1 min 48 secs)
== Summary:
   * [SUCCESS] zlib/1.2.11
== Temporary log file(s) /home/crivella/.local/easybuild/logs/easybuild-ds27mql7.log* have been removed.
== Temporary directory /tmp/eb-wwk_6913 has been removed.

Crivella added enhancement feature and removed enhancement labels Oct 30, 2025

Crivella and others added 4 commits December 11, 2025 16:42

Add breakpoints to EB

ce9f632

lint + remove ANSI escape codes for color

db22f7b

Do not need the split whit using strlist for the option type

e645c2f

Add also possibility to jump into a python shell

820a464

Crivella force-pushed the feature-breakpoints branch from 73748af to 820a464 Compare December 11, 2025 16:07

lint

d80b9de

Crivella force-pushed the feature-breakpoints branch from 5739b7d to d80b9de Compare December 11, 2025 16:09

Check for non-existing breakpoint type

e6c9076

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Proposed way to add breakpoints to easybuild #5036

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Crivella commented Oct 30, 2025 •

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Crivella commented Oct 30, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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TODO

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How does this look

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