hpc-ports-modernization.adoc

=== FreeBSD HPC Modernization Initiative: Ecosystem Expansion and Upstream Integration

Links: +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/sysutils/slurm-wlm/[sysutils/slurm-wlm] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/sysutils/slurm-wlm/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/pmix/[net/pmix] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/pmix/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/prrte/[net/prrte] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/prrte/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/openmpi/[net/openmpi] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/openmpi/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/ucx/[net/ucx] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/net/ucx/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/benchmarks/py-reframe-hpc/[benchmarks/py-reframe-hpc] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/benchmarks/py-reframe-hpc/[] +
link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/sysutils/mpifileutils/[sysutils/mpifileutils] URL: link:https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/sysutils/mpifileutils/[]

Contact: Generic Rikka <[email protected]>

This report continues the ongoing FreeBSD HPC Ports Modernization initiative, which aims to make FreeBSD a practical and maintainable platform for modern high-performance computing (HPC) software stacks.

Previous work focused on updating the core scheduler and runtime stack by modernizing package:sysutils/slurm-wlm[] and introducing standalone ports for package:net/pmix[] and package:net/prrte[].
During this quarter the focus shifted toward expanding the surrounding HPC ecosystem, improving integration between components, and upstreaming portability fixes discovered during the porting process.

The long-term goal is to provide a coherent HPC software environment in the FreeBSD Ports Collection that resembles what users expect on Linux-based HPC systems while remaining maintainable within the FreeBSD ecosystem.

==== Work completed

* Continued tracking upstream releases of package:sysutils/slurm-wlm[], keeping the FreeBSD port current with the latest upstream versions.
  Recent updates confirm that Slurm can successfully schedule and execute jobs on FreeBSD with only a minimal patchset.
* Introduced package:net/ucx[], providing the Unified Communication X framework used by modern MPI implementations for high-performance communication.
* Added package:benchmarks/py-reframe-hpc[], enabling regression testing and validation workflows commonly used on production HPC clusters.
* Continued improving interoperability between package:net/openmpi[], package:net/ucx[], package:net/pmix[], and package:net/prrte[] within the FreeBSD Ports Collection.

==== Work in progress

* Porting package:sysutils/mpifileutils[] and its dependency stack (package:devel/libcircle[], package:devel/lwgrp[], package:devel/dtcmp[]) to provide MPI-parallel file utilities commonly used on large HPC filesystems.
* Upstreaming portability fixes discovered during the porting process to projects such as UCX and mpifileutils, reducing the need for FreeBSD-specific patches.
* Ongoing collaboration with SchedMD developers to upstream improvements discovered while maintaining Slurm on FreeBSD.
* Coordination with the OpenMPI ports maintainer to improve integration between OpenMPI and modern networking frameworks such as UCX.

==== Future plans

* Continue expanding the HPC software ecosystem available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection.
* Further reduce local patchsets by contributing portability fixes upstream whenever possible.
* Develop documentation describing how the Slurm + OpenMPI + PMIx + PRRTE + UCX stack can be deployed together on FreeBSD, lowering the barrier for users who want to experiment with HPC workloads on the platform.
* Provide example configurations and integration guidance so that FreeBSD can serve as a realistic development and testing environment for HPC software.