1. What is MFEXT ?¶
This is the Metwork Framework “EXTernal depencies” module. This module does not contain any services, it is just a bunch of files and directories.
MFEXT is staged in logical and/or technical layers. You may check Layerapi2 documentation for more about layers concept and technical details.
The available libraries and sets of tools in MFEXT can be found by checking the documentation about layers or the Index, or by using the search box.
Some libraries and sets of tools are not included in MFEXT but provided as MFEXT add-ons. They have to be installed appart. Available MFEXT add-ons can be found here.
2. Usage¶
2.1. General¶
After installation, there is no service to initialize or to start.
All the files are located in /opt/metwork-mfext-{BRANCH} directory with probably
a /opt/metwork-mfext => /opt/metwork-mfext-{BRANCH} symbolic link (depending
on what you have installed).
Because /opt is not used by default on standard Linux, the installation shouldn’t break anything.
Therefore, if you do nothing specific after the installation, you won’t benefit from any included software packages !
So, to use this module, you have to load a kind of “metwork environment”. There are several ways to do that.
In the following, we use {MFEXT_HOME} as the installation directory of the mfext module. It’s probably something like /opt/metwork-mfext-{BRANCH} or /opt/metwork-mfext. Have a look in /opt directory.
2.2. Usage (for one command only)¶
If you want to load the “mfext environment” for one command only and return back to a standard running environment after that, you can use the specific wrapper:
Output:
##### Shell session example #####
# where is the system python command ?
$ which python
/usr/bin/python
# => this is the standard/system python command (in /usr/bin)
# what is the version of the system python command ?
$ python --version
Python 2.6.6
# => this is a very old python version
# execute python through the wrapper
# (please replace {MFEXT_HOME} by the real mfext home !)
$ {MFEXT_HOME}/bin/mfext_wrapper which python
/opt/metwork[...]/bin/python
# => this is the metwork python command included in this module
# what is the version of the mfext python command ?
$ {MFEXT_HOME}/bin/mfext_wrapper python --version
Python 3.5.3
# => this is a recent python version
2.3. Usage (for the whole shell session)¶
If you are tired to use mfext_wrapper repeatedly, you can load the “mfext environment”
for the whole shell session.
Note: at this moment, it doesn’t seem to play very well with zsh (see #62)
Output:
##### Shell session example #####
# where is the system python command ?
$ which python
/usr/bin/python
# => this is the standard/system python command (in /usr/bin)
# what is the version of the system python command ?
$ python --version
Python 2.6.6
# => this is a very old python version
# load the mfext environment for the whole shell session
$ source {MFEXT_HOME}/share/interative_profile
__ __ ___ __ _
| \/ | | / / | |
| / | ___| | / / /__ _ __| | __
| |\/| |/ _ __\ \/ \/ / _ \| '__| |/ /
| | | | __/ |_ / / (_) | | | <
|_| |_|\___|\__| \/ \/ \___/|_| |_|\_\
17:01:04 up 19 days, 5:22, 1 user, load average: 0.75, 0.71, 0.45
# => the interactive environment is loaded
# where is the default python command
$ which python
/opt/metwork[...]/bin/python
# => this is the metwork python command included in this module
# what is the version of the default python command ?
$ python --version
Python 3.5.3
# => this is a recent python version
Note: if you want to do that but in a non-interactive shell, you should use
source {MFEXT_HOME}/share/profile instead.
2.4. Usage (automatically for one user)¶
If you want to have a system user with “always loaded” metwork environment, you can add:
Output:
source {MFEXT_HOME}/share/interactive_profile
in (for example) in the user .bash_profile file.
Note: we do not recommend to use this for a user with a full graphical interface because of possible side effects with desktop environment.
An alternative way is to add
Output:
alias mfext="source {MFEXT_HOME}/share/interactive_profile"
in .bash_profile file and use this mfext alias when you want to quickly load the “mfext environment”.